78% matchPendleton
Heritage mill weaving place-specific pattern into camp shirts
What changes: Wool-driven and mass-scale rather than small-batch island prints
Brand profile
Sig Zane Designs
Family-run Hilo label making aloha shirts and dresses from original prints rooted in native Hawaiian plants, hula practice and place-based stories.
HiloOrigin
UnisexFocus
Workwear / HeritageStyle
$$$Price
4 brands like Sig Zane Designs like Pendleton, Rastah, Serapis →
What to know about Sig Zane Designs
Every print carries a story
In-house patterns are drawn from native Hawaiian plants, moʻolelo and hula practice, with each design tied to a specific place or narrative rather than generic tropical motifs.
Founded by a hula lineage
Sig Zane and kumu hula Nālani Kanakaʻole started the house in Hilo in 1985; son Kūhaʻo Zane is now creative director, keeping it family-run across two generations.
Aloha shirts, plus a studio
The core is aloha shirts, dresses, palaka-style pieces and accessories, while the SZKaiao studio extends the same design work into branding, installations and aircraft liveries.
If you like Sig Zane Designs
78% match
76% matchRastah
Indigenous craft techniques carried into modern everyday wear
What changes: Streetwear silhouettes and embroidery over tropical shirting
73% matchSerapis
Regional maritime motifs and hand-printed textiles as storytelling
What changes: Greek workwear and scarves, more art-collective in tone
70% matchNicholas Daley
Cultural lineage and craft textiles in a designer register
What changes: Runway-level pricing, tailoring and knit focus
Brand facts
Sig Zane Designs is a family-run Hawaiian apparel house founded in Hilo in 1985 by Sig Zane and kumu hula Nālani Kanakaʻole. It makes aloha shirts, dresses, palaka-style pieces and accessories using in-house prints drawn from native Hawaiian plants, moʻolelo and hula practice, with each pattern tied to a specific place or story. Son Kūhaʻo Zane serves as creative director and runs the SZKaiao design studio, extending the work into branding, art installations and aircraft liveries. Retail spans the Hilo bayfront store plus Sig On Smith and Kaiao_Space on Oʻahu.
- Founded
- 1985
- Origin
- Hilo, United States
- Made in
- USA
- Price
- $$$
- Focus
- Unisex
- Facts checked
- August 2026
- Styles
- Workwear / Heritage, Streetwear, Urban prep / Ivy