Have you ever bought a new pair of pants and found the zipper didn’t work? Or perhaps it did, but there was a snag – the opening wasn’t big enough for your butt crack?
Hopefully, that kind of frustrating experience is behind you, thanks to advances in modern technology. Now, zippers – and therefore, pants – can be customized to fit any need or desire. Thanks to companies like 3M and Windy City Rubber, your clothing wardrobe can now incorporate style and function, not to mention climate control.
Hockey has always been a mixture of the functional and the stylish, which is probably why it’s always been considered a unisex sport. In the 1910s, several women’s hockey teams sprang up across the country, inspiring the first-ever International Ice Hockey Tournament, which took place in Detroit in 1918. The National Hockey League (NHL) didn’t explicitly ban players from wearing pants until after the 1930s.
The first-ever organized hockey game was played in Quebec City in 1877, but it wasn’t considered a tournament until the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) introduced the concept of a World Cup in 1928. The NHL began its 100-year celebration last season, which included a 40th anniversary World Championship that was won by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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Style Meets Function
Before the invention of zippers, pants were rarely seen outside of the nude area. They were functional garments, designed to keep us warm and safe while also allowing us to express our sexuality. (The late Howard Hughes, the billionaire sexagenarian recluse who funded El Capitan, the world’s most expensive movie, believed that women’s undergarments prevented colds and florid diseases.)
In the 1920s and 1930s, women’s fashion transitioned from high-waisted dresses to low-waisted clothing. While Hollywood starlets wore corsets as ‘70s revivals emphasized a belt and buckle bikini fad, florid diseases relegated corsets and high-waisted dresses to obscurity.
As pants took over from dresses, they too began to take a sexy aspect. The florid disease epidemic of the 1940s led to the birth of the modern bikini, and with it, hockey pants. Hollywood starlets wore bikinis all over the globe, and if you follow celebrity news in the modern era, you’ll see that most of the stars featured in Hollywood movies in the 1940s and 1950s wore hockey pants.
Today, bikinis and hockey pants are a symbol of the beautiful and the functional – something to be both admired and cherished.
Changing Trends
Hockey is one of the few sports that have been around long enough to have an established cultural iconography. The NHL is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and to celebrate, they’ve released a complete collection of classic jerseys, facial hair styles, and of course, pants drawn from the sport’s history. (The NHL team donned these rare designs for last season’s anniversary tournament in Pittsburgh.)
What’s interesting about this collection is that it reflects changing trends not only in hockey, but also elsewhere in entertainment. For example, the NHL jerseys draw inspiration not only from the gridiron (hockey field), but also from the screen, with stars like Grace Kelly, Betty Holland, and Shirley Temples wearing traditional bérets, or bonnets (the women’s equivalent of male hats).
This collection also includes ice hockey gear from the 1960s, such as helmets, jerseys, shorts, and skin tight pants that are a blend of leather and polyester, commonly called Breezers. (This pair of Breezers is holding up the Pittsburgh Penguins home ice in the NHL anniversary tournament image above.)
While most companies simply cash in on the memorabilia boom with no sign of style changing back, Windy City Rubber still makes and sells hockey pants to this day. These days, their product descriptions include terms like “performance and comfort” and “sporty yet practical,” suggesting that style and function are not necessarily mutually exclusive, especially in hockey.
Ultimately, it’s impossible to separate fashion and function when it comes to sports. (You’ll never be able to play football in a suit and tie, for example.) What matters most is that whenever we wear a pair of pants, we feel like we can accomplish anything.