Summertime: time for Vintage.

We just got a little hell (see comments) for passing along a slideshow of eco-responsible swimsuits via Treehugger. Most of the comments railed, rightly I guess, at some of the prices. I said, well, if a fashionista spends her green dough on overpriced stuff that’s better for our planet, that’s Made in the USA, that’s fair labor…that better than spending dough on something bad for our Earth, bad for the laborers, shipping all over the place. Still, it’s hard not to see their point: spending big bucks on little swim suits? There’s gotta be better things to do with our green.

But one of the comments, I agreed with wholeheartedly. It echoed my own complaint—why no men’s swimsuits? Not even one?

Look, I’m a gent, and I like to wear eco-responsible duds…why zilch-all for me and my brothers?

Simple: men don’t spend.

Fact is, for years I ran ecofashion shoots for our elephant magazine, and it was always difficult to find ecofashion for the boys. Fact is, we don’t deserve too much ecofashion—I myself bought two pairs of American Apparel trunks a few years back (above), maybe $20 each (one was found used), and one vintage pair of swimtrunks, which are short, cut straight like old school James Bond in Thunderball style—and that’s been pullenty.

So, here’s the greenest swimsuit of ’em all, men: go vintage. You can find great board shorts, great swim trunks, whatever you like—at your local Buffalo Exchange or thrift store.