I initially backed these pants on Kickstarter so we could give them a test here. The Terrain Pant follows the standard hype on Kickstarter pants, which culminates in this claim: “The one pant you’ll want to take with you (and never take off) on a trip around the world.”

I’ve had these pants for a while now, and the truth is, I have been putting off writing this review because I really do not care to wear these pants. So let me tell you why…

Material

First, these pants are made with “Japanese Nano-Wing® Technology”. Sounds amazing right? The claims are: “water and stain-repellant from the outside, moisture wicking from the inside, quick drying, self-cleaning, UV protected, with the perfect amount of stretch.” On the website there is no further definition, so like me you probably assume this is some futuristic fabric, some distant cousin of dyneema, merino wool, and nylon. When in fact, the garment tag tells us: 95% cotton, 5% elastane.

And as far as hand feel: terrible. Like a stiff canvas issued to soldier before we invented polyester.

Fit and Style

They fit very slim, and the pockets make what would otherwise probably be a really decent smart/business casual fabric look like a weird dressy hiking pant. From the pull tab on the back pocket (why is that there) to the zippered front pockets. The style is strictly casual, and generally just odd.

Performance

There are far too many performance claims on these for me to go through them all, or to even verify them. Also, I didn’t want to wear these more than I had to. So there’s that.

This is cotton with stretch, and heavy cotton at that. They simply do not breath well at all. I live in Houston, I can sniff out a poor breathing pair of pants instantly. Outlier’s heavy Strong Dungarees breathe better.

As for stretch, it appears to be two way, which stretches along the horizontal of the pants. This is mostly fine and the preferred method if it is not 4-way stretch. However the gusseted crotch is rather small, and so the pants are more restricting because of the slim cut. Either the pants need a larger gusset, 4-way stretch, or a looser fit.

For me, the rest of the performance points don’t matter because the pants are simply not more comfortable than any other pants I own, for any type of wear.

Overall

They are stiff, they don’t breath well, they don’t move well, and they are a little noisy to walk in. Also, my pants came with some snags in the fabric out of the package. The cut is flattering, but that’s the only nice thing I can say about them.

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