Fila Essentials Woven Women’s Tennis Shorts
About Papeete
This port city is on the northwest coast of Tahiti, facing a reef-protected harbor in the Society Islands. It became the French colonial capital in the 1840s after the protectorate over Tahiti was established, and it remains the administrative center of French Polynesia.
THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW
Women’s tennis shorts from Fila’s Essentials line, built from a woven fabric rather than a knit — a different animal, and the reason to choose them.
The cloth is a dense stretch woven at 86 per cent polyester to 14 per cent spandex.
A woven holds its shape: it does not go soft and cling as the session warms, and it does not bag out at the seat by the second set the way a knit eventually will.
The waistband is a contoured knit with an inside drawcord, so it curves with the body instead of cutting a straight line across it. The outer short runs a four-inch inseam over a sewn-in inner brief, which handles coverage and friction at once. The hem is finished with binding rather than a turned edge, which is why it keeps its line after fifty washes.
The detail worth naming is at the back waistband: a zippered pocket with a lock-down puller.
The puller folds flat, so it cannot swing, cannot tap against the fabric and cannot be heard — somebody designed a pocket that makes no noise while the player is running.
Papeete sits in the tropical South Pacific, humid every month of the year, which is precisely the climate in which a woven that keeps its distance from the skin outperforms a knit that does not.
Specifications
| Fabric | Stretch woven — 86% polyester, 14% spandex |
|---|---|
| Inseam | 4 inches |
| Lining | Sewn-in inner brief |
| Waistband | Contoured knit with inside drawcord |
| Zippered back waistband pocket with lock-down puller | |
| Hem | Bound finish |
| Finish | Moisture-wicking, breathable |
| Line | Fila Essentials |
Woven or knit is the real decision in a tennis short, and Essentials sells both — this is the one that holds its shape.
LET Fila Essentials Woven Women’s Tennis Shorts SHOW YOU Papeete
Shorts: Hush... the Marche de Papeete has two floors of flowers, fruit, vanilla, and loose black pearls, which is exactly how a market disguises a treasure cave. I came for tennis shorts; I left suspecting the vanilla pods knew my name.
Shorts: Whisper it... the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de l'Immaculee Conception is 19th-century and painted white, the kind of bright facade that makes every shadow look guilty. The truth, naturally, is stranger: it is simply standing there looking immaculate.
Shorts: Keep your voice low... the Assembly gardens on Rue du Dr Cassiau include a pond on the site of the royal palace, which is not a setting, it is a plot twist. If the water ripples, blame history first and ducks second.
Shorts: Lean closer... at Place Vaiete, the roulottes roll in at dusk, and suddenly the waterfront park feels like a ghostly food court with better lighting. The haunting? Mostly hunger, which is honestly worse.
Jackson Phillips here. Owner of TTT. We are working hard every day to bring you the most useful product reviews in the business. Our goal is putting the right product in every hand. If you have time, shoot me an email at jacksonphillips@thetennistactician.com and tell me exactly what you think of your purchase. The more feedback we get, the better we can serve. Thank you for your patronage. And Burn, Laugh, and Learn.