Lululemon shorts are some of the best workout shorts out there, and it’s no secret that I’m pretty much obsessed with their speed shorts. I’m in good company, too–there are whole communities of speeds shorts aficionados out there. One of THE most common questions in the lululemon shorts community is: what’s the difference between 2-way and 4-way stretch and how do you tell them apart? Today, that’s exactly what I’m going to show you!
By the way, all this info applies to all of lululemon’s running/training shorts and skirts, not just shorts. Most styles are generally made of the same material, just in different cuts. So whether you have your eye on speed shorts, hotty hot shorts, tracker shorts, run times shorts, or some other style of lululemon shorts or skirts, this guide will help you figure out what’s what.
Note that this doesn’t apply to lulu yoga styles such as wunder shorts, boogie shorts, or other form-fitting shorts. Those are typically made of one of the materials described in my active fabrics guide.
Unfortunately, lululemon stopped producing their original 2-way fabric around 2015. Although I’m still holding out hope that it’ll come back, most of this info applies to older styles of shorts.
Key differences: 2-way stretch versus 4-way stretch
Feel: 2-way fabric feels crispy and more stiff, while 4-way feels buttery.
Stretch: literally, 2-way only stretches 2 ways. If you gently tug 2-way fabric and feel the stretch, then turn the fabric 90 degrees and stretch it again, you’ll notice it will only stretch in one of those directions and be rigid in the other. It has some stretch, but not complete flexibility in every direction.
Structure: 2-way holds its shape better while 4-way tends to drape. This means the fit and overall look is different. The structure of 2-way is often heralded for its booty-shaping powers. 4-way lays completely flat with no structure, and for that reason, 4-way shorts often appear slightly longer than their 2-way counterparts. 2-way will also tend to crease more easily than 4-way. Notice in the picture above, the red shorts on top have developed distinct whiskering around the hip crease, while the camo shorts lie pretty much flat. (Note: not all 2-way shorts will have visible whiskering.)
Durability: since 4-way fabric is more stretchy, it’s also more delicate. 4-way fabric can be torn or snagged if you’re not careful, while 2-way fabric is very durable.
A note about swift material
Currently, lululemon sells the occasional pair of shorts in a fabric that’s neither of the fabrics above above, but is a material usually referred to as simply “Swift”. Sometimes it’s labeled as 2-way on lululemon’s website and tags, and sometimes as 4-way. Some people have given it the name “3-way” because it’s not a true 2-way nor is it a true 4-way, but somewhere in between. It does not have as much structure as the original 2-way, but it also is not as buttery and stretchy as 4-way. This is the same material lululemon uses for their studio pants and street to studio pants.
Spotting swift material is really easy. If you look closely, there are very faint vertical lines on the fabric. It looks like this:
See those very subtle vertical lines? This photo is of studio pants, but the fabric and its lines will look the same on shorts, too.
This material is virtually always solid colors, not prints or patterns. This material is relatively rare on shorts; only a few colors out there were made with it.
How to tell the difference between 2-way and 4-way stretch
So you have some old shorts, or you’re interested in buying some. How can you tell what’s 2-way and what’s 4-way?
Method #1: the tug test
The first way is the stretch method: use your hands to grab a little bit of material and gently tug. Now rotate the fabric by 90 degrees and tug again. In other words, tuck north/south and then tug east/west. When you pull in the vertical direction, 2-way will feel totally rigid with no give at all. When you pull in the horizontal and diagonal directions, that same 2-way fabric will feel slightly stretchy. If it feels stretchy in every direction at every angle, it’s 4-way.
Method #2: the tent test
Lay your shorts on a flat surface, like a table or the floor.
Use your hands to pull up on the leg opening; try to shape the it into a tent/arc/tunnel kind of thing. Now, let it go.
If it’s 2-way, it will keep some of that structure and stand on its own. See the nice smooth arc in the photo above?
If the fabric is 4-way stretch, it will flop right back down in a lumpy heap. No smooth arcs here.
Try it a couple of times. Notice that 2-way can be coaxed into shapes, whereas 4-way just sort of deflates.
Here’s how some other shorts looked after the tent test:
Can you tell which is which?
Answer: 4-way on the left, 2-way on the right. Again, the 2-way fabric formed a nice open arc, while the 4-way melted back to the floor.
Here’s another one:
Answer: the yellow are 2-way, the pink are 4-way.
Notice how the 2-way fabric holds its shape and stays open if you coax it into the right position. No matter how much you try to shape and mold 4-way fabric, it will never make a nice tent.
More examples of 2-way and 4-way colors and patterns
I hope you’re starting to feel better about identifying each type of material. To provide more concrete examples, here’s how my collection breaks down.
This is my current collection of 2-way shorts and their names:
Top, L-R: love red, ray, flare tonka stripe, fossil elevation stripe split pea
Middle, L-R: quiet stripe, heathered paris pink, seacheck plum, sailor stripe (this one is actually Ivivva)
Bottom, L-R: flash jacquard, chevron, spring has sprung
One thing you to note from my collection: plaids are always 2-way. I’ve never seen any plaid made in 4-way fabric. Stripes are almost always 2-way, although recently, a handful of stripes have been released in 4-way.
Now, here’s my current 4-way collection:
Top, L-R: dottie tribe, bruised berry, fatigue camo
Middle, L-R: menthol, black, inky floral
Bottom, L-R: harbor blue, neon pink
The common theme you’ll see in both photos is that solid colors and other patterns can come in either 4-way or 2-way. Although solids are commonly made in 4-way, that’s definitely not always true.
Note that the same shorts are always made of the same fabric. So, if you find inky floral speed shorts, they are all 4-way. There is not variation in the material used for the same shorts. The only exception to this is a basic color such as white, where the same color was made in multiple materials and released at different times.
Which is better: 2-way or 4-way?
The short answer: it depends!
2-way and 4-way stretch fabric have different properties in terms of both fit and feel. The extra structure of 2-way can be more flattering to some people, and the fact that it holds its shape on its own is more appealing to some. However, 4-way offers more give and stretch, which means some people find them more comfortable.
Personally, I tend to prefer 2-way stretch, though I love both. I like the way they fit and feel, and I don’t notice the slight loss in mobility. I also like that 2-way is virtually indestructible when I’m hiking or scraping it against a barbell. Plus, almost all of my favorite patterns and colors happen to be 2-way, so I’m a little biased!
Ultimately, you can really only determine which is better for you through trial and error. It truly comes down to your personal preference, body type, and activities for which you use them.
I’m SO glad that you did this because it always bothered me that I didn’t know the difference! It makes so much sense now. Also, I’m kind of jealous of your collection..so many colors!
I knew SOMEone out there had to be wondering, so I’m glad it was helpful! :) I’ve been “collecting” speeds for like…4 years now? So I’ve had some time to build up my perfect stash. :)
Lovely collection! I would love to get my hands on a pair of the chevron SS, but the resale price has been crazy. I really hope that LLL will come out with a simple black and white stripe pattern soon. With the current black-grey-white theme, I have my hopes high…
Anyway, I love my 4-ways since they are so soft. It turns out that my groovy runs including spring has sprung (my favorite LLL pattern!) are mostly 2 way, but I don’t have any 2-way speeds. Hopefully LLL will make a black and white striped 2-way SS. A girl can dream :).
They did make classic stripe, which is a black and white stripe, but…. I sure wouldn’t complain about another one, especially since classic stripe apparently runs really short. I love stripes and I love black and white…sigh. :)
Your collection. Wow. I have total envy right now. Of course this makes sense since I think the speed shorts look amazing on you! Maybe you could do a video on how you store your active wear? With the amount of active wear you have I’ve always been curious how you store your tops and bottoms. I have these open shoe shelves I use for my leggings, capris, and shorts so I can color code them and Im embarrassed to say that with 100 pairs I’m running outta space and yes I love each and every piece.
I’m afraid a video on how I store my activewear would be both unhelpful and a little embarrassing, haha. My closet shelving is pretty sad (and my closet is finely appointed with a fluorescent light and puke green walls, lol), so until I get a chance to put in some sort of custom shelving, they’re pretty much just folded in a pile. I do still purge my collection pretty regularly (once the heap gets unmanageably tall). When my sister visited a couple months ago she hauled off with about 6 pairs of my leggings, haha. So, I haven’t run into major issues storing anything just yet. Whenever I get my closet renovated (which, admittedly, could be a *long* time from now), I’ll definitely want to share that on here! :)
Hmmm, I think you have officially surpassed by interest threshold for lulu nerding out with this post (although I hear people talk about this and wonder about this all the time, so clearly this will be a very helpful post to many people).
In other news: my Alala stuff arrived. The seamless stuff is awesome – thicker than I expected and very good for fall. I sized up across the board (tank, LS & tights) and that was the right move. The mediums all fit me perfectly (but tightly) and normally I am a small in almost everything Alala. I also really like the tranquility tunic. It’s lovely and drapey and (the size small on my slightly-smaller-on-top-relative-to-bottom body type) can be worn either like it is shown on the model down below the hips, or sitting up on the hips. I am on the fence about trying a medium since I do like the longer butt covering look a bit better and kind of wish it would just hang that way loosely without catching on my hips, but then I think it would be really big through the chest and bust area?? The material is very silky and kind of just shy of true black (grayish silvery bluey black). Finally, I do not care for the mesh sweatshirt. It’s very cute, but I find the mesh itchy.
Excited to hear what you and your readers end up trying!
(and really exciting for more Alala offerings in October and November…)
Thanks for the review! Is the seamless material as thick as Lulu’s seamless? The mesh looks pretty open. Does it feel sturdy and good quality?
It is way thicker than the swiftly seamless material, but yes it does remind me a lot of the In the flow material (pretty thick and compressive). It feels sturdy and high quality and I don’t think it would snag easily (but haven’t worn it yet). Yes the mesh is pretty open and is also made of a seamless material that seems like it had holes put into it, so it isn’t “mesh” in the traditional sense. I like the mesh part a lot too, it’s not itchy to me at all (on the seamless items).
The mesh on the sweatshirt is different and lighter weight (but still an open loose weave) – that is the only item I found a bit itchy like when I bent my elbows and moved my arms. The mesh on the tranquility tunic is standard normal mesh (fine and soft and silky).
Anyway, yes I am very impressed with the seamless stuff especially. When I had on the tights and LS together, it was a very flattering smoothing effect (even though I can’t imagine I would ever wear that outfit on a daily basis… although I do work from home… hmmmmm).
I felt like a badass and wanted to go fight some evil villains.
Haha we all have our limits!! ;)
Thanks for posting! I feel like seamless stuff usually runs small so it’s not surprising Alala’s is that way too. Glad you had the intuition to size up. :) Do the tights pass the bend test or are clever undies required?
Wow I didn’t even check cause I was so smitten!
I see now that they are not totally opaque. I’m wearing those black boyshort zohba undies and can see the line when I bend (not at all when I am standing). I imagine with nude they would be completely good to go. The seamless material is also not uniform… like there are side of the leg panels that are a slightly different fabric direction than the butt fabric (I feel like most seamless things are like this… like they have “designs” and various “panels” within a single color seamless piece). Anyways, because of this effect, my undie lines were not obvious. I had to double check to make sure it was actually the lines I was seeing and not just a change in the fabric. I’m sure there is a technical fashion industry name for this effect that I definitely do not know.
Any other questions people?! I am in my “glass of wine after toddler goes to bed before husband gets home” time of day :)
LOL. I like it. Full on interrogation going on over here. I find virtually all seamless material to be just a hair shy of opaque, so that makes sense. I think I know what you mean about the different textures on the pants. Bandier uploaded the army green version: https://www.bandier.com/seamless-tight-1?___store=default And I can kinda see the paneled effects there. I don’t know if it has an official name either.
yes, you can see exactly what i mean in the green (which are quite nice too) – good find!
love the green! I hope Alala will have a big labor day sale :).
YES! A big 40% off all new fall stuff sale :-D
i really enjoy how ridiculous this thread is – this from a girl who gets a personal email from the head of customer service at her favorite site when new shipments of alala come in, with all items in attachment for preorder (fashercise.co.uk , for any europeans out there – unbelievable service)
so i’ve “preordered” some alala stuff over email from my hero cam. ARMY GREEN SEAMLESS LEGGINGS!
Wow! That’s some amazing customer service. I’ll have to point UK folks their way. Thanks for the tip. :)
Also: alas that we don’t get 40% off new items, haha. I figured the sale would just be markdowns on the spring/summer collection. Need to decide if I’m going to scoop anything up…
Thanks for this post! I’ve always wondered myself. And I love your Spring Has Sprung pair!
Thanks Leslie! :) Spring has sprung is one of my all-time favorites.
Hi! Would you say that you were the 2-way and 4-way fit the same way. I’m a solid size 6 in Tracker 4-way but have my eye on a pair of Tracker 2-way. Wondering if I need to size up. Hopefully I didn’t miss this in your post! Thank you!!!
Hi Elise, I have not tried trackers before but for speeds, I know that some women do need to size up when they buy 2-way and I think it depends on the size of your thighs. Women with bigger legs tend to need to size up. However trackers seem to be of a looser fit so my guess is No? Hope this helps!
Hi Elise! That’s a tricky question. Alicia’s points are all very valid. It’s true that *some* women do prefer to size up in 2-way. Personally, I purchase the same size in both materials.
That said, the BIGGEST source of sizing variation isn’t whether it’s 2-way or 4-way, it’s the actual color/print. Unfortunately, lululemon’s sizing can be pretty inconsistent, so even if you *usually* buy a certain size in shorts, it won’t *always* fit. For example, my ray speed shorts are a size up, because that color in particular runs very small. On the other hand, my quiet stripe speed shorts run a bit looser than most of my other pairs. Overall, I’d recommend just going for your normal size. I would say most of the time that will work out. I wish it was more cut and dry, but I hope that gives you a place to start. Good luck!! :)
Hello! I wear a size 4 in quiet stripe. And looking to purchase a Ray 2-way. Are you suggesting I go with a 6?
Yes, that would be my recommendation. I have both, but I have a size larger in ray vs my QS. Ray in particular runs about a half to a full a size small.
I miss 2- way speeds and wish lulu would bring them back. As you mentioned earlier, I do love the structure and the way it hugs my thighs more and the 4-way just hangs there. However I do love speeds so much so I just buy them even though I am afraid to count the number that I currently have.
I miss them too! :( I also still buy them, but definitely not as much as I would if they brought the old fit and the old material back. :(
Hi, thanks so much for the article. I have purchased some used 4-way stretch shorts recently and noticed some pilling in the material. From your experience, does the 2-way pill less/ seem more durable to wear?
I’m very late replying to this, but yes, 2-way is absolutely more durable. I have gotten some snags and wear in a couple of my 4-way pairs, but I’ve never had 2-way fabric pill or snag at all. The one exception to this is the waistband–the waistband material is the same on both–that material can sometimes pill.