How Basketball Shorts Became Longer
Two words: Michael Jordan.
In this excerpt from GAIN’s interview with Thomas Hardy, VP and Creative Director for NBA Entertainment, the reason for the disappearance of those thigh-hugging short shorts of the past is none other than His Airness himself.
“The long pants came from Michael Jordan, which is a great story. Jordan would get tired because he played so many minutes when he was with the Bulls in the mid-‘80s, so by the third quarter he would be exhausted. He would be doing a lot of this leaning over and catching his breath. Eventually he was starting to grab his pants, to hold onto them because he was exhausted. As time when on, you could see that by the end of the game his pants were long because he had just stretched them. He finally asked Champion, the uniform manufacturer, for more length in his shorts, so that he could hang onto his shorts. The next thing you know, the kids see the longer shorts and everybody’s wearing longer shorts. He created a fashion without even knowing it.”
For an NBA addict and MJ fan, this is an incredible story, indeed. For the rest of the in-depth interview, visit this page. You won’t regret it.
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October 25th, 2005 at 11:47 pm
Hey that was a good pic! Galing maghanap ah.
What I like about this story is how a trend grew out of practical need. I loathe people who jump on the bandwagon just because.
October 26th, 2005 at 3:07 am
But of course
The story is great, though I admit it’s ‘coolness’ struck me like lightning mainly because of two letters: MJ.
Go Bulls! (er…)
June 11th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Nice post… I never really thought the His Highness was the reason behind that NBA fashion.. Thanks for posting this. Enjoyed the read..
–Stephen
July 20th, 2008 at 2:35 am
Well that is a nice story lol. Some companies spend tons of money for fashion researches and this “poor little MJ” does it without knowing it lol. Great story!