Dior Black Athletic Shorts Review: Mesh Lining, No Inner Brief and a Waistband That Stays Put

Dior's black athletic short is a loose, mid-rise training piece built around an allover white print that mixes paisley motifs with basketballs, stars and clover shapes. The listing, SKU 7720477516, puts it at a reference price of $7.91 USD against a $9.17 original, in stock, in six colorways running from S to XXXL. We ordered the black version in size L and put it through our 10-point clothing fit check, adapted for shorts.

What arrived and how we tested it

Our testing team takes fit seriously enough to measure twice and log everything in the shared log. For a short, the 10-point check becomes waist, rise, inseam, outseam, leg opening, hem drape, print alignment where the side panels meet the front, waistband recovery, lining behaviour and care response. A reviewer should be able to reproduce our numbers with a tape and a flat table, so that is what we published below.

Beyond the tape, the sample went through a sprint session on a track and a cycling commute, followed by a cold wash and an air dry. Fabric weight was taken on a kitchen scale before wear.

Fit measurements from our size-L sample

All figures are flat measurements in centimetres, taken before wear on a garment that had already been washed once. The listing permits 1–2 cm of variance, so anything inside that band is a pass in our notes.

Measurement (size L, flat)	Listed	Our sample	Difference
Waist, relaxed	40 cm	38.5 cm	−1.5 cm
Front rise	28 cm	27.5 cm	−0.5 cm
Inseam	14 cm	14 cm	0 cm
Outseam	43 cm	44 cm	+1 cm
Leg opening	33 cm	34 cm	+1 cm

The waistband sits at mid-rise and, in our sample, was the only measurement meaningfully off in a direction that matters. It still sat on the hip through a sprint set without needing a second knot, but someone between two sizes should size up rather than assume the chart is generous. The relaxed, loose cut gives plenty of room through the thigh, and the leg opening stayed clear of the knee on a 178 cm tester.

The mesh lining and the missing inner brief

This is the detail most buyers skim past. The shell is a polyester-blend synthetic with moisture-wicking, breathable and quick-dry functions claimed in the catalog; the lining is mesh, and the listing states clearly that there is no inner brief. That combination is the right call for a short you will wear over your own underwear, because a built-in brief would double up layers exactly where a warm-weather run gets hottest.

In practice the mesh grid pulls sweat off the skin noticeably faster than an unlined short of the same weight, and the shell was dry to the touch roughly 35 minutes after a 25-minute session in humid conditions. Air movement through the front print panels is the weak point: the print adds a thin layer over the mesh, so the unprinted side panels breathe a little better. We recorded that as a minor note, not a fault.

Print, construction and colourways

The white paisley, basketball, star and clover pattern reads crisp at the seams in our sample, and the side panels continue the graphic without an obvious break in scale. Print register at the front-to-side join was clean on both legs. Constructed edges, stitching density and the drawstring channel all matched what we expect at this reference price, and the drawstring itself is a flat cord that holds a double knot.

Six colourways are listed: black, blue, green, orange, green-orange, and a black-white reversible-face option. The black pair we ordered is the most useful for sport-casual dressing, since the print is white on black and the palette stays quiet next to the rest of a kit.

Where the listing still leaves you exposed

Two rep-community claims sit behind this product, and neither was written about this specific pair. The first questions the fabric on Dior shorts replicas generally, calling it cheap-looking and suggesting a return in favour of sellers better known for Dior apparel. We treat it as a check to run, not a finding, and our sample did not read as glossy or papery in hand.

I heard some feedback that these look like they're made from cheap Chinese fabric. Does anyone own these and can say whether or not they look okay? ... Wondering if I should RL and order from someone else who is known better for rep Dior clothing.

The second claim concerns the size guides themselves. Buyers of Dior rep apparel report published charts carrying roughly 2–3 cm of measurement error, which is wider than the 1–2 cm allowance printed on this listing. Our own sample landed inside both bands on every measurement except the waist, which is precisely why we ask for flat measurements of the actual piece before committing rather than picking the size you usually wear.

One more practical point: $7.91 is the reference item price. Agent service fees and international shipping are confirmed separately at checkout, so budget for more than the headline number.

How we would order it

Size against your own shorts, not against the letter on the tag. Ask the agent for flat waist, rise and inseam measurements of the piece being shipped, and request close-up fabric photos if the texture questions matter to you. On a loose cut with a mesh lining and no inner brief, a well-measured pair is a straightforward warm-weather training short; a poorly guessed size is the only way this purchase goes wrong.