Summer 2026 has brought a new fashion trend: board short summer, a style that borrows heavily from surf culture. Coined by Marie Claire, the trend features knee-length shorts, wetsuits, flip-flops, and sun-faded T-shirts, inspired by brands like Quiksilver and Rip Curl. Luxury houses such as Miu Miu, Dries Van Noten, and Louis Vuitton have embraced the look, with Louis Vuitton even building an 8-metre artificial wave in Paris for its June show.
The trend reflects a broader cultural shift toward nostalgia and the aspirational surf lifestyle. Searches for board shorts on Vinted have increased by 132% compared to July 2025, while eBay reports a 338% rise in Quiksilver board short searches since January and a 686% increase in O'Neill flip-flop searches since last July. Secondhand shop Rokit also notes a boom in sales of surf brands.
Real Surfers Weigh In
In Newquay, Cornwall, a hub of surf culture, locals offer mixed reactions. Delphine Gwilliam-O'Connor, 28, an artist and surfer, says: 'People think they have to dress a certain way in order to be accepted. It's not so much people copying the look that might bother surfers. It's the attitude they think needs to come with it. I surf but don't really dress like 'a surfer'. I just wear relaxed stuff.'
Ben 'Skindog' Skinner, 42, a renowned surfer and board carver, notes: 'You see it a lot – certain brands wanting to be part of the surfing image, and I think it just goes in cycles of fashion.' He adds that British surfers rarely wear shorts due to cold weather, preferring wetsuits year-round.
The Authenticity Gap
Maddie Meddings, 31, a photographer and longtime surfer, observes: 'A lot of people that live here don't want to have loads of branded stuff. Anything new just feels a bit wrong.' She and others emphasize that surfing is a hard, often cold and gritty reality, far from the glamorous Instagram image.
Josh Hughes, a surfer in his early 30s who works in cybersecurity, credits the trend to 90s nostalgia: 'That 90s baggy look is still what epitomises surfing in people's eyes. Those brands, like Rip Curl, Billabong, Volcom, they were made in the 90s.'
Commercialization vs. Culture
Despite the fashion industry's embrace, surfers remain skeptical. Wevs, 52, a local surfer and former lifeguard, says: 'It still has that punk rock ethic, and you can't really fake it.' He notes that many surfers are 'like penguins: awkward on land but in water they're unbelievable.'
Skinner sees a silver lining: 'Ultimately, it's good news because it's hard to make a living out of what we do. Surf tourism is obviously holding a lot of us up. So once it goes into fashion, its value goes up.'
Board short summer may be easy to buy, but its credibility requires more than just clothes. As Wevs puts it: 'It's the best thing in the world, but it's dangerous and it's hard. You need to have lived the life.'
