We’re About To Crown Our Favourite Boardshort Of 2017

Stab believes it’s the creative surf community who should lead the world when it comes to our favourite item. And A Place In The Sun is our endeavour to ensure this is a reality. This year, we challenged some brands we like to create the best boardshorts they could, free from the shackles of commercial realities. Each entry also required a dynamic behind-the-scenes film to accompany the trunks. 

Rules? Nope. While Stab prefers poolside looks with tech secrets, our only recommendations were these: Think big, make ‘em sexy, and ensure they’ll feel good on a wave. This was about each designer pushing their creativity to its wildest point, and then bringing it to fruition in a one-of-a-kind pair.

We never could’ve predicted how good the entries would be.

Gordon Merchant came out of retirement to make Billabong’s trunks. Highline made a convincing case for less being more. Hurley reminded us they’re more than performance and fluorescent colour. INMINDSEYE brought our attention to the magic of ‘Unprofessional Tech’. The Critical Slide Society presented trunks that can ingeniously change size. O’Neill tapped the roots of Jack’s military days. RVCA proved that real men (can) wear short shorts. And Stacey plucked their entry from the place where Japanese art and surf punk culture meet.

Now, to judge such dynamic thinking, we needed dynamic judges. We needed three selectors of wild expertise in their various fields, and because Stab never can help itself, we needed them to be of extremely likeable nature.

Kyle Ng is the sartorial don who started cult streetwear label, Braindead. He kindly took the lead on selecting the best print, branding and detail among the entries, since he’s so well versed in such things. Luke Stedman bridged the gap between product design (running his own brand, Insted We Smile) and high surf performance (he’s an ex-world tour surfer), selecting the trunks he thought had the best fit, fabric and functionality. Together, they chose the finest of a very fine bunch.

There was also a short film category to win. This is where our entrants told the story of how their trunks came to be. Again, no rules here except a 60-seconds-or-less runtime. We invited Jake Burghart to judge the motion submissions. He looked for originality, creativity, story-telling, and effort – four things he’s dealt with intimately in his exceptional documentary work for Vice.

In the end, the winners made something that our judging panel simply couldn’t look past. We’ll be announcing them very soon, so keep an eye on the feed.

It’s always boardshort weather somewhere.