French outdoor apparel brand Satisfy has perfected running shorts. Founded a decade ago by , the Paris-based company has performed a paradoxical miracle with distance running’s necessity. Their best shorts, the , feel as if you’re wearing absolutely nothing while actually being sturdy enough to store fuel (and even car keys) and prevent skin from rubbing against skin.
Since hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in a leopard-print pair in 2021, I have logged more than 10,000 miles in assorted versions of the Rippy with such devotion that, when it’s laundry day and I must wear something else outside, I will briefly consider not running or hiking at all. And despite the high price tag ($260), I’ve been stockpiling them for years, like a squirrel hoarding nuts, just in case Satisfy someday discontinues them.
Earlier this year, Satisfy announced it was upgrading the Rippy in an experiment, replacing the nylon ripstop shell for which it is named with a layer of Dyneema. Three decades ago, what would become known as Dyneema helped the Americansailing team overcome the heavily favored Italians in the America’s Cup. As resilient as it was lightweight, the seemingly miraculous fabric—polyethylene sandwiched between polyester—has spread into cut-proof gloves, body armor, shoes, and both the waterproof backpacks and tents I have used for years. .
Still, the idea seemed silly, maybe even horrible, from the start: How would Dyneema, which repels water like a tin roof, respond to my excessive sweat? Where would it go? And how would material that can feel coarse and even stiff glide against my bare legs at high speeds and over long distances? Also, would they be hot? (“Hard boiled eggs,” one Reddit user said of his testicles when he imagined wearing them.)
Oh, and what about that price? Sure, the stateside shipping was free, but I wondered how many people could afford a $420 pair of shorts—and why did they cost that much, anyway? (In the sake of transparency, my pair was a sample sent to me by the company.) Aside from Satisfy’s limited-edition collaboration with eyewear brand Oakley, the Rippy Dyneema Trail Shorts are—as best as I or any of the multiple running aficionados I asked could remember—the most expensive pair of running or hiking shorts ever made. A Satisfy stan, I assumed they must be worth it.
I was absolutely wrong. All summer long, from the highest peaks in Colorado to long-distance lakeside runs in Chicago, I wore Satisfy’s Dyneema Rippy shorts, hoping to find a function that justified the indulgence. They have been hiking, running, swimming, and soaking in baking saunas, glacial lakes, slot canyons, and radiant deserts. And mostly what I’ve gained is a season of chafing so ghastly and intense that I’ve wondered more than once if I needed to see a dermatologist. Satisfy has perfected running shorts; by adding Dyneema, they have proven just how delicate perfection can be. Turns out, Satisfy agrees.
“If I had to do a Version 2 of these shorts, I would probably not go for Dyneema,” Partouche told me on a recent weekday, laughing from his office. “It’s a failure, because we tried to be over-technical. People overpaid for a technicality they didn’t have a chance to fully explore. It’s good to accept that some products are better than others.”
The idea to substitute nylon for Dyneema has a sensible-enough origin story. Satisfy wanted to build an ultra-durable pair of shorts that could withstand ultramarathonsthroughdesert brambles and snagsor forests dense with deadfall. What’s more, they wanted a fabric so strong it could hold heavy loads for runners moving long distances between aid stations. And, of course, it needed to be light. Dyneema fits those criteria.
These parameters, Partouche admitted, are very particular, and Satisfy never spelled them out clearly. They never specified how limited their functionality might be. It’s the kind of small-run experiment, he said, that big companies ship to athletes to try in challenging conditions. “For us, that would be way more expensive,” he said. “At Satisfy, what we give to athletes in terms of technology and what we offer the final consumer is exactly the same.”
All my apprehensions about the shorts were right. Satisfy’s regular Rippy shorts work so well because of the way they hold sweat. As the traditional nylon cover becomes saturated, it begins to cling to a base layer of “technical silk” Satisfy has dubbed “Justice”—basically, the most comfortable pair of biking tights you’ve ever worn. They stick together and move in tandem, meaning you mostly avoid the friction that leads to chafing over long distances.
This doesn’t happen with Dyneema. The top layer instead bunches up, so the silk beneath it rides upward as it absorbs water. You see where this is going, right? A discomfort so intense you want to bail on whatever miles you have left, then jump into a vat of Gold Bond.
Fall is coming quickly to the mountains of Colorado, where I now live. That means that my summer experiment with Dyneema—in which I tried but failed to test the second-most expensive running shorts ever until I fell in love with them—is almost over. Last Sunday, though, I slipped them on one more time for a long run followed by a long hike.
All season, I’d been stuffing gel packets and drink mixes into the three pockets that line the rear waistband. I finally remembered to try the two pockets that Satisfy added to the silk layer beneath the Dyneema, a first-time feature for the company. I loved them, slipping gels out of the pockets on the front of my legs without breaking stride, even as I made haste down a canyon. When I asked Partouche about those pockets a few days later, another Satisfy employee, Tommy Hubert, told me they would soon make several more appearances in their 2025 lineup. That is, I could have the pockets without the chafing.
At last, I realized that’s what makes Satisfy stand out—a willingness to try, fail, learn the lessons, and then succeed. They attempt outlandish things all the time, from that are a real joy to wear on a hot day to a with modular Primaloft padding that remains the single most confusing piece of clothing I own. Some work. Some don’t. All of it helped lead to the shorts I covet, and maybe, next year, willget even better. Partouche often talks about Satisfy in terms of punk rock, which can be hard to square with a pair of shorts that costs as much as acar payment. Part of the ethos, at least, translates.
“We dare to try. We dare to change the status quo, to polarize. Big companies can’t polarize, but Satisfy can,” he told me. “I don’t care if people love us or hate us, which puts Satisfy in a very unique position where people say, ‘What the heck?’”
That’s when I learned to love the shorts I thought I hated, even if I don’t think I’ll ever wear them for long distances again.