Alfred Shaheen was the textile manufacturer responsible for making the Hawaiian aloha shirt fashionable, and spawning a new garment industry in the Pacific island chain.

While cheap aloha shirts and dresses had already become popular with postwar visitors to Hawaii, Shaheen elevated the garments to the level of high fashion by coming up with high- quality designs which were well made and less garish. In 1961 Elvis Presley wore a Shaheen red aloha shirt on the cover of the Blue Hawaii soundtrack. Aloha shirts were also worn by Tom Selleck in Magnum P.I. and Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett in Hawaii Five-O.

Alfred Shaheen was born in New Jersey in 1922. His father and grandfather operated textile mills and clothing stores. In 1938 the family set up a custom dress shop in Honolulu, making formal wear from silk, chiffon and lace.

Shaheen studied mathematics and engineering at Whittier College, California, before becoming a fighter pilot for the US Army Air Forces during the Second World War.

In 1948 he opened his own ready-to-wear clothing business, Shaheen’s of Honolulu. He used home-made silk-screen printing equipment, and paid artists to design patterns inspired by Polynesian and Asian cultures. To meet increasing demand, Shaheen expanded to seven stores and a state-of-the-art factory. By 1959 he had more than 400 employees working for him and was grossing more than $4 million a year.

He is survived by four daughters and a son.

Alfred Shaheen, textile manufacturer, was born on January 31, 1922. He died on December 22, 2008, aged 86