The Maligned Cargo Shorts

When my sons were in their teens they gave my husband a hard time about wearing jean shorts (jorts). They had him start wearing khaki cargo shorts. That was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between my husband and cargo shorts.

Then several years ago our kids started giving him a hard time about wearing cargo shorts. The push now is the flat or pleated front above the knee shorts. So, we bought the new shorts to add to his "Kid Approved" wardrobe, but the cargo shorts stayed.

My husbands closet shelf of shorts. The top two and bottom right stacks are all cargo shorts.

Last August we received an email from our daughter. The Subject: Just say no. The body of the email said: For dad, from (name of our youngest son). I am not sure if that was true, or if she was just blaming it on her little brother. Attached to the email was the link to an article on BuzzFeed, by Pablo Valdvia titled: " Dear Men, Please Stop Wearing Cargo Shorts." The article showed pictures of men in cargo shorts and how it was a disease taking over the world. Then the article went on to show pictures of men in "regular" shorts as a way to show cargo short loving men the light, and a way to better fashion.

"Regular" shorts

This did not sway my husband away from his beloved cargo shorts. Now he does wear "regular" shorts most of the time, but there are days and events when nothing can replace a good pair of cargo shorts.

Then last week a Wall Street Journal writer named Nicole Hong wrote a humorous article that probably got more attention than she anticipated. The article printed on Aug 1st was titled: "Nice Cargo Shorts! You're Sleeping on the Sofa." The article was about the men who love their cargo shorts and the women who hate them, (the shorts, not the men).

My husband sent the article to all our kids with the the Subject: Long live cargo shorts!

My daughter responded with, " Cargo shorts can stay as long as we promise not to bring back cargo pants."

Then on Friday Aug 5, Nicole Hong had a follow up article on all the controversy surrounding her first article on the 1st. This one was titled: "What Happened After I Wrote That Cargo Short Story." I found this article hilarious.  Hong wrote the following paragraph, "Since the story published on the Wall Street Journal's website Monday afternoon, it has devoured all the attention that was previously fixated on the election. The story has dominated the Journal's web traffic for most of the week."  She had no idea what she was messing with when she took on men and their cargo shorts. These are both fun articles that you should check out.

New email to the kids from my husband with Aug 5th article attached, Subject: The cargo shorts debate rages on!

On the same day, Aug 5th, an article was published in the Washington Post covering the now ever popular subject of cargo shorts. This article written by Christopher Ingraham was titled: "Map: Real American Men Don't Wear Cargo Shorts". The article covers the debate between cargo shorts and jorts by geographical locations. The map in the article is titled: "The Great Short Divide". This article is very funny and the maps show by state the preference of either cargo shorts or jorts.  I also recommend that you check out this article. Although, I will tell you that Mr. Ingraham was surprised that his Twitter followers overwhelmingly preferred cargo shorts to jorts.

I have always stayed out of the cargo shorts debate in our family, but have decided to end my silence. First a little background. I have lived my life as an adult woman carrying a purse. When my kids were young it was a purse and a diaper bag. I referred to myself as the family pack mule. When the diaper bag went away, the purse got bigger, and at times the purse was a backpack. When the kids were all grown up I tried to downsize, but I always ended up carrying my husband's items in my purse. Sunglasses case, inhaler, wallet, tissues, ............ Then like a ship out of the night.....Cargo Shorts! Pockets for all his stuff! No more pack mule. Yippee!!!!

So, my grateful back and shoulders are happy for the weight reduction in my purse. Fashion may have taken a back seat in our Kid's eyes, but I agree with my husband.

LONG LIVE CARGO SHORTS!!!!!!!!