Soft Pants: The Post-Pandemic Benefit That’s Here to Stay

NYT OPINION: Soft Pants: The Post-Pandemic Benefit That’s Here to Stay
By David Mack
Section: Opinion
Source: New York Times
Published Date: May 13, 2023 at 03:00AM

Ditching “hard pants” is just another way that the pandemic has altered the fabric — literally — of our lives.

Less than three weeks into the March 2020 lockdowns in New York City, my boyfriend turned to me with a revelation he was having while in the snug living room that had become our co-working space, wine bar and prison chamber.

A finance lawyer who used to wear suits, he lately had found himself toiling in a series of baggy sweatpants and sweaters. (No judgment: I wore the same crusty, forest-green hoodie and gray sweats for over three days straight.) As we prepared to throw on some jeans to head to the grocery store, he told me he couldn’t remember the last time he had put on a pair of “hard pants.”

I shared his utterance on Twitter, the site on which I have wasted much of my life, and “hard pants” went viral. Dictionary.com even credited us with popularizing the term, although it’s been around in some form since at least 2009. It was probably my greatest cultural contribution to the pandemic — it may prove to be the most influential piece of writing I produce in my career.

Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/13/opinion/soft-hard-pants.html