In 1990, my family moved from South Philly to the Northeast and immediately I noticed a difference in style. My clothes and how I wore them were a bit different from the other kids I went to school with. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing and being exposed to these different styles broadened my own personal style.
This was the early 90s and like it is today, athletic brands dominated style and culture. I grew up watching and playing basketball, baseball, American football, and roller hockey. I wasn't very familiar with soccer, and there were youth soccer leagues around, but being from Philly the only football we knew of was the NFL (go Birds). Unknowingly, the World Cup, the US mens team, the European leagues at the time were making waves across pop culture.
One of the influences I gravitated towards and saw more of after I moved were these nylon checkerboard shorts that were all the rage. I wound up getting a pair of navy blue joints I wore the entire summer…with Jordans instead of Sambas of course.
Fast forward: last year while sourcing fabrics for our Fall/Winter collection, I discovered this USA made 1x1 jacquard checkered nylon that gave me an immediate flashback to those old shorts. The newer version of those shorts are all made with polyester now. I wanted to make a pair for ATH and put our twist on it. After doing some research, developing a few samples, making fit modifications, we scored a goal.
Notable details: to make these unique we added the antique silver grommets, the NOS cotton cord, the bartacked pockets, black metallic logo hits on each leg and the bias angle silver panel on the left leg. While minimal in design, these took a lot of work to get right as we experimented with a new fabric and silhouette.
As always, made with time, attention, detail.
ATH Checkerboard Football Shorts. Available now in S-XXL.
- Ex