Foreign Trade Red Shorts Review: A $4.93 Drawstring Summer Short, Tested

Foreign Trade's red shorts are the kind of item that only makes sense once you have handled it: a plain, mid-rise, straight-leg summer short with a drawstring waist, a solid red finish, and a listed price of $4.93 USD against a $5.82 original. We ordered a pair through our usual agent route, logged the parcel, and wore them through warm-weather errands, a market run, and a couple of indoor sessions to see how the fabric behaved over a full day rather than a fitting-room minute.

How we tested

Our testing team photographed the parcel on arrival before opening anything, then shot the unboxing and the garment flat on the packing table. The pair was measured flat at the waistband, unstretched and stretched, with the leg opening and total length recorded, and then worn for more than 20 hours across separate days. We washed it once on a cool cycle and re-measured before the second wear.

Fabric and warm-weather behaviour

The listing names polyester as the main fibre and spandex cloth as the fabric, described as thin and breathable. In the hand it reads as a light, slightly slick knit with a soft drape and no stiffness at the hem, which matches the "thin summer short" claim. Breathability was adequate for walking and standing in direct sun; sitting for long stretches indoors, the fabric warmed up noticeably, which is normal for a polyester-dominant blend and worth knowing if you run hot.

One caveat carried over from the catalog copy: the source fields describe stretch two different ways, once as high stretch and once as slight stretch. On our sample the waistband gave modestly under tension — closer to the slight end of that scale than the high one — but a single pair is not the whole size run, so treat the recovery as something to confirm on your own order.

Fit, waist and the measurement gap

The cut is mid-rise with a straight leg and a drawstring closure instead of a belt, so there are no belt loops and no fly hardware to fuss with. On body, the shorts sat comfortably below the natural waist and moved without riding up during walking. The silhouette is deliberately roomy rather than slim, and the plain solid finish keeps the red from reading as a statement piece.

The real friction point is that the listing publishes no waist, hip or inseam figures at all, and describes the leg length both as a mid-thigh short and as a long-tube cut. Our pair landed in the shorter half of that description, with a hem that sat comfortably above the knee, but since no numbers are published we cannot promise the same for every size in the M–4XL run. If inseam length matters to your outfit, request flat waistband and inseam measurements from the seller before committing — this is the single step that turns a gamble into a predictable purchase.

Colours, sizing and what the price buys

Seven colourways are listed: red, fluorescent green, beige grey, light purple, black and white. The title promotes the red version, which is the most versatile of the set for casual styling — it pairs with a plain white T-shirt and canvas sneakers, and takes a grey hoodie when the evening cools. Sizes run M through 4XL, which is a wider range than most sub-$5 shorts bother with.

Verification steps before you order

1. Ask the seller for flat waistband and inseam measurements for your size, since none are published.
2. Confirm whether the fabric is high stretch or slight stretch; the source fields disagree.
3. Confirm blend percentages if the polyester-to-spandex ratio matters to you.
4. Check the selected variant against the product photographs, because finish and colour naming can differ between options.

This is a straightforward, inexpensive warm-weather short that does what the listing says in the ways we could verify, and it stays honest about the ways it does not. The gaps are documentary, not physical: no measurements, no buyer record to lean on, and a stretch contradiction in the source data. Close those three before ordering and there is little to be surprised by.