Several years ago I took note of yet another South Whidbey phenomenon. Men in shorts. Not men who wear shorts during the traditional short-wearing months of April through September, but men who wear shorts year-round.
Weather be damned for these brave boys! Neither rain, wind, sleet nor snow will stop these dudes from donning their duds of choice.
Kim Hoelting of Clinton is a colorful example of men in shorts. The 53-year-old wood specialist sports shorts 12 months of the year and thinks nothing of his fashion statement. On a chilly Thursday morning he arrives at The Smilin’ Dog in Bayview dressed true to form: a grey hooded sweatshirt topping off green knee-length shorts.
“The shorts have nothing to do with my legs!” laughs Hoelting when I enquire about his tan gams. Modest about his past athletic prowess (he was a University of Washington track star, and a runner-up for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich), he denies that his still shapely legs are the reason he wears shorts.
“I started wearing shorts all the time about 10-15 years ago,” said the year-round hiker and outdoorsman. Initially people raised an eyebrow or two, as if to ask “What are you doing wearing shorts?” But the sense of freedom he experienced outweighed any weird glances, and the shorts soon became a trademark.
When I mention that he belongs to an elite group of South Whidbey men wearing shorts (Clancy Dunigan and Rocky Knickerbocker come to mind), he quickly adds two more: Greg Gilles and Niall Twomey. And of course, those fashion forward UPS drivers.
According to Dan McMackin, PR manager for UPS in Atlanta, his company started distributing shorts to its drivers in 1994. Citing safety (don’t wanna cut those cute legs!) and image as considerations, nearly 200,000 pairs of shorts are issued regularly. “Our drivers love them,” said McMackin, a former UPS driver from Wisconsin.
So is there a special bond between men in shorts? Hoelting ponders the question, slowly measuring his words while he strokes his grey speckled goatee. “There is this kind of funny reaction,” he says. ” ‘Oh, you’re one of those.’ ”
Although Hoelting pulls on a pair of overalls when he goes to work (he’s an artist/builder specializing in salvaged West Coast softwoods), the rest of the time it’s shorts. Well, except when he attends church or dines at a special restaurant, then he’ll break down and wear long pants — keeping a pair of shorts in the car for later.
“I can’t wait to get back in that mode — I feel too bound up,” says Hoelting about traditional pants. “I always feel like I’m on vacation when I wear shorts … and the emotional freedom that comes with it,” he explains.
On the rare occasions when he takes in a movie at The Clyde Theatre, Hoelting admits to wearing his “nice” shorts. And if the event is extra-special and short friendly, he’ll combine his very best shorts with a flowered pink Hawaiian shirt. Fashion emergencies are not in this guy’s vocabulary.
So how many pairs of shorts does he keep in his drawers? Surprisingly, only three to four pairs. Which simply means that no matter what’s in the laundry pile, the shorts get thrown in the washer first.
The discussion soon turns philosophical, and Hoelting declares that wearing shorts this time of year is also a tongue-in-cheek reaction to all the snowbirds heading south and folks flying off to Mexico or Hawaii.
“It really doesn’t have anything to do with shorts,” says Hoelting about his preferred pant of choice. “It’s a way of poking fun at the rigidity of social rites — more of a whimsical as opposed to an arrogant attitude.”
No surprise. After all, legend has it that Kim Hoelting was the first person at the University of Washington to ride a bicycle while wearing a backpack.
You can bet he was wearing shorts, too.
UPS BROWNIE POINTS: Jim Casey founded United Parcel Service in Seattle in 1907. He selected “Pullman” brown for uniforms and delivery vehicles in 1916, the same brown that was used on Pullman rail cars.
The reason? The color reflected class, elegance and professionalism — and dirt is less visible on brown uniforms and vehicles. According to UPS, today it takes 1,673,000 yards of brown cloth and 175,000 miles of brown thread to outfit UPS’s 78,000 drivers. That’s 188,000 hats, 459,000 shirts, 303,000 trousers and 192,000 pairs of shorts. That much material requires a two-year advance order.
Sue Frause can be reached by e-mail at skfrause@whidbey.com.
