A Hawaiian man stringing puka shell necklaces, Hawaii, circa 1948. Underwood Archives/Getty Images. Kaarin Vembar is an editor at Retail Dive and the co-host of the Pop Fashion podcast, ...

Most likely, memories: a bite of fresh pineapple, a swim in the ocean, a Technicolor sunset. Typical souvenirs — T-shirts, a bouncy hula-doll figurine, a shell necklace — hardly do the natural ...

In 1970, if you found any string of shells, that was a puka shell necklace. The work “puka” is Hawaiian in origin and means “hole.” Traditionally, puka shell necklaces were constructed from scavenged ...