When you’re skipping down the beach this summer, you might notice a little something different. It’s something familiar perhaps, say, something that you once saw in a ’70’s surf film or on a Beach Boys album cover. If you haven’t guessed it by now, it’s the shortening of dude shorts. That’s right, across America there has been an increasing amount of bros sporting slightly shorter boardshorts. It’s not an invasion of Club Med employees or a secret European mission to take over the beaches, it’s a tribute to the sick throwback boardshorts your pops used to kick it in circa ‘74. Since the ’70’s, shorts have been getting longer and longer, and finally a group of traditionalists have taken a stand against the lengthening of the hem. Without this courageous group, we can only imagine that the beaches this summer might have been infested with the shants (definition: is it a pant, or is it a long short?), or maybe something worse that we don’t even know about!
Why the nation ever started shifting to longer trunks is really a mystery. Maybe short boardshorts faded with the death of the mustache. Think about the benefits; besides the killer retro style that come from a short boardshort, there’s increased performance in the water due to a wider range of motion. AND a better bronze. All without getting the authentic fray you rocked in the ’80’s. In public announcement form: Retro Boardshorts – Increasing Stances and Steeze Across America. Get yourself a retro pair at Swell. And don’t forget to apply liberal amounts of sunblock to your pasty thighs.