Shorts are associated with summer; so how can you pull off this hot look twelve months a year?

Ask the average man what sort of pants he would prefer to have on at any given moment, if all things were equal, and you will get a lot of “shorts” responses. Sure, long pants are great when you’re at a dance hall, paving a highway, or attending a wedding. But other than that, they mostly become burdensome and restricting. Lots of men love to let their calves breathe, but are afraid of the backlash society will cast upon them. How can you move past society’s skewed and unfair views and just be you?

Ways to wear shorts year-round and have it be totally acceptable

If you live in a warm climate, then you can just move on to the next topic; you do as you darn-well please! But for much of the US, it gets cold from time to time. Wearing shorts in 30º weather suddenly earns you some confused looks from acquaintances, co-workers, and random by-passers. Here’s how to ignore any naysayers and go around unencumbered.

• Own the look (much like bandanas). People who exude confidence are better at pulling off fashion statements that society generally deems unusual or outright peculiar.
• Blame a medical condition. Some people go through life with heat intolerance. Just cite your body’s inability to properly regulate temperature, and shorts are a good way to remedy the situation.
• Even though it may be cold outside, how much of the day are you really outdoors? Some people go straight from their homes to heated garages to cars to heated parking garages at their place of business and may never come into contact with cold air.
• Athletic people tend to wear shorts year-round out of habit. If your upbringing involved being shuttled from soccer practice to swim team to basketball, wearing shorts in the cold is probably second nature to you.
• The lower legs, along with the face, are the parts of your body least affected by cold temps. Gloves, scarves, coats, and boots protect most areas of a person’s body from the cold, but you don’t see too many people don snow pants in the cold. It may not even faze you to have shorts on in snow as a result.
• Claim it’s a good conversation starter.
• Pretend you’re about to go in for leg tattoos and need to have the legs exposed.
• Cargo shorts have a lot more pockets and room for carrying things, which could help justify pant choice.
• Shorts are made of less fabric than pants. If you’re a minimalist by nature, you could simply state shorts take up less valuable real estate.

The best, most logical explanation, however, is comfort. If you’re most comfortable wearing shorts, why care what anyone else thinks? If you want to wear shorts but are simply afraid of the bullying that is likely to ensue, you will need to prioritize what’s most important to you—feeling good physically or emotionally.

My Hot Take

Living in central Texas, I wear shorts 95% of the year. That’s not to say every day is summery weather, either. Today, for instance, we have a high of 49º and rain! Whenever I drop my kid off at preschool and see other parents in parkas, I assume everyone thinks I’m insane wearing summery clothing. But having been born and raised in South Dakota, what seems like the dead of winter to these natives is nothing more than a typical spring or fall day to me.