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"What Is a Board Shirt?"
The board shirt is one of the most iconic garments in American fashion — but if you didn't grow up on the California coast, you might not know exactly what makes one a board shirt, or why it's called that in the first place.
The Origin of the Name
The term "board shirt" comes from surfing. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, surfers in Southern California needed something warm and durable to wear while carrying their boards to the water and layering up during cool coastal mornings. Pendleton's wool shirts — already popular in the Pacific Northwest for outdoor work — turned out to be perfect for the job. They were warm, tough, and could take a beating.
Surfers started wearing them unbuttoned over their swim trunks. The shirts got associated with surfboards, the beach, and the culture growing up around both. The name stuck.
What Makes a Board Shirt a Board Shirt
Not every plaid shirt is a board shirt. The authentic Pendleton board shirt has specific design details that define it: bias-cut chest pockets that lie flat rather than pulling the fabric, a soft turndown collar without stiffeners, a square hem cut to wear untucked, and a slightly relaxed fit designed for layering. The wool is 100% virgin — woven in Pendleton's own American mills.
These details haven't changed much in 70 years. That consistency is intentional. The design works.
See the styles that started it all — including throwbacks inspired by original 1950s and 60s designs. Shop Archive-Inspired Board Shirts →
From the Beach to the Street
By the early 1960s, the board shirt had crossed over from surf culture into the broader California youth scene. The Beach Boys wore them on album covers. Chicano communities in East LA and the South Bay adopted them as a staple of lowrider culture, pairing them with khakis and Stacy Adams shoes — a look that became iconic in its own right and remains influential today.
At McKenna's in Torrance, we've served both sides of that culture since 1986. Customers come in for surf heritage and for the lowrider tradition alike — and the board shirt sits comfortably at the center of both.
Why It's Still Relevant
Fashion cycles. The board shirt doesn't. It's been reinterpreted, rediscovered, and adopted by new generations repeatedly — because the underlying design is genuinely good. Wool that breathes. A fit that works. A look that doesn't date.
If you're new to board shirts, the best place to start is with a classic colorway — a clean ombre or a traditional plaid that gives you the authentic experience before you branch into the archive styles.
