The item in this review was provide for Myles Apparel for review purposes.
Myles Apparel recently released their Tour Pant to compete in the technical, 5-pocket pant market. It’s marketed as a “classic 5-pocket pant design upgraded with modern features”. I had a chance to give these a good try over the holidays.
Material
The fabric is described as a “breathable stretch woven twill” and is 100% polyester with DWR. While there is no elastane, the fabric is quite stretchy, although not as stretchy as my Outlier Slim Dungarees. The weight seems to be similar to the Workcloth in the Slim Dungarees, but this fabric doesn’t have as strong of a texture and has a noticeable technical sheen. I found the weight to be decent for cold weather, and could see the pants transition to the warmer months.
One interesting material touch is a tight mesh fabric used for the pockets. I’m guessing this is to help with the breathability, although I typically feel this is a gimmick that can hurt the durability of the pockets.
Fit
These pants are a slim/athletic cut with a slight leg taper. The odd thing, however, is the sizing. They are only offered in S-XXL rather than waist sizes. In talking to Myles, I was told that the sizing is consistent with their other pants, so I got an XL (this choice also made sense with their sizing chart). The XL turned out to be unusual baggy in the seat, so I exchanged for a L.
In a L, the waist was slightly tight — made OK because of the stretch, however there is some pulling at the top of the fly flap. Since the pulling is right below the button, it’s hidden by an untucked shirt, but makes these pants unwearable for me with a tucked in shirt. The seat did fit much better though. I also tend to have concerns with tightness around the thighs in athletic/slim pants, but the fit on these, while a little tighter than I usually go, was comfortable.
Also, rather than providing an inseam measurement, they list a max height for each size (6’5” on the L). I am 6’2”, and I found the inseam to be perfect, they do offer free hemming by mail though, if needed.
The rise of the pants seem to be a bit lower than what I’m used to. I found squatting down to cause the pants to pull down in the back a bit. The lower rise also makes the back pockets fall lower than I’m used to — this is something I didn’t notice right away, but became apparent when sitting with a wallet in my back pocket.
Wearing Them
The stretch of the fabric is surprising given the lack of any stretch component to the blend. I never found the pants to constrict my movement and found them to move with my body, although not as easily as a pant with some elastane blended in. The gusseted crotch also helps with freedom of movement, although I found the back of the pants to pull down a bit when squatting or moving around on the floor when playing with my niece. I’m guessing this is a function of the rise.
While not severely tapered, I did find the taper to cause the pants to sometimes get caught on my calves when standing up.
The fifth pocket is sized to hold your phone, and it does indeed just hold an iPhone XS. My phone seems secure there, although the pocket is situated high enough that I didn’t find it to be a comfortable place to carry my phone. The other pockets are all nice and deep and things seem to stay put. The right back pocket also has a zipper portion designed to securely hold a wallet or passport, a nice touch and well implemented. I’ve found some zipper pockets like this to get in the way, but the zipper seems to be well designed here as to stay hidden and out of the way.
Finally, the technical sheen — this one is a deal breaker for me when wearing the pants. I hoped it would become less noticeable with some wear and washing, but that did not come true. Maybe it’s most noticeable in the Charcoal color I have, but for pants that are targeted for wear from outdoors all the way to work, I expect less sheen.
A Few Complaints
These pants aren’t perfect. While I think a lot of what I don’t like is a factor of the fit, there are definitely some improvements that could be made.
Sizing: Only having S-XXL sizing in these pants makes it less likely that you will find a great fit, and seems unusual for a pant billed as looking good enough for work wear. I’d consider making these in the usual waist sizings.
Rise: The rise on these pants turned out to be a little too low for me, causing the back to pull down in some situations. I didn’t notice if it was different in the XL pair I had first, but in order to get a fit that was reasonable, I had to size down.
Sheen: The sheen of the fabric is too noticeable for a technical pant that is supposed to be able to be worn in many situations. While it may have been OK in the past, there are too many good, non-shiny offerings these days.
Overall
The Myles Apparel Tour Pant is not the pant for me. While some of my issues are probably due to not being able to find a great fit, the fabric could use some work. If you can find a fit that works for you, the $118 price is compelling when compared to my gold standard of the Slim Dungarees ($198), and it might be worth giving them a try.
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