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15 Cool Board Short Brands For Surfing & Lounging On The Beach

These are the best boardshorts available.

15 Cool Board Short Brands For Surfing & Lounging On The Beach

Though your surfing may stink, there’s no excuse for looking shabby between the car park and the water. And while the right pair of board shorts won’t improve your wobbly cutback, the wrong pair will bring unnecessary attention to it.


So, frame them if you must, but it’s time to remove your 1999 below-knee board shorts from wardrobe circulation (the same goes for the so-called ‘high performance’ fluro monstrosities you were wearing in 2015). Sorry; the market’s moved on, man.

Fortunately, thanks to a welcome change of the surf brand guard, you can now get all the performance, stretch, comfort, and durability you could ask for, hidden away in a stylish package, if you know where to look. And as summer rolls around, there has never been a better time

We could go into Swiss Army Knife comparisons and boring technical details, but let’s be honest. It’s pretty simple what makes the best boardshorts?

You want a comfortable, flexible, durable and quick-drying companion that makes you feel cool both in and out of the water.

Fortunately for you, in this selection of boardshorts we’ve taken care of all that, so all you have to do is pick a pair you think looks cool (you could practically shut your eyes and point to any).

What we’re looking for when buying board shorts…

We’ve purchased Hurley Phantom, Haydenshapes and Need Essentials and wear these surfing in Australia, but beyond those brands, here are some handy things to know.

  • Eco-Friendly / Sustainable – brands like Outerknown and Patagonia are the eco warrior’s board short of choice.
  • High Performance – While sportswear giant Nike has previously owned the likes of Hurley and took incredible advantage of the company’s fabric technologies in the process, most pairs of board shorts from O’Neill, Ripcurl and the other brands will offer high-performance fabrics.
  • Flashy – Popular with Italo Ferreira and Mason Ho, board shorts from the likes of Rip Curl, Haydenshapes, Billabong and O’Neill are for the man who believes himself capable of surfing low tide rock piles, and who doesn’t take himself too seriously.
  • Stretch – If you’re surfing then 4-way stretch board shorts are the way to go.
  • Anti-Chafe – If you are a man of creature comfort (and 8-hour shred sessions), you will do well to make sure your board short of choice has anti-chafe technology.
  • Pockets – Most board shorts from surf brands won’t have traditional pockets, rather a key pocket or cash stash.