Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Ohio

There would be no copyright issue, since clothing is not protected by copyright. However, if these are branded jeans there could be a trademark issue. You would want to be very clear that you are not associated with the brand owner in any way and that you modified the original jeans into shorts, not the brand owner. You want to avoid any consumers being confused into thinking that you are somehow associated with the brand owner. If the brand owner is a large company, they could be aggressive in enforcing their trademark rights.