Note: these were provided free for review.
Living in Houston can quickly make you appreciate a good pair of workout shorts, and also quickly exposes the shorts that are more hype than performant. When Western Rise let us know they had new active wear coming out, I personally could not wait. I’ve been testing their Movement Short during my workouts in 100°+ F weather, and they have been great.
Material
These are 100% polyester and come in at a feather weight of 94gsm. Western Rise has also applied a DWR coating to them, which gives a nice bit of water repellence to the setup. While these shorts have no spandex built in, Western Rise does note that they have mechanical stretch. In my experience when companies say this, you can expect very little stretch, but on the movement shorts I was surprised to learn there was no spandex in the material — because they do have stretch. Albeit very firm stretch, they do stretch.
The overall hand feel on this is fantastic. The shorts feel smooth but a little soft to the touch and I really like the material.
Fit & Style
These are workout/athletic shorts, so we can skip over the style portion this go round. Instead, the fit on these is fantastic.
I got my standard large size and they fit really well. Snug enough that I don’t need to use the drawstring, even with a phone in my pocket, while also not feeling too tight at any point. My thighs have ample room to freely move and breathe, while the leg openings are not so large that you risk any ‘exposure’. Which is not important in the likeliness of it happening so much as the mental security it gives for people used to wearing a short with a longer inseam. At 7” this is a shorter inseam which helps to keep you cool, and give you full range of motion.
This is also shorter than many guys are comfortable wearing. Personally I think these are cut really nicely and fit well.
Performance
I tested these during my normal Ruck style workouts, in 95°F+ temperatures with the humidity soaring. In other words: I wore these working hard in the hottest climate I can safely handle. They performed extremely well, better than any shorts I have ever tested before.
They dry really fast, and they never seem to collect moisture. The few drops water streaming from my face when taking a drink never stayed on the shorts, and in fact no matter the sweat coming off my body, the shorts themselves never looked sweaty and gross.
They also come out of the washer almost wrinkle free and ready to go (what you see in the pics is the shorts after they spent the night wadded up in a ball in the corner of my backpack). The front pockets work well and don’t reduce the breathability of the shorts at all. The added zippered pocket on the left side is a nice add, especially for those not working out with a backpack to store their stuff.
Lastly, as you might expect given the material, these shorts weigh nothing. They are surprisingly light weight, and really I think my boxer shorts weigh more than these. It’s impressive.
Overall
I love these shorts. Not only are they going to be my go to shorts for active use, but I see no reason not to always pack them in my bag when (if) I travel again. They perform great, and get by in a pinch as a swimsuit, and take up no room while adding essentially no weight.
Highly recommended.
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