Custom Shorts Manufacturer UK

Inseam is measured from the crotch seam straight down the inside leg to the hem. It is the single decision that turns one pattern into a different product. Around five inches sits high on the thigh and reads as running or retro. Seven inches is the modern default and finishes just above the knee on most wearers. Nine inches is the classic mid-length. Eleven inches and over reaches the knee and reads as basketball or skate. Send us the number, or send us a pair and tell us how much shorter or longer you want yours.

Two shorts cut with an identical inseam can finish in different places on the leg, because rise decides where the crotch seam starts. A deeper rise pushes the whole leg down. That is why we set a finished outseam length from the top of the waistband alongside the inseam, so the hem lands where you drew it rather than where the arithmetic left it. Rise also decides whether the pocket opening falls under the hand or below it.

A short leg is wide in relation to how long it is, so leg opening is the difference between a clean line and a lampshade. A straight leg holds the thigh width down to the hem. A tapered leg pulls it in. Neither is comfortable seated above the knee unless something releases the outseam, which is what a side split does: an open section at the side seam, usually one to three inches deep, sometimes with a curved hem over it. It is a pattern decision and it changes how much fabric is cut, so it is settled before sampling.

Four common answers, and they are not interchangeable. A double-turned hem coverstitched flat is the standard on a knit short and survives the wash. A single-turn hem on a woven presses crisp and keeps a formal line. A bound hem in a contrast tape is a visible design detail as much as a finish. A raw, unfinished edge is deliberate on a garment-dyed cotton short and wrong on anything synthetic, because a cut synthetic edge does not soften, it frays. Hem depth also eats into your inseam, so it is agreed with the length rather than after it.

Encased elastic sits inside a stitched tunnel and is the standard build. The detail that matters is tunnel width against elastic width: leave too little clearance and the elastic will not lie flat, leave too much and it rolls over on itself in the first wash and never comes back. We spec the clearance and stitch the elastic down through the side seams so it cannot travel. An exposed band is a jacquard elastic with your name woven into it, worn on the outside, which reads as a gym brand and has to be sourced with your artwork at the trims stage. A faced band with elastic across the back only reads more tailored.

Flat cord or round cord, in your colour, with metal, moulded or knotted tips. Then the part that gets forgotten: how the cord leaves the waistband. Metal eyelets punched through both plies, embroidered eyelets, or buttonholes worked through the outer ply only so the cord stays inside the tunnel and the raw hole never shows. Anchor the cord at centre back with a single bar tack and it cannot be pulled out in the wash, which is the most common complaint on a short that has been washed twenty times.

Side seam openings disappear into the outseam and are the cleanest. Welt pockets sit on the panel surface. Zip pockets need a stabiliser behind the tape or the fabric ripples along the teeth. Cargo pockets add volume at the widest part of the thigh and need a bellows or a pleat to hold anything without pulling the leg out of shape. The constraint unique to a short is the bag itself: cut a pocket bag to trouser depth on a five-inch short and it hangs below the hem. So the bag is shortened or angled forward, and how much it can hold is a real limit we will tell you about before you find out from a customer.

A liner is a second garment built inside the first, with its own pattern, its own fabric and its own sewing operations. A mesh liner is a short tricot leg joined at the waistband seam and left free at the hem, cut shorter than the shell so it never peeks out. A brief liner is closer to the body with elastic at its own leg openings. Unlined is the streetwear answer, the simplest to build and the fastest to sample. Decide it early, because a lined short and an unlined short are not the same job.

A cycle short is a fitted short and it is built differently. A gusset, a separate panel set into the crotch, removes the four-seam junction that would otherwise sit at the highest-stress point of a garment worn tight, and it buys back range of movement. Seams are laid flat rather than ridged so nothing presses into the skin under load. The hem needs a deep band or a silicone gripper, otherwise it rides up the thigh within a mile. Fabric stretch and recovery are the other half of the answer and they are covered on our activewear page.