In Review: Old Navy Tech Chino Shorts

Old Navy Tech Chino Shorts – $19.99 ($39.99)

PRICING NOTE: Old Navy has dropped the price on these to half off through Thursday 7/18. Seems like everyone’s trying to compete with Amazon and Prime Day this week.

Also shown above: PROOF 72 hour tee ($78), Nike AF1s ($93.75 for members w/ code EXTRA25), Invicta Watch ($128), Crown & Buckle Strap ($34), Linus Cafe Racer 3-speed (out of production), Drumstick Ice Cream Cone (price varies by location)

• Fabric: 100% polyester “go-dry cool” stretch twill
• Inseams: 8 inches or 10 inches
• Swim-Style Liner? No. So the “hybrid” moniker Old Navy uses is a little misleading.
• Elastic Waist? No. They look and wear like regular chino style shorts.
• Gusset? No.
• Care: Machine wash / dry
• Fit: Standard. Size shown in this post is an 8″ inseam, 32 waist, on 5’10″/185.
• Etc.: Just one back pocket. Yes, one. It’s on the right cheek.

Let’s not bury the lede and corresponding visual proof… Wow these look, and more importantly feel suspiciously like lululemon’s warpstreme fabric shorts (and therefor, also, pants).

See for yourself:

Old Navy’s Tech Chino shorts on top of a pair of $88 lululemon warpstreme.
Same metal shank up front. Same snaps in the rear.
Most importantly, the performance twill fabric feels and looks awfully similar.

I mean… did a patent expire or something? Did GAP inc. kidnap/hire away a designer from lululemon? The fabric looks, feels, and wears stunningly similar. It’s a midweight, easy moving, stretchy, breathable performance twill that does NOT make a “swish swish” noise or look shiny or cheap.

If the fabric isn’t identical, like at an atomic level/made by the exact same supplier, then it’s one of the best copies/”homages” ever. It’s that close.

Size Shown: 32″ on 5’10″/185. 
“Irish eyes are smiling.” And Irish/German/Polish legs are pale.
Because one skin cancer scare was enough for this particular (reluctant) model.

In regards to fit, a size 32 fits my 5’10″/185 pretty well. Maybe a little generous in the waist, but that’s no surprise as it’s Old Navy. As someone who spends a bit of time pedaling a bike, my legs are thicker than average. There’s room in these shorts, but not so much that I feel like each of my legs is wearing it’s own individual hoop skirt. Fit through the legs is a straight fit. Trim if you’ve got an athletic frame. Not tight.

Available in the colors you’d expect. 

Real-life performance feels good too. They’ve got some stretch, they’ve got some substance but aren’t weighty, and they wear noticeably cooler than a heavy cotton chino. In short: they act like lululemon’s warpstreme performance twill too.

Nice and cool. Moves well.

One aspect the Old Navy Tech Chinos Shorts doesn’t copy from lululemon is lululemon’s use of a gusset in the crotch. Gussets are a bit of apparel-construction-geometry which allows for greater ease of movement as well as making a garment more durable. There’s no gusset on these. But they move well all the same.

“Sweet cheeks.”
Just one back pocket on these shorts. Strange. 

WORTH NOTING IS THE REAR POCKET: Yes, singular. There’s only one pocket on the backside of the shorts. On the right. Standard welt, snap closure, and even the snap they use looks like what lululemon uses on their ABC pants. But it is odd that there’s only one rear pocket. So if you’re used to keeping your wallet in the left rear, these’ll take some getting used to.

On-seam zippered pocket for phone storage.
Not strange. Very smart.

Yet there is an additional zippered pocket on the left seam. And when you think about it, this makes the most sense for 21st century living. Most of us carry phones with us at all times, and one’s phone naturally goes in a front pocket instead of the rear (because phones don’t bend, and when you sit, you don’t want to sit down on an unbendable phone.) If you had to choose, would you take that 2nd back pocket? Or would you go with an extra zippered on-seam pocket for your phone? A quarter of the way through the 21st century, the choice for most is pretty obvious.

A cheap apparel treat.
Absolutely worthy of being a main course in your summer casual wardrobe.

These shorts are better than good. They’re great. Perhaps “affordable men’s style product of the year” great. And a quick search of the terms “tech chino hybrid” on the Old Navy site reveals they’re also currently carrying some five pocket pants with that exact same product title. Full disclosure: I ordered those very pants a year ago and… they were stiff and scratchy. Not warpstreme like at all. But maybe in the year since they’ve changed the fabric, and those five pocket pants are like the shorts in this review? (Sidenote: I just ordered them again to see if the fabric has since changed, and is now identical to the shorts.)

UPDATE: It does appear that the tech chino hybrid PANTS use the same fabric as their shorts, at least in the khaki option called “down the shore.” The pants arrived and… indeed. Same performance twill. And “down the shore” (color name of pants) appears to be identical to “kicking up dust” (color name of shorts.)

I swear a year ago this was not the fabric they were using on these pants. I could be wrong/misremembering of course, but I recall returnin the pair I had ordered in 2023 because I was disappointed in how unlike lululemon they were (always on the hunt for more affordable alternatives, right?) Maybe I got a bum pair or something. I don’t know. Full review of the pants is in the works, but it may take a bit as the Prime Day sales have annihilated any reasonable sense of time this month.

If so and Old Navy is now making a true lululemon ABC clone in all but the gusset, then lululemon has a real problem on their hands… because the result will be many of us diehard lululemon ABC fans making the switch, putting Old Navy pants on our legs, and therefor keeping more money in our wallets.