The DIY (dye-it-yourself) short is prepared for dye and ready for you to make them your own. You can tub dye them to match your favorite skates or sneakers, tie-dye them to get a little funky, or plant dye them using foraged plants…the possibilities are endless! 💭
How to dye
There is no one way to dye your Hammies but most methods involve these three steps:
- Scour or pre-wash: Even though your Hammies are brand new, you want the fabric to be clean of oil, dust, and even fingerprints before dying because these can affect how the fabric absorbs dye. You can use a professional textile detergent but any old detergent will do.
- Dye: There are many different types of dye and dying techniques. If you're dying for the first time or interested in an easy, inexpensive, and predictable type of dye, we recommend reactive dyes (specifically Procion dyes from Dharma Trading). If you're interested in going deeper, you can try natural/plant dye (a good place to start is with pre-reduced indigo from Dharma Trading). As for techniques, there is tub dye (for solid colors), tie-dye, ice dye, transfer dye, discharge, etc. Most methods require a fixer such as soda ash to fix the color and prevent it from washing out.
- Wash: After you're done dying, it's very important to wash it out so that you don't accidentally dye the rest of your clothes! Most techniques involve rinsing with cool water until the water runs clear and then washing with hot water and detergent by itself (or at the least with very dark colors that won't be affected by the dye that you used). We suggest washing and drying on a hot cycle to shrink them to size.
It isn't difficult or expensive to dye your own Hammies and after you dye your first pair, odds are you will start dying everything in sight! 😸
The DIY shorts will fit about a half size too large before you dye them. See our notes about "sizing" below.
If you have questions, send us a message using the chat in the bottom-right corner and we will be happy to help 👍
History
The Hammies short is an old short for a new generation. This short style was popularized in the 1970s in Southern California and for a decade it was the staple of skateboarders, surfers, rollerskaters, camp counselors, Tom Selleck, and many more. In the mid-1980s, shorts got longer and pants got baggier and for the proceeding 3 decades, the shorts were forgotten (a period also known as The Shorts Dark Ages). Fast-forward to 2017: Hammies has revived the once forgotten shorts in all of their primary-colored and wide-waled corduroy glory and once again, all was right with the world.
In short, the Hammies short is a homage to a time when shorts were shorter, fuzzier, and more colorful. These are your dad's shorts!
- 🌱 Stretch corduroy (98% cotton, 2% elastic)
- 📏 3" inseam
- 🤸♂️ Elastic waist
- 💎 Copper snap
Sizing
The DIY shorts will shrink after the first wash and dry, but we are seeing that they shrink differently for different people. Expect the waist and rise to fit 1-2" bigger than a normal pair of Hammies. If you have a pair of normal Hammies and there is a little room in them, we suggest sizing down in this batch of DIY shorts. We have adjusted our DIY pattern based on feedback from customers so that our next batch of DIY Hammies will fit truer after shrinking.
Hammies sizing is based on US pants sizing (size 32 means 32-inch waist), so if you wear a size 32 in jeans, then you're a size 32 in Hammies. If you don't know your waist size, measure the waist of your favorite jeans in inches and multiply that by 2 (16" across x 2 = 32"). If you're in between sizes, we suggest sizing down. e in between sizes, we suggest sizing down.
Don't see your size? We are introducing more sizes and we want to include you! Fill out our Size Survey so that we know what size to make 👍
Free shipping
Use discount code DOUBLEDOWN to get free shipping worldwide on orders of $120 (USD) or more 🎉
Free exchanges
If the shorts don't fit like you expect, you can swap them out for a different size and we will cover the return shipping (US customers only) 👌
See our exchange and return policy for details.