OP Shorts

At some point, when I wasn’t paying attention, the meaning of ‘shorts’ changed, and I mean ‘shorts’ in the context of pants without leg coverings, hence the name ‘shorts’. Today ‘shorts’ instead describes something more like a pair of small baggy pants with legs that reach to or beyond the knee. You’ll often see them worn hung low, with boxer shorts hanging out above. Ridiculous.

In my day, shorts meant one thing. OP (short for Ocean Pacific, who produced a fine line of real shorts, usually corduroy, and in a wide variety of colors).

Search for ‘OP Shorts’ online today, and you’ll find they’re now hard to find. Sport It sells OP, but has a limited supply. For someone of my waist size, orange seems to be the only option. Essential Apparel teasingly offers the color ‘royal’ in sizes 30 and 32… but, NOT. Each is unavailable, and then instead suggest their own knockoffs as an alternative. You might then turn to Ebay, where you’ll find plenty of listings for new and used OP shorts, and always with the adjective ‘vintage’ attached (I guess ‘antique’ just doesn’t work well for clothing, it is instead ‘vintage’).

And in today’s Washington Post, another like-minded fellow ask whence went the shorts, and got knocked down pretty hard. Well, I’m sorry, but I’m sticking with my OPs. Style is for snobs who will order you what to wear. Laugh all you like, I’ll stick with what I like, and what I am comfortable in.

Three Wise Guys on Short Shorts for Men
The Washington Post, June 15, 2008