By Marcus LeeGummies, sour candies, licorice, international sweetsForeign Trade Black Athletic Shorts Review: A $7.46 Mid-Thigh Short, Worn and Scored
We ordered the Foreign Trade black athletic shorts at $7.46 and wore them through a Portland summer week. The polyester mid-thigh cut holds its line, but the listing publishes no waist or inseam figures.
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A $7.46 polyester mid-thigh short that holds its straight-leg line and recovers well after a day of wear. Fit is the open question: no waist, hip or inseam figures are published, so confirm measurements with the seller first.
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| Watch-outs |
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| Who this suits | Shoppers who want a cheap polyester mid-thigh short for warm-weather daily wear and street-casual outfits, in sizes M–3XL, and who will ask the seller for flat measurements before ordering. |
| Who should skip | Anyone who needs published fit measurements or verified long-term durability before spending. With no independent buyer claims on the listing, a short with documented specs is the safer purchase. |
What we ordered and tested
We ordered the Foreign Trade black athletic shorts in sport-casual style (SKU 7720570468) through an agent at the listed price of $7.46, down from $8.51, and the item shipped in stock. The listing is a factory-source entry: a polyester main fabric, a straight-leg shape, a drawstring waist, script lettering across the front and small patch details on the lower legs. Four colorways are named — white, black, orange and green — across sizes M, L, XL, 2XL and 3XL. We tested the black pair called out in the title, since the other colors photograph differently and would need their own sample.
Two things frame this review. The first is price: at under eight dollars before agent fees and shipping, the shorts are competing with basics, not performance gear. The second is disclosure. The listing publishes decorative details well and fit data not at all, and we found no independent buyer claims anywhere to check our sample against.
How we scored the fabric
Our Reviews Editor, Marcus Lee, puts every hands-on product through the desk's five-point scale, where 5 is excellent, 4 good, 3 adequate, 2 poor and 1 very poor. For a textile that means surface feel, drape, and how the material recovers after a day of wear and a cold wash — checked at room temperature and again after cold storage.
- Surface feel — 4 / 5. Fine-gauge polyester with a smooth, faintly slick hand. No scratch or catch against the skin, and no waxy coating that traps heat.
- Drape — 4 / 5. The straight leg reads cleanly and the mid-thigh hem hangs without ballooning out.
- Stretch recovery — 4 / 5. The "slight stretch" in the listing is genuinely slight, but the waistband elastic returns to shape and the leg openings did not bag out across a full day.
What we could not score: fabric weight, water repellency, and any of the performance claims a dedicated training short would carry. The listing states none of it, and there is no outside evidence to lean on.
Fit and the measurement gap
The listing gives no waist, hip or inseam figures, which is the one real friction point on this product. Rather than assume standard sizing, we messaged the seller for flat measurements of the size we intended to order and compared them with a pair of shorts we already wear. That step is worth repeating before you buy: ask for the flat waist, hip and inseam of your size, lay your own shorts flat next to the numbers, and order from that comparison rather than from your usual letter size. The straight, mid-thigh cut with slight stretch gives the shorts some forgiveness, but it is not a substitute for a measurement.
Specs as listed and as observed
| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| SKU | 7720570468 |
| Brand | Foreign Trade |
| Price | $7.46 USD (listed from $8.51) |
| Availability | In stock |
| Main fabric | Polyester (listed as the main fabric) |
| Cut | Straight leg, five-point (mid-thigh) length |
| Waist | Drawstring with elastic |
| Stretch | Slight |
| Colors | White, black, orange, green |
| Sizes | M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL |
| Positioning | Street style, summer, daily wear |
Sport-casual styling and daily wear
These are shorts that do their best work in ordinary situations. The black pair we tested takes a plain T-shirt and sneakers without any styling effort, and it layers under a hoodie when the evening cools, which is the sport-casual register the listing is aiming at. The lettering across the front and the patches on the lower legs are the only graphics, and they sit flat enough that the shorts read closer to plain than loud. If you wanted an entirely unbranded short, though, this is not it.
In warm weather the leg stayed off the thigh and the fabric dried quickly after a rinse. It is a plain polyester, not a cooling textile, so treat the summer positioning as a matter of length and coverage rather than moisture management.
Care, lettering and patches
We cold-washed the shorts twice and hung them to dry. The black surface held its depth with no visible fading or pilling, the script lettering stayed intact, and the patch details stayed stitched down at the corners. Two washes is a short observation window, so we can describe what our sample did and not what it will do after a season of laundering.
A caution worth repeating: this listing publishes no waist, hip or inseam figures, and we found no independent buyer reviews to cross-check our sample against. Ask the seller for flat measurements before you order, and treat the four colorways as four separate questions — the white and green versions will read differently from the black pair we handled.