boardies

Had an email from Martin with these photos which said-

'Liked the Quiksilver boardshorts item and thought I'd share some more 'boardshort nostalgia' with you.When I was a young grom circa 1974 the must have boardshort was a pair of Force 9 baggies. I got my first pair in '74 but the company disappeared by '76 to be replaced by Alder.They had some cool designs including a Union Jack design long before England's soccer hooligans adopted them.'
Great shorts, especially like the pair above, which look slightly earlier than the pair below - which looks very contemporary and could easily be confused for 'retro' styled shorts made today. I couldn't find an old ad for Force 9, although there is a mention in a Spot surf shop Bude ad in 1973.
The early 60s boardshorts or 'baggies' were made from hard wearing canvas, and by the mid 60s the fashion was for competition or team stripes. By the late 60s it all went patterned and flower power with some classic fabrics to match the inlay on your board. Into the 70s patterns stayed around for a while and shorts became alot more fitted. Because of the abuse early boardshorts got not many have survived - I guess most got worn out or rotted away with the salt water.
These two pairs were never used and still have the Force 9 and Bilbo shop tags ! Thanks to Martin - and here are a few photos of British baggies back in the day-

Cool late 60s shorts by Bilbo, modelled by - the local bank manager ?

Welsh surfers early 70s - does anyone recognise them ? Boards include a Bing at the front and Surfboards GB at the back.

Roger Mansfield at St Ouen, Jersey with short transitional board circa 1970 ? Great photo by Joe Bates, who's the lady ?

GB champs 1969, BSA chairman handing out prizes to ?, Roger Mansfield, Chris Jones and Alan MacBride.

Jersey's Barry Jenkins, 1970 - wakesurfing behind Jersey's pilot boat in Clarks shoes !