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Hiking shorts make sense once the day heats up, when long pants start to trap warmth and a creek crossing would leave you walking in wet fabric for the next hour. Most pairs here are nylon or polyester with some elastane or spandex in the mix, so they dry fast and give a little when you step up onto a rock. The quick dry pair in 100% nylon has no stretch at all and relies on its cut instead. Add a light long sleeve shirt from our hiking clothes for the hours spent in full sun.
How a pair feels depends a lot on what sits underneath. Some styles have a built-in liner, which stops chafing and means nothing shows through when you bend or climb. One lightweight pair puts a loose outer short over a close-fitting inner one. The hiking skort combines a wrap skirt at the front with shorts at the back, all in one piece. Pairs with 4-way stretch move with you in any direction, handy on steep steps and rock scrambles. If pockets matter more to you than stretch, have a look at our cargo shorts.
An elastic waist with a drawcord turns up on many pairs. The baggy hiking shorts skip the zip completely, so nothing digs in under a pack's hip belt. A few styles have zipped pockets for a phone or car keys, and one pair for women adds a zipped cargo pocket. Length varies more than you might expect. The female hiking shorts stop just above the knee, while the long hiking shorts for women give extra cover on steep ground. For mornings that start cold, there's also a pair of convertible hiking pants in the collection.
A few styles list UPF 50+ fabric, useful on open tracks with no shade, and two have a water-repellent finish that sheds light drizzle. Black and khaki are the most common colours, followed by greys and greens, with blue, purple, lilac or pink on some pairs. Lighter shades make ticks and grass seeds easier to spot after a walk through long grass. Sizes run from XS to 5XL, depending on the style. For a darker pair you can also wear around town, see our black cargo shorts.
