Japanese Shorts
16Cut at the knee in washed, patched or frayed denim: Tokyo's summer streetwear shorts
Sixteen pairs of knee-length shorts in washed, patched, frayed or rhinestone-set denim, plus a long black cargo. Baggy cuts with a five-pocket front, raw hems, a star sewn across one thigh, a spider printed on the other. The bottom half of a Japanese streetwear outfit, worn with a plain tee and a chunky sneaker.
Japanese streetwear shorts are denim, cut at the knee, and treated: washed, patched, frayed, acid-blotched, set with rhinestones, printed with a spider. They are the summer bottom half of an outfit that keeps the rule of everything else on this site, one graphic and the rest plain, except that in summer the graphic is often the short itself. Sixteen pairs here, plus one long black cargo, cut baggy with a five-pocket front, and this page is about which treatment does what and how to wear a short that is the loudest thing you have on.
Knee length, baggy, and why the wash is the design
The Tokyo short stops at the knee or just above it, sits loose through the thigh, and is cut from denim that has been worked: an acid wash that leaves rust and grey blotches over pale blue, a sun-fade that yellows the thigh and seat, horizontal bands of pale and dark denim pieced with the seams left frayed, a camouflage cuff sewn on at the knee, a large black denim star sewn across one thigh, frayed patch strips across the seat, rows of small rhinestones, a printed chain and paint splatter, a spider on one thigh and its web on the other. The wash is what makes them Japanese streetwear rather than jean shorts; a plain pair would be a different garment. The pants are the same idea to the ankle, the sneakers are what they end in.
| Treatment | Reads as | Pair with |
|---|---|---|
| Light wash, cut-off | The quietest | A printed camp shirt |
| Acid wash, sun fade | Worn, vintage | A plain tee, a plain shirt open |
| Patched, frayed, pieced | The graphic | Plain everything above |
| Star, spider, rhinestone | The loudest | A white tee, nothing else |
| Black cargo, long | The plain base | A sukajan, a printed shirt |
How to wear Japanese shorts
If the short is treated, the top is plain: a white tee, or a plain camp shirt open over it. If the short is the quiet light wash or the black cargo, the shirt can carry the print. Low skate sneakers or a court shoe, socks showing or not, and the short should sit at the knee with the raw hem left raw. A kimono jacket over a tee and the light-wash cut-offs is the summer version of the crossover outfit, and it is a good one. Two treatments on one body, a patched short under a printed shirt, is the mistake.
Sizing, fabric and care
Sizes M to XXL or by waist in centimetres, with the inseam listed on each page; cut baggy to Asian sizing, about one size smaller than US or EU, and the page says whether to size up. Denim throughout, one faux leather, one woven cargo. Wash cold inside out and hang to dry; raw hems fray a little more each wash, which is correct, and the rhinestone pair washes by hand. Made to Japanese designs in Asia, and every page says so.
Japanese shorts: the questions we are asked
How long are they?
Knee length or just above, listed as an inseam in centimetres on each page. The cut-offs are the shortest; the black cargo is the only long one.
Are the frayed hems going to unravel?
They fray a little more with each wash and then stop; that is the design. Wash cold, do not tumble.
Shorts or pants?
Shorts from May to September, pants the rest of the year, in the same loose cut. The pants are the winter version.
What top goes with a patched short?
A plain one. The short is the graphic; a white tee or a plain open shirt above it.
Sukajan Jacket40
Japanese Shirts18
Japanese Pants30