How Surfer-Bro Board Shorts Became Summer's Chicest Trend

After her 30th birthday, Keisha Sarpong made a promise to herself: No longer would the Denver-based stylist suffer through another 90-degree Colorado summer in stiff denim cut-offs—instead, she’d wear board shorts, which were more comfortable and better suited for her lifestyle. (Call it the third-decade effect, when your sense of self solidifies and acting on your individual agency becomes almost addictive.) Sarpong went on eBay, stocked up on vintage men’s swim shorts from Tommy Hilfiger, and hasn’t looked back since.

“I'm drawn to the functional details: the drawstring waists, paracord elements, baggier fits,” Sarpong says. “And as someone who wears a US 14-16, men's vintage board shorts, especially longer '90s silhouettes, tend to have less restrictive sizing.” Lately, she’s been wearing hers with button-downs, layered tank tops, and platform sandals—summer outfits that strike a balance between cowabunga and put-together.

Sarpong isn’t alone in declaring it a “board short summer.” Worldwide Google searches are up 247 percent from last year, and Pinterest queries have observed a “quite astounding” 376 percent spike, according to Molly Rooyakkers, the fashion researcher behind Style Analytics. Secondhand fashion marketplace Depop also reports a 302 percent increase in searches for the general term, with specific swimwear brands Roxy, O’Neill, and Billabong rising fast.

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Beyond shoppers surfing the web, Dries Van Noten showed botanical-print swim shorts on its Spring 2026 runway. Donni’s silk taffeta Jet board shorts have swept the Substack set, so much so that the fashion-favorite brand’s pistachio pair is only left in size XXL. High Sport—a label you know because its cult-coveted $860 Kick flares incited tastemaker hysteria in 2024—dropped ocean blue and lemon drawstring surf pants exclusively on Moda Operandi.

All of this points to what swimwear trend analysts have been saying for weeks now: Beach-to-street style is in, and cresting at the top of that list are quick-to-dry bottoms designed to get wet. But why board shorts, specifically? Why aren't feminine sarong skirts summer's top trend instead of the clothing equivalent of a shaggy surfer bro, barefoot and sunburnt, telling you to “Hang loose”?

Because their beach-bum associations beg to be juxtaposed with “sharper, more intentional pieces,” says fashion stylist and Depop’s trend spokesperson, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson. Since swim shorts don’t immediately read as streamlined and sophisticated, they're irresistible to the fashion crowd, who want to dive head-first into a styling challenge. “There’s just something incredibly chic about a piece designed for movement and utility being recontextualized with a kitten heel, a tiny tank, or an oversized button-down," says Karefa-Johnson.

Artist and author of the fashion Substack La Deeply Shallow, Laura Kirk, grew up in the Colombian coastal city of Barranquilla and has been wearing board shorts all her life. “They are inextricable from my Caribbean childhood, from teenage memories in surf shops, the staff all decked in Billabong, and of stealing my brother’s Quiksilvers when I craved something else—a color or a silhouette I couldn’t find in my closet,” she says.

Echoing Karefa-Johnson's point above, Kirk says that from all her years of wearing swim shorts, the key is styling them “with lots of friction, especially when for non-beach or pool situations." With chunky Phoebe Philo sandals and old Céline leather totes, as she plans to on her upcoming vacation to San Sebastián, Spain. Or, with a jacquard blazer and plaid button-down, à la Miu Miu Spring 2024, the inception of today’s board shorts trend. (If you track any fashion trend far enough back, Miuccia Prada is typically at the scene of the crime.)

Sarah Shapiro, a merchandising executive and retail correspondent at Puck’s Line Sheet, adds that the breathable, pull-on bottoms are also a natural evolution of spring’s easy pants trend, led mainly by the options from made-in-LA brand Donni. (Including a taffeta cargo pant, the full-length version of the Jet board short). “Customers got comfortable (very!) with drawstrings and elastic waists, which fits in well with the low-slung drawstring on the board shorts,” says Shapiro. “Gen Z also seems to be more focused on pockets and not using a handbag, so the big pockets of the board shorts are a plus for carrying a phone.” Comfort and practicality, check and check.

As with any fashion trend that swells to great heights, there’s a little bit of nostalgia at play, too. For Millennials, it’s remembering how impossibly cool Kate Bosworth and Michelle Rodriguez looked in Blue Crush. For Zillenials, it’s recreating that one Carrie Bradshaw beach outfit they saw on TikTok: Monstera-leaf-print shorts, a blue balconette bikini top, and a white short-sleeve top worn unbuttoned.

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And there's also the very simple fact that swim shorts are just fun to wear—on par with a season where it's acceptable to log off early on a Friday to sip a Hugo Spritz with your friends, ideally with seasalt-crunchy hair and a few new freckles. "People are enjoying fashion again in this post-'quiet-luxury’ phase, and board shorts are the antithesis of it, with most pairs coming in bright colors," says Sierra Goodhue, a fashion merchandiser and writer of Hodgepode, a style diary Substack. Personally, Goodhue owns Donni's viral pair in sunshine yellow.

Karefa-Johnson leaves you with one final nudge to get you on board: “Whether you’re a SoCal native or came to love board shorts through surf culture or mall brands, you know one thing for sure: They just look sick [insert shaka here].” Especially, Goodhue adds, "when contrasted with a classically romantic Dôen top or a slinky silk cami and, almost always, a kitten heel to offset their masculine nature."

Shop Summer 2026's Women's Board Short Trend