By Seb Morales | June 2026
Two Years of Playing in the Wrong Shorts
I have been playing padel for just over two years. I came to it through a friend who had been playing for a while and who was evangelical about it in the way that padel players tend to be – with a fervour that I initially found slightly excessive and that I now completely understand, because padel is genuinely one of the most enjoyable sports I have ever played.
What I had been wearing on court, however, had not kept pace with my enthusiasm. I had been playing in a rotation of synthetic sports shorts – the kind that every sports brand produces in bulk, that are technically functional, and that I had never given a second thought. They wicked moisture, they moved reasonably well, and they looked like every other pair of shorts on every other court at my club.
The problem was not performance in any dramatic sense. It was comfort. Synthetic shorts, particularly in warmer weather, have a quality that I can only describe as clammy – a slight stickiness against the skin that develops as you warm up and that becomes increasingly noticeable over a two-hour session. I had normalised it to the point where I barely registered it. Then I tried organic cotton on court – through the Apres Padel top I had bought a few months earlier – and suddenly the synthetic shorts felt wrong in a way they had not before.
Why El Lobo
I started looking for organic cotton court shorts and El Lobo came up immediately as part of the same ecosystem of considered padel brands that Apres Padel belongs to. The El Lobo The Wolf Court Shorts were exactly what I was looking for:
- 300 GSM organic cotton – heavier than a standard cotton short but not heavy in use; the weight gives the fabric a quality and drape that lighter synthetics do not have
- Relaxed athletic cut – designed for the lateral movement, lunging, and rotation that padel demands; not a compression fit, not a baggy fit, but something that moves with you
- Designed specifically for padel – not a generic sports short repurposed for the court; the cut reflects an understanding of how the game is actually played
- GM-free and not tested on animals – the same ethical credentials as the Apres Padel top; I wanted consistency in my kit choices
I found them in the Clothing collection at ALTOE and ordered them to pair with the Tequila Slice top I had already been wearing.
First Session: The Organic Cotton Difference, Again
I wore them for the first time on a warm Saturday morning – two hours of doubles, the kind of session where you work hard enough to notice what you are wearing. The 300 GSM organic cotton felt immediately different from synthetic: softer against the skin, more breathable, and without the clammy quality that I had been tolerating for two years without fully registering it.
The relaxed cut was exactly right for the game. Padel involves a lot of movement that synthetic compression shorts can restrict subtly – the lunging for low balls, the rotation on smashes, the quick lateral steps at the net. The El Lobo shorts moved with me in a way that felt natural rather than managed. I was not thinking about what I was wearing, which is always the sign that the kit is right.
After the session, in the bar, my regular doubles partner looked at the shorts and asked where I had got them. He ordered a pair the following week. That is the most reliable endorsement I know.
Three Months of Regular Court Use
I play twice a week. The El Lobo shorts have been through approximately twenty-five sessions and the same number of washes. The organic cotton has not shrunk, has not pilled, and has not developed the odour-retention problem that eventually affects all my synthetic shorts. The cut is unchanged. The fabric has softened slightly with washing in the way that good quality cotton does.
Paired with the Apres Padel top, I now have a complete court kit that I am genuinely pleased with – not just functional, but considered. The organic cotton approach to sportswear is not a compromise on performance. It is a different and, in my experience, better understanding of what performance means when you are playing a sport for the love of it rather than at elite level.
I will not be going back to synthetic shorts. The El Lobo Court Shorts have settled that question permanently.
Shop the El Lobo Court Shorts
Find the El Lobo The Wolf Court Shorts at ALTOE and browse our related collections:
Seb Morales is a civil engineer, enthusiastic padel player, and recent convert to organic cotton sportswear based in Madrid. He plays twice a week, has strong opinions about court kit, and is slowly convincing his doubles partner to make the switch.
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