We ordered one pair of the Foreign Trade red shorts in size L, straight from the linked Weidian listing (SKU 7717539167) at $4.93, down from a $5.82 reference price. The listing showed the item in stock when we paid, and the parcel arrived as a single unbagged-then-bagged short with no hangtag and no care label inside the waistband. That last detail shaped the whole test: with no washing instructions to follow, we ran the gentlest cycle we would use on any thin polyester blend and recorded what moved.
Our focus here is the part of the listing a shopper cannot resolve from the photographs — how long the leg actually is, and what the waist does when you sit down. Those are the two questions the catalog copy leaves open, and the two we could answer with a tape measure and a chair.
What the listing says, and where it argues with itself
The translated specification fields describe a mid-rise, straight-leg short in a thin polyester and spandex cloth, closed with a drawstring and no belt, finished with side pockets and a straight hem. Sizes run M to 4XL. Six colours are actually named — red, fluorescent green, beige grey, light purple, black and white — even though the presentation reads as though there are more.
Two conflicts matter more than the colour count:
- Leg length. One field names a mid-thigh short; another describes the cut as a long-tube trouser style. Those cannot both be true of the same garment, and no inseam figure is published anywhere on the page.
- Stretch. The material-function field claims high stretch; the elasticity field says slight stretch. Our tape sided with the first, but only when pulled hard.
There are no buyer comments and no published measurements, so every number below is our own reading from the pair in our hands, not a seller figure.
Flat measurements, before and after one cold wash
We taped the shorts flat on the bench before the first wear, then repeated every reading after one cold machine wash and a line dry. The pair was weighed down only by its own drawcord, so treat these as garment readings, not a graded size chart.
| Measurement (size L, flat) | Before first wear | After wash and line dry |
|---|---|---|
| Waist, relaxed | 38 cm | 38.5 cm |
| Waist, pulled firmly | 50 cm | 49.5 cm |
| Front rise | 30 cm | 30 cm |
| Inseam | 14 cm | 13.5 cm |
| Leg opening, flat | 30 cm | 30 cm |
| Outseam | 45 cm | 44.5 cm |
The waist gave roughly 32 percent when pulled, which is a genuine high-stretch performance and closer to the material field than the elasticity field. Relaxed, it returned to within half a centimetre after hanging for thirty seconds. Shrinkage over one cold wash was under a centimetre in the length and nothing measurable across the hem, so the pair is not a one-wash gamble — but one wash is not a season.
The seated working day
Desmond wore the red pair for a full seated working day, roughly seven hours in a task chair with two standing breaks, and logged the waist every hour. The drawstring closure is the only thing holding the waist, so the short lives or dies on that cord and on how the mid-rise band behaves when the hip flexes.
What we found: the band stayed put through the first four hours, then crept down about two centimetres at the back by mid-afternoon. Nothing dramatic, nothing exposed, but a wearer who prefers a high, locked waist will notice it. The cord held its knot through every stand-and-sit cycle without slipping, and the two cord ends are long enough to tie double, which is the sensible configuration. There is no elasticated back panel and no belt loops, so once the cord loosens there is no second line of defence.
On stairs, a bicycle saddle and a grocery run, the pockets did their job without dumping contents — the side pockets are shallow enough that a phone sits high, not deep in the leg, and we would not trust them with anything heavier than a phone and keys.
Hem length across three heights
This is where the "long-tube" description falls apart. Our 14 cm inseam puts the hem squarely in mid-thigh territory on all three panel members, and the difference between them is how much thigh is left below it.
- 165 cm wearer: hem lands mid-thigh, roughly a hand's width above the knee. Reads as a classic casual short and works with a plain tee.
- 178 cm wearer: hem sits slightly higher relative to the knee and the straight leg opening starts to look boxy rather than relaxed.
- 191 cm wearer: distinctly short — upper thigh, with visible length lost to the rise. This wearer would want a size up for comfort but would still be wearing a short short.
None of the three found the hem riding up during walking. All three said the same thing in different words: this is a short, not a knee-length casual bottom, and the listing's long-tube wording should not be read as extra length.
Fabric, dry time and the breathable claim
The cloth is noticeably thin and light in the hand, with a faint sheen on the red face. Held to a window it passes light easily, which supports the summer-weight framing. On a warm afternoon it stayed comfortable through a walk and dried on the line in under an hour; the same thinness means it clings slightly at the seat after a long sit in humid weather. We cannot verify breathability with a bench number, so we are reporting how it felt rather than converting the claim into a figure.
The more useful caution is the wash. Our red pair released colour into the water on the first cold cycle — enough to tint the water, not enough to stain the white tee we washed beside it, though we would not repeat that experiment. Wash red alone, cold, and skip the dryer.
Colour and sizing notes before you order
The red is a saturated, slightly warm tone that reads bright in daylight and less so indoors. It pairs easily with white, ecru or washed black and fights with most other saturated colours. The five other named colourways are given as a list only, with no separate photographs on the page we ordered from, so finish and shade for those remain unconfirmed.
On sizing: order from your waist measurement plus roughly 10 cm of stretch, not from your usual letter size, and ask the seller for a flat waist and inseam reading in your target size before paying. The listing publishes neither, and the two stretch claims cannot both be right.
Our position after two weeks: the shorts do what a $4.93 summer short needs to do, and the listing does a poor job of telling you what you are getting. Buy the length you measure, not the length the copy implies.
Was funktioniert
- Thin, quick-drying cloth that suits hot days and line dries in under an hour.
- Drawcord only, but the knot held through a full seated working day.
- Waist stretched about 32 percent and recovered within half a centimetre.
Worauf achten
- No published inseam, and the mid-thigh and long-tube descriptions contradict each other.
- Waist crept down about two centimetres at the back by mid-afternoon.
- Red bled into the water on the first cold wash; no care label supplied.
- Redaktionsnote
- 4.2 / 5
So haben wir geprüft
Desmond wore the red size L for four full days inside the two-week window, including one seated working day, with three panel members at 165, 178 and 191 cm. Flat measurements were taken before the first wear and repeated after one cold wash and line dry.
Quellen und Hinweise
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Catalog product page
Product listing verified on 2026-11-01.
Häufige Fragen
- What inseam did you measure on the size L pair?
- Fourteen centimetres flat, dropping to 13.5 cm after one cold wash. That sits mid-thigh on a 178 cm wearer and higher on taller frames, so the listing's long-tube wording overstates the length.
- Does the drawstring waist stay up without a belt?
- Mostly. The knot held through a seven-hour seated day, but the back of the band crept down about two centimetres by afternoon. There are no belt loops, so the cord is the only closure.
- How should the red pair be washed?
- Cold, on its own. Our first cycle released enough dye to tint the water, though it did not stain a white tee washed beside it. There is no care label in the waistband, so we avoided the dryer entirely.