We Designed our Own Billabong Trunks

Design your own’s been tried numerous times, but up until now we’ve never dived in. 

In general we believe in letting the experts do their thing. If you’re at a restaurant, get what the chef recommends, if you’re getting inked, trust the person who does it every day to pick the right spot for your new tough tag etc. And we were keen to let the trunk designers (people who, as avid boardshort wearers and lovers, we hold in the highest regard) do their thing, until Billabong swung us some codes and told us to have a crack at putting our own pairs together. Findings were that it was painfully simple, really quite fun to play around with, and, a great way to squander an hour under the loose guise of “work”. There’s four shapes to chose from, and you can literally customise everything down to the colour of the drawstring. Furthermore, there’s a glowing smugness in wearing something that literally no one else has. 

“We’re in the middle of making an Andy Irons doco, and we’ve spent a lot of time flicking through archival clips of old Billy trips and magazine clippings around the early 00’s. I couldn’t help but notice the huge presence of red everywhere back then, from straight up red trunks or tees to huge hits of red on boards, etc. I remember it all, too. Old Taj posters on my walls – just red, red, red. So where did it all go? For the last decade, it’s been all about keeping a low-profile. Straight black trunks or muted earthy tones above the knees are all you see in a line-up now. I’m guilty of it all, but in a few weeks time, look out for this dickhead in the 19″ Ferrari shorts. Drop in at will.” – Shinya Dalby, Creative Director.

“Like whinging about the music at a party, being handed the jack and freezing, I turned full rabbit in the headlights when given this task. I’ve been in black for years also, and wanted to do something bright that complimented a summer tan. Initially I looked at going full retro print, before deciding that was a bit unadventurous. Then, I scrolled across the top left shot of Na-kel Smith and decided to plagiarise his two tone (presumably Supreme, but I couldn’t find them anywhere) shorts as closely as I could. Raucous surf shorts was the idea, so I went 19 inch D Bah Pros, which I believe is the perfect length for surfing. And, casting aside my passionate hatred of personalised number plates, I couldn’t resist getting ‘Klinks’ embroidered on the contrasting back pocket.” – Alistair Klinkenberg, Travelling Minstrel.

Design your own just in time for summer.