Comfortable, Charming, and Perfect for Summer: Matching Father-Son and Father-Daughter Shorts from Alex Crane

OK, yes, I admit it, I’m a sucker for matching father-daughter or father-son outfits. And I will be for as long as I can – right up until the (likely) inevitable “Daaaaaaad! Not matching clothes again!” call out which, I’m guessing, is still a few years off.

My son and I have matching bathing suits from Tom & Teddy. I often match my t-shirt or button down to the color dress our daughter has picked out. We bought our son a little suit that matched my groomsman getup for a wedding a few years back. And so forth; point made.

So it was a sartorial high point of the early summer when I learned that one of my favorite brands of casual clothing had added a new line of kids’ shorts to the mix. The brand is Alex Crane, a small but growing Brooklyn-based clothing company started by a guy named – go figure – Alex Crane. 

They make sweaters and long pants and such, but the heart of Alex Crane is summer stuff. Think lightweight linen shirts and shorts, soft, easy-going colors, and a style that’s elegantly understated. I’ve worn my Alex Crane Bo Shorts, which are light, soft drawstring shorts made with sustainably-grown French linen and natural dyes, by the way, with a button down shirt and sandals when headed to a white tablecloth restaurant (in peak summer season, of course) and I’ve worn them with a faded t-shirt and sneakers when just hanging out.

And now I often wear Alex Crane Bo Shorts that match pairs my kids have, because just this summer the company started offering them in kids sizes. And in several colors and patterns, too, from a seersucker-style stripe to a dark blue “Dusk” color to a muted watermelon. The men’s shorts come in many more colors and patterns, for the record, but they are available in all of the kid colors and prints, and more to the point, you can tell by the fabric and fit that your family is decked out in the same apparel even when the colors and prints are different.

If we’re headed to the trail, we wear hiking gear. If we’re headed to the beach or the lake, we wear swimsuits. (And sun shirts!) But if we’re headed out for any decidedly more casual outing, if it’s summertime, more often than not at least one of us is wearing Alex Crane clothing. Or all of us.

Oh, and by the way, Alex Crane Bo Shorts come in a few options for women, too, so you can do a mom-and-son or mother-daughter outfit match, too.