Time to get your pants up
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
It may be that the economy will get better soon. It turns out young men are wearing their pant cuffs higher, and if that has the same effect on the economy as the raising of skirt hems, good times will be just around the corner.
We all know that when hemlines go up at the fall fashion shows, the economy improves. A chart comparing hemlines with the Gross Domestic Product shows this clearly. That sort of comparison hasn’t been made with pant cuffs, however.
The past couple of years, while the economy has been weakening, pant cuffs have been dragging on the ground, especially among the young. Pant bottoms are seen piled around ankles like laundry in a hamper. The cuffs are in tatters from being scuffed against pavement and the floors of fast-food restaurants.
Even the pant cuffs of $1,200 suits are looking disheveled. The pants of well-to-do stockbrokers and men who push grocery carts up the sidewalk are barely distinguishable from each other.
But all that may change. It looks like pant cuffs are on the rise. Instead of dragging along the ground, they may be showing some shoe, and may even start showing some ankle.
This will help the alterations business, because many men will go in and have their pants shortened rather than buying new pants merely for the sake of an inch or two less cuff. And many will buy new trousers, anyway.
Shoemakers also may benefit, because instead of wearing yesterday’s rubber-soled and dull-surfaced oxfords, shiny new loafers may be preferred, and would have to be purchased. And sock-makers are especially rubbing their hands together. Instead of white sweat socks, men may actually go back to buying hosiery that has color and style.
It is enough to make one want to click one’s heels.
