MEMORIES:

From the shallow waters of the sea, where life is good and the clams are plentiful, comes a fashion compromise, born from necessity but looking downright chic in their own right. That’s right, no more need to roll those trousers up during an outing to the beach – not when you can simply slap on a pair of clamdiggers and be good to go.

 

An alternative to shorts at the beach or soggy pant legs, clamdiggers first arrived in the fashion sense during the plethora of 60s beach party movies. With a simple rope to keep them secured around the waist, they were stylish, airy, and gave sort of an “abandoned on a desert island” look that suggested a carefree lifestyle of shell collecting and baking seafood in a bed of seaweed, all while tossing back a cold one from a coconut cup.

 

Clamdiggers replaced the age-old custom of simply rolling up ones pant legs to keep them dry when playing footsie with shelled mollusks in the shallow waters they inhabit. Eventually, someone thought, “hey, what if we just cut and hemmed a pair of pants to the appropriate length?” And the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Of course, few that proudly slap on a pair of clamdiggers have any intention of foraging for their sea-bearing supper. Today, they are pure fashion, rivaling the pedal pushers and capris as the preferred attire for a hot summer’s day – and with no clam digging required whatsoever.