The Guayabera shirt is known by several names. There is the Mexican Guayabera or the Mexican wedding shirt, the beach wedding shirt and of course the Cuban Guayabera Shirt. Why you may ask, does this shirt have so many names? Several countries like Mexico, The Philippines and Cuba have manufactured Guayabera shirts and each one has taken credit for its origin. So where did this distinctive shirt really come from?

Most Latin Americans tend to say that the Guayabera comes from either Cuba or from the Caribbean. However Mexico claims that the Guayabera, known as “camisa Yucatan,” originally came from the Yucatán Peninsula. It has been disputed that the Mexicans copied the garment from visiting Cuban tourists.

In Cuba there are several stories related to the Guayabera shirt. There is the story of a poor seamstress who sewed large pockets into her husband’s shirts so that he could carry Guayaba’s (guava) from the field. There is also a story that the shirt was designed for a wealthy Cuban rancher back in the 1700s. And yet another story states that the word Guayabera comes from the word “Yayabero,” a term used to describe a person who lived near the Yayabo River in Cuba.

Since all the claims come from Latin speaking countries, some say that the Guayabera shirt actually came from Spain. Since I am Cuban, and to set the record straight,  here is the version of what I think is the true history of the Guayabera shirt.

The shirt was designed by Spanish immigrants who came to Cuba over 200 years ago. There was a poet named Juan Cristobal Napoles Fajardo (1829 – 1862) known as “El Cucalambe” who was born in Tunas, Oriente Province, Cuba and was believed killed by the Spanish. He wrote a poem praising the Guayabera shirt.  In this poem he describes the shirt and traces its origins to the Yayabo River mentioned above.  After Cuba’s independence from Spain in the Spanish-American war, the Cuban government created “the day of the Guayabera” on July 1st. which happens to be Fajardo’s birthday.

After the Spanish-American War,  Cuban tourists traveled to the Yucatán Peninsula wearing the Guayabera shirt which was then adopted by Mexican craftsmen and later became known as the Mexican wedding shirt.  Merida, Mexico, a city in the Yucatán, is the prime exporter of the shirts today. When people started moving to Florida from Cuba in the late 1880s, they brought the shirts with them.

Regardless of its true origin, the guayabera’s timeless fashion style has remained a favorite among businessmen in Latin America.  Today Guayabera has gained popularity with the Urban comfort-loving generation and many designers have added their own impressions to the Cuban Guayabera Shirt.