Note: this item was provided for review.
I’ve noted before (several times now) how much I love Outlier’s Injected Linen fabric, and here they have applied it to a very simple and casual pair of shorts called Injex Littlebigs. Cut a little wider, elastic and drawstring waist, killer pocketing, and a fantastic length. These shorts have been worn almost daily since I got them in to test out.
They’re fantastic.
Materials
These are made in Outlier’s Injected Linen (Injex) which is: 59% LINEN, 41% POLYESTER. The fabric is 170gsm, warp knit in Japan with a flatbind construction. They rate the UPF of the Black at 50+ and white at 20. So I am guessing the color I have is somewhere between those numbers…
Outlier notes this material has modest durability, which makes sense, but I would not take to mean “delicate”. These shorts have a 5.5” – 6” inseam, aka, perfect inseam.
There’s a 550 paracord drawstring with a 3-bar style closure on them. This system can be flipped to the inside or outside of the garment depending on your preference as there’s an extra set of holes to weave the cordage back through.
Wear
Here’s how Outlier defines this item:
Big freedom in a roomy short that feels like wearing air. Cut loose and easy, with a 6” inseam and with all open opacity that Injected Linen provides.
I cannot quibble with any of that. They are very airy, and they are the epitome of ‘loose and easy’ to wear these. They pack up small, and spent over two weeks with me in Japan as my ‘house shorts’ for when I got back from roasting in the Japanese summer heat. I picked these for two reasons:
- They pack down well.
- They are supremely comfortable to lounge in.
- If needed, they look pretty killer with a t-shirt or polo shirt.
What I didn’t expect is simply how great these are generally and how much I love wearing them. They don’t dress up much higher than pairing them with a nice short sleeved polo (untucked). They look spot on with an Ultrafine t-shirt. Amazingly the pockets never dumped out all my gear, instead they held everything in check as needed.
The length on these will be a make or break for most people, Outlier calls them a 6” inseam but measures them at 5.5” — the rise is longer which I think accounts for the disparity there. I found the length to be exactly what I wanted from these, a lightweight and breathable short that is also a true short. There were a couple of times when I was sitting cross-legged or squatting down to get something out of my bag, where I notice my boxer briefs sticking out past the hem on the shorts, but otherwise I had no issues with the shorter length.
Something which makes these such a versatile short is the overall design. An elastic waist is immediately casual, as is the little key loop, and the drawstring. That’s a beach or lounge design. But once you drop below the waist you get a really nicely cut short in a really nice looking fabric. Which means if you toss these on with a t-shirt, the formality matches. If you toss a short sleeved linen shirt, or polo, on over them, the formality also matches. The tails of a polo will hide the waist, and help dress up the shorts a touch — which is pretty ideal if you want to simply swap your shirt to move from cocktails on the beach to cocktails at a bar.
About the only thing these shorts won’t work for is swimming, outside of that, these were the only shorts I took on a long trip — I have no regrets.
Overall
Cool wearing, cool looking, and comfortable as all heck. I was not sure if these would fit into my rotation when I was waiting for them to arrive, but once I put them on, I found that they fit in seamlessly.
These are going to get a ton of wear over here, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.