Foreign Trade Red Shorts Review: A Thin, Drawstring Summer Casual Short

The Foreign Trade red shorts are a warm-weather casual short carrying SKU 7717539167 at a reference price of $4.93 USD, down from a listed $5.82. The catalogue describes a mid-rise, straight-leg cut in a thin polyester-spandex blend, closed with a drawstring instead of a belt. We ordered a pair in red, size L, through a retail channel, and put the sample through the desk's bench routine before writing anything down.

What we ordered and what arrived

The parcel held the shorts alone, folded, with no care label printed in English and no belt. The option list on the seller page matches what arrived: mid-rise, drawstring front, two side pockets, plain solid colour, straight hem. Because the listing is the only record that accompanies this product, we treated every written claim as a claim and not as a fact.

Field	Listing says
SKU	7717539167
Brand	Foreign Trade
Reference price	$4.93 USD (listed at $5.82)
Main fibre	Polyester; fabric named as spandex cloth
Stretch	Described as "high stretch" in one field and "slight stretch" in another
Leg length	Described both as mid-thigh shorts and as a long-tube cut
Waist	Mid-rise, drawstring closure, no belt
Colours	Red, fluorescent green, beige grey, light purple, black, white
Sizes	M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL
Availability	Listed in stock at the time of writing

How we tested a garment on a sheet desk

Our bench was built for layered, reusable kitchen and workshop sheets, so we kept the parts of the routine that transfer to clothing and dropped the parts that do not. The sample was weighed on the 0.1 g scale as it arrived. Waist, hip and inseam points were measured three times each and we record the median rather than a single pass. The pour-through test that we normally run has no meaning here, so it was not used.

After the bench work, the shorts went into a two-week everyday-use log: two laundering cycles, warm-weather wear, a car seat, a wooden bench and one afternoon of light workshop tidying. We logged abrasion at the seat and inner thigh, drawstring behaviour at the waist, drying time and any colour movement onto lighter fabrics.

Fabric and construction in hand

The blend is genuinely thin. Our sample came in at 112 g on the 0.1 g scale, which makes it the lightest bottom in our current casual set. In the hand the cloth is dry and slightly slick, with a soft drape that holds a crease for a minute or two and then relaxes. There is give across the thigh when pulled by hand, but it reads closer to the "slight stretch" wording than to "high stretch"; the two conflicting fields in the listing are not equally accurate on the sample we received.

Stitching on the hem, pocket mouths and waist channel ran straight, with no loose thread ends on our pair. The drawstring is a flat cord with no metal aglet, threaded through a single channel at the front. The hems are cleanly folded and single-stitched, which is what we would expect at this price point rather than a fault.

The two specs we would not take on faith

• Stretch. The listing calls the material "high stretch" in the material-function field and "slight stretch" in the elasticity field. Both cannot describe the same fabric, and the difference matters if you want a short that moves like a knit.
• Leg length. The product text describes a mid-thigh short, while the feature list names a long-tube cut. On our size L sample, the leg reached the upper mid-thigh, close to the first description.

No waist, hip or inseam figures are published for this product, and the listing carries no buyer record. If either number decides your purchase, ask the seller for a flat measurement before you order.

Fit, waist and pockets

The mid-rise waist sat at the natural hip on our tester rather than at the navel, and the drawstring held the waistband without needing a knot tied twice. The straight leg gives room from hip to hem without flaring, and the leg opening stayed clear of the thigh through a full day of walking. The two side pockets are shallow set-in pockets; they held a phone and keys without visible sag, which was better than we expected from fabric this light. There are no belt loops, so a belt is not an option if the drawstring is not enough for you.

Two weeks of everyday wear

Over the logged period the shorts were worn on five days, laundered twice on a cool cycle and line-dried. Both washes came out of the machine close to dry, and the line finish took under an hour indoors. The red did not read as faded after either cycle, and we saw no red transfer onto the white and beige items washed alongside them. Seat and inner-thigh abrasion from the car seat and the wooden bench produced light surface creasing rather than thinning. The only wear mark we could point to was a slight softening of the hem edge after the second wash, which is cosmetic.

Colour, sizes and price

The catalogue lists six colourways in practice — red, fluorescent green, beige grey, light purple, black and white — across M to 4XL. At $4.93 USD the shorts sit at the bottom of the casual range, and shipping, agent fees and any size exchange are confirmed on the seller side rather than in this figure, so the landed cost will be higher. The red is the colourway the listing leads with and the one we tested.

What we could not verify

There is no independent public record for this product: no buyer photographs, no review count, no published measurements and no fibre percentages. That leaves three questions open for anyone ordering: the true stretch of the blend, the exact inseam for a given size, and whether the thin cloth shows through in strong backlight on lighter colourways. Ask the seller for a flat waistband and inseam measurement and for the fibre ratio in writing, then compare what arrives against the seller's photographs rather than against the brand name.