Introducing the El Court Short

The life of a professional beach volleyball player couldn't get much sweeter: work is a game, the office is a beach, and the uniform is a pair of board shorts. Given those near-ideal circumstances, we felt mildly ridiculous reaching out to elite North American men's teams to ask how different gear might elevate their experience of the game. As we got into conversation with the guys though, we learned something unexpected: the players were unable to find a short designed specifically for beach volleyball and have been making do with swim trunks that, on the court, are hot, sweaty, and hard to move in. Needless to say, that feedback got our wheels turning.

The man tasked with building a sport-specific short was Men’s designer London Alexander, who before this project, had spent exactly zero minutes thinking about beach volleyball. Undaunted, Alexander embraced his beginner's mind, seeing the game and the gear with fresh eyes and no attachment to “how things are done”.

Using our El Current Short as a starting point, Alexander approached his design as though it was a piece of equipment, rather than a piece of clothing. “My process was about taking things step by step to get to the end solve, and not overcomplicating it.”

“We sweat a lot and we get hot”

To tackle the hot-and-sweaty issue, Alexander combed our library of over 1000 fabrics for one that's lightweight but also treated with a durable water-repellent finish so the short won't absorb sweat and become heavy or stick to skin.

“We need to move without restriction”

To increase mobility, Alexander added a Mesh fabric gusset. Mesh fabric has more stretch to it than the rest of the short, making way for beach volleyball’s deep squats and quick digs.

“I wanted to give them something unexpected”

Not content with merely solving the issues laid out by the athletes, Alexander turned his attention to creating a surprise element on the short. “From watching videos of games on YouTube, I realized that these guys were wasting time and focus running back and forth to the side to wipe the sand off their hands and arms.” That’s when he came up with the idea to bring the towel not just onto the court, but onto the short. Alexander tricked out the El Court Short with microfiber side panels that have laser perforations for breathability and silicon dots that are ideal for rubbing sweat and sand off hands during games.

After more than 80 hours spent researching, designing, prototyping, sweat testing, and refining—it's finally time, gents—meet the El Court Short. A few simple but powerful design modifications resulted in a short that is ideal for beach-volleyball specific movements and the reality of playing a sport in the hot sun on the sand.

Fueled by his crash course in beach volleyball, Alexander found that staying laser-focused on the demands of the sport and the needs of the athlete led to the win. “It was about how we could enhance the experience for the athlete through the little details,” Now, which way to the beach?

Curious about the life of a lululemon designer? Follow London Alexander on Instagram.