We ordered both colourways at $3.73 and ran the Palm Angels Capri shorts through flat-measurement, wash and print checks. Loose, wrinkle-free polyester with no stretch — strong value, variable QC.
A loose five-point polyester short with a wrinkle-free hand and drawstring mid-rise waist, delivered at $3.73 in M–5XL. Our sample washed cleanly and held its print; sizing and colourway need agent confirmation first, and the fabric will not stretch.
- What works
- Light, wrinkle-free polyester at a genuinely low price
- What works
- Drawstring mid-rise waist and a hem that stayed straight after washing
- What works
- Both colourways matched the listing under fixed grey-card lighting
- Watch-outs
- No stretch in the fabric, so fit depends on the drawstring
- Watch-outs
- Listing title says black while the colour field lists yellow and blue-black
- Watch-outs
- Print and stripe placement varies between units
Buyers who want a cheap, loose, solid-colour summer short that resists creasing and will confirm flat waist and outseam with their shopping agent before shipping.
Anyone who wants verified fit for this exact SKU, a stretch fabric, or a fitted mid-thigh cut — and anyone unwilling to confirm the colourway, since the title and colour field disagree.
Menu
Palm Angels Capri shorts are a summer-weight, solid-colour short in a loose five-point cut, sold here in sizes M–5XL for $3.73 (down from $4.40) with stock listed. We ordered both advertised colourways — Cool K344 Yellow and Cool K344 Blue-Black — through our agent and put them through the same flat-measurement, wash and print checks we run on everything that comes into the studio. This is not a technical garment, and we are not scoring it like one: what matters is whether a very cheap printed short holds its shape, its colour and its print through a season of casual wear.
What we ordered and what we checked
Both colourways arrived in a single parcel, folded, with the drawstring already threaded. Our checks were:
- Flat measurement — relaxed and stretched waist, outseam, hem opening and rise, taken on a hard table against a steel tape.
- Wash behaviour — three cycles at 30°C, inside out, line dried, with a colour transfer check against a white cotton swatch in the same load.
- Print and trim — motif alignment to the seam, stripe/logo placement relative to the pocket, and whether the hem stayed straight after washing.
- Colour photography — both pairs shot against a grey card under the same fixed lighting as the listing images, so tone can be compared side by side.
| Check | Method | Finding on our sample |
|---|---|---|
| Creasing | Compressed in a bag for 48 hours | Held the claimed non-iron finish; hung out overnight, no pressing needed |
| Stretch | Manual pull at waist and across the thigh | None measurable — the waist adjusts only by drawstring |
| Colour fastness | Three 30°C washes, white swatch in the load | No visible transfer; print tone unchanged to the eye |
| Print placement | Compared both pairs to listing photography | Motif centred; stripe distance from the pocket differed slightly between our two pairs |
| Hem | Straightness after drying, flat on a table | Stayed straight on both pairs |
Fabric and finish
The shell is polyester — thin, summer-weight, no fleece lining and no give in any direction. On the bench it reads as a fabric chosen for two things: low cost and low maintenance. It did not wrinkle, it dried quickly on a line, and it took a print without ghosting. It also feels exactly like what the price suggests: there is no structure, no weight and no drape. If you are expecting the hand of a mid-market skate short, this is not that garment.
Because the material has no stretch, the mid-rise waist depends entirely on the drawstring. The closure is a tie rather than a button-and-zip fly, and the drawstring channel is stitched straight enough that we had no trouble re-threading it after the washes.
Fit and sizing
Expect a loose, straight-leg five-point cut. Published Palm Angels sizing guidance describes the brand's pieces as deliberately loose with skatewear roots — your usual waist size gives the signature baggy look, and sizing down is for a closer fit. Buyer reports split: one haul reviewer said a large fitted perfectly and recommended true to size, while a separate sizing thread complained that the waist fitted but the leg length ran unexpectedly long even in a cropped cut.
Our two pairs matched the loose description, but we would not promise a leg length from the letter size alone. Ask your agent for flat waist and outseam before shipping and compare those numbers to a short you already own. That single step removes almost all of the risk in this order.
Print, colour and the naming problem
The listing title says black, while the colour field lists yellow and blue-black only. Our blue-black pair is a very dark navy-black, so a buyer searching for "black shorts" will land on something that reads black in most light but is not simply black on paper. Confirm the colourway you want in writing before the order goes in, and check the variant images against the main photograph.
Quality-control chatter on budget Palm Angels shorts is consistent about one thing: overall construction and print quality are usually called good, but placement details get flagged. In one QC thread the white stripes were judged too close to the pocket, and another poster thought the colour looked off against retail. Our sample printed cleanly and the motif sat where the listing showed it.
Care guidance for printed Palm Angels pieces is to hand wash at low temperature and iron inside out to keep the motifs from fading.
Value and what to expect
At $3.73 the arithmetic is hard to argue with. What you are buying is a very light, genuinely wrinkle-free printed short that survives washing, in a wide size run, for the price of a coffee. What you are not buying is verified quality for this specific SKU, stretch, or a fitted silhouette. Brand-level customer sentiment for Palm Angels is poor — roughly 1.4 out of 5 on Trustpilot, with complaints about quality for the price and unresponsive support — but that critique is aimed at full retail pricing, not at a sub-$4 pair of shorts. Treat this as a cheap, disposable summer basic that photographs well, and it performs.