Loro Piana vs Target — Goodfellow & Co.: is the pricier short worth it?
The Target — Goodfellow & Co. Linden Flat-Front Chino Short runs $22; the Loro Piana Cotton-Linen Bermuda Short is $695 — about 31.6× the price ($673 more). Here's the side-by-side, and what that gap actually buys.
| Target — Goodfellow & Co. | Loro Piana | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $22 | $695 |
| Material | Lightweight cotton poplin with a touch of added spandex for give; thin-ish and prone to wrinkling. | Italian-milled cotton-linen twill, roughly 50/50, mid-light weight with a soft slubbed hand and natural drape. |
| Fit | Flat-front straight-ish cut with a mid rise, available in 7"/9"/11" inseams; runs true-ish but sizing is inconsistent between colors and batches. | Relaxed tailored Bermuda with a mid-to-high rise and a roughly 9–10 inch inseam hitting just above the knee; cut clean and easy, not slim. |
| Quality | Basic budget construction — fine out of the box, but colors fade and the cloth softens and can pill at the seat after a season. | Exceptional cloth and clean Italian finishing, but the construction and hardware are standard luxury — the fabric is the achievement, durability is the trade. |
| Best for | Everyday warm-weather wear, yard work, and anyone who wants a cheap stock of multiple colors without caring if they last. | Warm-weather quiet-luxury dressing for someone who values fiber and drape over logos and won't mind — or will embrace — the linen wrinkle. |
| Care | Cold wash and tumble low or hang to slow fading and keep the thin cloth from wearing out; expect some wrinkling. | Dry clean or gentle cold hand-wash and hang to dry; expect linen creasing and treat it as a delicate warm-weather piece, not a workhorse. |
The Goodfellow Linden is a $22 disposable cotton poplin short built for volume and convenience, expected to fade and pill within a season; the Loro Piana is a $695 Italian cotton-linen Bermuda where nearly the entire premium is concentrated in the mill-quality fabric and its drape, not in construction or longevity. The $673 gap is real but narrow in what it actually delivers structurally — both garments will eventually show wear at seams and seat, just one feels substantially better while it lasts.
- The case for Target — Goodfellow & Co.
- The Goodfellow wins on cost-per-wear across a rotation: at $22, buying four colors costs less than a single Loro Piana, and inconsistent sizing and fading are tolerable losses at that price.
- The case for Loro Piana
- The Loro Piana wins on cloth quality alone — the Italian-milled cotton-linen twill offers a drape, hand, and breathability that cotton poplin with a spandex addition cannot approach, and that tactile difference is genuine, not manufactured by the label.
The bottom lineIs the pricier one worth it?
Buy the Goodfellow if the shorts are for yard work, beach days, or any context where staining, fading, or replacement after one season is acceptable — the $22 price is honest and the loss is minor. Step up to the Loro Piana only if the fabric itself — the slubbed linen hand, the natural drape, the Italian mill provenance — is the point, and if dry-clean-or-hand-wash care is a routine the buyer will actually follow; worn in that context, the cloth delivers what it promises. The gap is not justified by construction, durability, or hardware, which are ordinary on both garments — it is justified only by fiber quality, and buyers who do not actively notice or value that difference are paying $673 for a quiet logo.
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