Miranda, are you talking about the Terry Bellas? Or the regular T shorts? I love the Bellas. Yes, the fabric is shiny, but it's tight and full of lycra. The more lycra the better for me.
Chamois is so individual. I could never go back to wearing the thin, one dimensional chamois of the old Terry shorts. My bum actually hurts if I wear shorts like that now. On the other hand, I have a pair of Shebeest with a very similar chamois to the Bellas. But, it's just a bit thicker. The first few times I wore them, ow! Especially when I wore them to spin class and the saddle there was well, not good with those shorts. It took washing them about 5-6 times to wear them down. Now I save those for long, hot rides.