Swift Shorts

Different materials and fabrics call for different sewing methods.

For something thin, like a shirt fabric, you'd use a fine thread and sew with gentle tension, creating soft, even seams.

A heavy fabric like denim is the opposite — you'd use a slightly thicker thread and sew with strong tension to create a distinct texture that complements the fabric's character.

Depending on the material and what you're making, there's a general theory to how you sew it.

By that logic, a thin, non-stretch nylon weather cloth like the one used in these shorts would normally call for a fine thread, sewn as flat as possible.

This is a matter of personal impression, but among similar thin, non-stretch nylon shorts, many strike a good balance of quick-drying and durability, but they also tend to cling to the skin once you start sweating.

To prevent that, a lot of shorts add a full inner mesh lining or built-in briefs.

That certainly helps the fabric release more easily from the skin.

But personally, having an inner brief built in always felt limiting to what I could wear underneath, and I ended up cutting it out more often than not. In summer, I've also had that lining or inner brief not agree with me, causing chafing.

So these Swift Shorts don't have a lining.

At the same time, I knew that constructing the shorts from a single layer of lightweight nylon meant they would likely stick to the skin when sweating.

To hold that clinginess back even a little, the answer we landed on was in the sewing itself.

For this thin fabric, we deliberately used the kind of thick sewing thread normally reserved for denim.

Using a thick thread on thin fabric makes it difficult to achieve a flat seam.

Combined with stronger tension, this creates small, fine irregularities along the stitching.

Normally, that would be considered difficult to control—and rarely worth pursuing.

But for these Swift Shorts, we treated that texture as a feature.

Turn the shorts inside out and you'll see there are more seams than in a typical pair of shorts.

Those seam lines are sewn with deliberately oversized thread and firmer tension, creating a subtle texture that lifts the fabric slightly away from the skin.

Rather than lining the whole interior, the sewing itself slightly reduces the contact area with skin.

Those small irregularities help ease the clammy feeling when you sweat.

Light, and quick to dry.

And more comfortable to wear—not because of an added lining, but because of the way they're sewn.

The Swift Shorts are a piece built around the idea that comfort comes not only from the fabric itself but also from the way it's put together.

To be honest, lightweight synthetic fabrics often feel a little too uniform for my taste.

But sewing it a little more roughly gives the seams some shadow, some depth.

Better comfort against the skin, paired with the look of robust stitching. It is that balance of qualities that I like best.

writing / Daiki Nozawa