Foreign Trade Black Athletic Shorts Review: Inseam and Hem Opening on a Five-Point Cut

Two pairs of the Foreign Trade black athletic short reached our bench in the same week, one in size M and one in size L, both ordered against the same Weidian item ID. That gave us something the listing never offers: flat measurements, and a second pair to check them against. This review is about the geometry of the five-point cut rather than the sticker price, because the cut is the part a buyer can actually verify before freight is paid.

What the catalog entry carries, and what it leaves open

The entry is short and factual: SKU 7720570468, listed at $7.46 against an $8.51 original price, marked in stock, categorised under pants and filed as street style for summer. The specification block is empty. The weight field reads 0.00. There are no waist, hip or inseam figures anywhere on the page, and no independent buyer claims to cross-check fit against.

That is not unusual for a factory-source listing, but it changes the order of operations. With a documented product you choose a size from a chart. Here you choose a size from a conversation, or you copy the numbers below.

The listing describes a garment accurately enough to recognise it and not precisely enough to size it. Everything on this page that has a number in it came off our own tape and scale.

The five-point cut, measured

Five-point shorts end above the knee. In this polyester pair the leg is straight from hip to hem with no taper and no side split, so the hem opening stays close to the thigh measurement. We laid both pairs flat, let them rest for an hour, then measured.

Check (flat, relaxed)	Size M	Size L
Waist, unstretched	36.5 cm	39.0 cm
Waist, pulled to comfortable limit	44.0 cm	47.5 cm
Inseam	16.0 cm	16.5 cm
Front rise	29.0 cm	30.5 cm
Hem opening, one leg	27.0 cm	28.5 cm
Weight, our scale	193 g	206 g

The jump between sizes is roughly 2.5 cm at the waist and 1.5 cm at the hem, which is a narrower grade than many streetwear shorts we handle. Heavier buyers sitting between sizes will probably want the larger one; the elastic has enough give to hold a smaller waist, but the leg opening will not grow with it.

The stated slight stretch is real but modest. Pulled across the thigh, the weave gives a few centimetres and springs back; it is not a four-way athletic knit and should not be treated as one. The 16 cm inseam is the number to hold onto. If you already own a mid-thigh short you like, measure its inseam before ordering, because a two-centimetre difference here is the gap between above-the-knee and on-the-knee.

Print, patches and stitching up close

Under a raking lamp the script lettering across the front reads cleanly, with sharp edges and no pooling between letters. The lower-leg patches are stitched on all four sides rather than spot-tacked, which is the detail that keeps them from lifting after a few wears. Inside, the side seams are overlocked with no loose overhang, and the hem is turned and double-stitched to a band of roughly 2 cm. We found one loose thread at the left hem of the size L pair, trimmed with scissors, and no other faults.

The waistband is an encased elastic with a flat tape drawstring through two eyelets. The cord holds a knot under load and does not slip inside the channel when the waistband is stretched, which is the failure mode worth checking on shorts at this price.

Fit across two sizes, on two bodies

The M ran true against a 31-inch waist with room at the seat; the L fitted a 34-inch waist and sat slightly higher because of the extra rise. Neither pair pulled across the front when seated, and the straight leg stayed clear of the thigh through a full stride. The side-seam pockets take a phone without spilling it when standing, though a phone sits close to the hem when seated, which is a consequence of the short inseam rather than a construction fault.

Where the link chain needed a human step

The stable identifier across the chain is the item ID, 7720570468, which matches the SKU on the catalog entry. The catalog page is a description, not a checkout; the purchase happens on the agent listing, and the agent order form does not pre-fill colour or size from the catalog link. Both fields have to be set by hand, and the title names only black while the specification lists white, orange, green and black. Anyone ordering from the title alone is ordering a guess.

We ordered black twice and received black twice. That settles one colourway and says nothing about the other three, whose print placement is unverified.

What we could not close

• Durability. Two pairs, one season, no long-term wear history to report. Seam and print quality are what we can see, not what we can promise.
• The remaining colourways. White, orange and green are listed but never photographed in our hands, and a light colourway will show through at the pocket bag.
• Brand naming. The garment's own spec text names the maker as Chenshida, while the catalog files it under Foreign Trade, and the season appears as both 2024 and 2025 summer. Neither discrepancy changed the shorts on our bench, but both are worth a message to the seller before a bulk order.
• Published measurements. Still absent. Our table is the substitute, not a warranty of future production runs.

Our score: 4.0 / 5

On the five-point scale this is a good short with a thin listing attached: 5 excellent, 4 good, 3 adequate. The cut is consistent, the print and patches are executed properly for the money, and the fabric behaves the way the description claims. It stops at 4.0 because every number a buyer needs to size it had to be produced on our bench, and because a single colourway was all we could verify in hand. If a seller-supplied measurement chart appears, we will re-measure and log any change.