There is a drawer in most Australian houses with three pairs of navy board shorts in it, and one loud pair that gets worn every weekend. The loud pair wins because it does something the navy ones cannot: it starts a conversation, and it is impossible to lose on a crowded beach.
Why bold prints work on board shorts specifically
Board shorts are one of the few garments where a big print is the convention rather than a risk. Everyone is half-dressed, everyone is in a good mood, and the setting is already colourful. A print that would be loud in an office is normal at the beach.
They are also the lowest-stakes place to be bold. A loud shirt commits your whole outfit. A loud pair of shorts is anchored by a plain tee, and you can dial the rest of it down to nothing.
Picking a print that suits you
Three things decide whether a print works, and none of them is the print itself.
Scale against your frame. A large, well-spaced motif reads better on a taller frame and can overwhelm a shorter one. A small repeat does the opposite: on a bigger frame it reads as texture from a distance rather than a pattern. If you are unsure, a mid-scale repeat is the safe middle.
How many colours are doing work. A print with one loud colour on a dark base is bold but easy to wear, because you only need to match one thing. A multi-colour print is more fun and more demanding: pair it with white, black or a colour already in the print, and nothing else.
Whether the joke lands twice. A print you find funny in the shop and tedious by February was a bad buy. Hand-drawn motifs tend to age better than slogans, because you keep noticing new bits of them.
What to wear with a loud pair
- A plain tee in a colour pulled from the print. The easiest way to look deliberate rather than accidental.
- White. Works with every print ever made and needs no thought.
- Not another print. Unless they are from the same range and were designed to sit together, two prints fight.
- Plain thongs or slides. The shorts are the feature. Everything below the knee should be boring.
Where to start in the Skwosh range
Every pair in our mens board shorts range is a hand-drawn print, so it is less a question of loud or not and more a question of which kind of loud.
- Loudest colour — Cactus Jack in yellow. Bright yellow with a bold cactus print. Not a quiet choice, which is rather the point.
- Bold print, calmer base — Sunny Boy in charcoal. A hand-drawn sunflower on a dark base, so the print does the talking without the colour shouting.
- The one with a story — So Jelly in royal blue. An all-over jellyfish print and a built-in excuse.
- Niche in-joke — In The Hole in green. An all-over golf print, for a very specific kind of bloke.
The matching move
Most Skwosh prints run in both adult and kids sizes, which turns a loud pair into a family photo. Matching father and son sets are the main reason people send us pictures from the beach, and the kids range runs 2 to 14 so it works well past the toddler stage.
Common questions
Are funky board shorts still in style? In Australia they never went out. Bold swimwear is close to a national default, and the loud pair is usually the one that gets worn most.
What colour board shorts go with everything? A print on a navy, charcoal or black base, because the base is doing the matching and the print is just along for the ride.
Can you wear colourful board shorts away from the beach? Yes. A mid-thigh regular fit with proper pockets wears fine to the shops. Pair it with a plain tee and nobody blinks.
Will a bright print fade? Not quickly, if you rinse the salt out after a swim, wash cold and dry in the shade. Direct sun is what fades a print, not the water.
Not sure which style you want? Read board shorts vs swim shorts, or see how fast they dry in quick-dry board shorts explained.