From short +‎ clothes.

shortclothes pl (plural only)

1. (dated or historical) A covering for the legs of men or boys, consisting of trousers which reach to the knees, similar to modern-day shorts.

   Shortclothes were worn with long stockings.

• “shortclothes”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.