Last updated: 17-Aug-18
By Dan Stinton
A fair few of you in the UK will have been affected by “The Beast from the East”. That’s not the strongest curry available at your local restaurant, but the recent extreme cold and snowy conditions around most of the country.
I’d been given the offer of reviewing some products from Cimalp, a French based company specialising in hiking, skiing and trail running. Despite the potential to try some Wintertight Pants designed for extreme cold weather, in my optimistic world I thought spring was on the way and went for maximum leg exposure with the Twin2 3D-Flex shorts.
Grimacing as the bitter cold air from the world outside hits me, I tentatively go out running and pretend that shorts, clearly, are a sensible idea as the storms roll in.
Upon opening, the 3D-Flex shorts look like a quality product. Comprising a nylon/spandex inner short, along with a polyester/spandex outer, a few reflective strips and clear branding down the leg letting you know that you’re not just wearing any technology, this is 3D-Flex technology!
Rather than a completely separate inner layer joined together at the waist like most shorts, the two layers join at a single 1-2” wide strip along both inner thighs. Quite hard to explain but does bring together both layers nicely.
The inner material that extends beyond the bottom of the outer shorts has a patterned layer indicating the lines of compression around the thigh and gives a good visual style to the shorts.
Features
- Comfortable flatlock stitching
- Useful and good sized zipped pockets
- UPF 50+ sun protection
- Currently £37.45 reduced from £74.90 on the Cimalp website
Pros: What’s good about the CIMALP TWIN2 3D-FLEX Shorts
The inner shorts compress tightly against the body and the material feels comfortable against the skin helped by the flatlock stitching (see section below on sizing) which stretches as you run.
They seem to regulate temperature well, have a comfortable waistband along with two neat little zipped pockets – one small pocket for keys or a few coins and a roomier rear pocket which is actually much bigger than the zip so holds a decent amount (I comfortably fitted a Galaxy S7 Edge).
Cons: What’s not so good about the CIMALP TWIN2 3D-FLEX Shorts
Size matters, and whilst of course its down to the buyer to get the size right (especially with online purchases) it’s easy to get it wrong. I have a 32” waist and usually have a medium in most running clothes.
I’d spotted a note on the Cimalp site that suggested that their sizes were smaller than usual, so I went for the large. The inner short fits quite tightly as a compression short should, but even a size large felt a little too restrictive whilst running, particularly in the ….er …. Gentleman area.
Potentially this could be due to the outer layer material having a more limited stretch than the inner which then felt too tight over the top of a compression layer. I think an XL would have suited me much better. As a usual M, the sizing seemed quite off so bear this in mind if ordering without trying on first.
Conclusion
The Cimalp 3D Flex are a well-designed product, clearly manufactured to a high quality. They cite various claims about “improving performance”, but it’s incredibly hard to test how my muscles are performing when in use – I think the best performance at most levels comes from a garment that feels comfortable.
The compression layer feels good around the quads, but did feel a little restrictive overall, particularly around the front. I watched the promo clip online and the model does seem to have very tight shorts – whilst this may please many watchers of the video, I’d definitely be considering a bigger size.
At the current offer of £37.45, they seem competitive, but the RRP of £74.90 seems pretty high compared to mainstream brands.
| Score | |
| Design | 7/10 |
| Features | 8/10 |
| Performance | 7/10 |
| Value | 6/10 |
| Total | 7/10 |
All images Dan Stinton except when stated.
About the writer: Dan is a Peak District based runner collecting mud and scrapes in and around Glossop. He likes nothing more than running into the Dark Peak and then writing about how difficult it was at All Hail the Trail.
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