I can’t remember the last time my Dad wore shorts. There may be an old picture of the family at Myrtle Beach with him in shorts but it has be at least ten years old. He believes once a man reaches a certain age he ceases to wear shorts. It’s the same logic with jeans. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of my Dad wearing jeans, let alone see a photograph of it. Perhaps I’m just not old enough yet but I don’t see a problem with either shorts or jeans. I’ll save the jeans discussion for later and since the weather is warming up and summer is about to begin, shorts are relevant.
Inseam is the biggest question for me when it comes to shorts shopping. I like a 7″ inseam. Some have called me picky, others particular, but I just like to think I know exactly what I want. The only place I’ve had much success finding 7″ inseam shorts is J. Crew and even then you must order it from the catalog for the not so low price of roughly $50 dollars. LL Bean and Lands End produce much more affordable shorts in a 6″ inseam but for some reason that extra inch makes all the difference to me. The rest of the world seems happy with either 9 or 10 inch shorts but not me. What’s a fella to do?
I decided to turn old pairs of pants into shorts. What you say? Cut the legs off perfectly good pants? Yes it might not be the simplest approach but it certainly works. Shorts are inherently casual things so using pants that have some extra mileage on them is not a concern. Have pants with worn or frayed cuffs? Even better! For my little experiment I selected three pairs of pants that while not that old or worn, were not getting much wear. Each is made of 100% cotton, but in a thin, summer weave. This made them cool pants to wear in warm weather but also made them impossibly wrinkly. I hate to iron so they never got much wear.
After a short stay at the tailor shop, my pants returned as three pairs of shorts. The best part: the inseam was just a matter of telling the tailor what I wanted. The cost was the same as finishing a pair of pants, certainly less than purchasing a new pair from J. Crew and it gave new life to three old items.
Is there any difference between these “shorts” and those purchased new? Not that I can tell. See if you can guess which pair in the picture below started life as pants:
The green pair was originally pants. The khaki pair was purchased from J. Crew. I’m not sure if this approach is economical if doing it with new pants but I guess it depends on the level of customization you want and how attached you are to a certain model of pant. Some online sellers offer free hemming on their pants and I think some AAAC members have had success ordering their “pants” with short length inseams. I have not tried this myself.
I think I’m set for the summer on shorts for now, but any pants that become too frayed to wear will received second consideration as shorts.
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Tags: 3 Comments
Zach I really think you missed your calling – you know more about clothes than any guy I know.
Good idea. I may give this a try also with some older khaki pants I have.
For some of your less clothier-technical readers (such as me) you need to explain acronyms, like AAAC.
AAAC = Ask Andy About Clothes Andy is the purveyor of a clothing CD-ROM and AAAC is also the home of a popular clothing forum.
Zach,
Good idea turning pants into shorts. Pants are often on sale. Getting shorts in a non-standard length on sale is well nigh impossible. Also, now you can buy pants on ebay that may not have the correct inseam and turn them into very cheap shorts. I wanted to get Bills Khakis shorts because I like their pants so much, and was actually considering plunking down $80- for a pair of shorts, when I came upon this idea. I found several pair of Bills in my waist size from ebay, and got them for about $5 a piece. Add the $13 for the hem, and I had two pair of shorts for $36! Hemmed to spec as well. I favor 10.5 inch inseams on mine (I’m 6′3″).
Keep up the good blogging!
PC