DRSKIN Compression Shorts

These are the shorts that go on first. Mid-thigh, close, with the same four-panel construction as the full-length tights and the same waistband, and their job is to stop a football short or a basketball short from riding up the leg every time you change direction. That job is also why the length matters: too short and the hem rolls at the top of the thigh, which is the complaint compression shorts get most often, and mid-thigh is the length that stays where it was put.

A pair on its own starts around twelve dollars and the three-pack lands under thirty, which is the cheapest way into this range. Sizes run S to 3XL, and the size letter here follows the waist rather than the thigh: the leg has the stretch to cope, the waistband does not. If you already own the full-length tights, buy the same letter. If these are your first DRSKIN piece, order a single before a pack, because a waistband is the one thing on a compression short you cannot judge from a photograph.