Belts are one of those necessary things, but also one of those items where it feels like people don’t bother to try and innovate. So I get excited when I see something new. I have SlideBelts and appreciate the ease of buying/adjusting/wearing their belts. But they are bulky to wear and problematic when needing to move through airport security. There’s Arcade Belts where it’s a fancy elastic strap that wears more comfortably than most any other belt, but doesn’t offer the rigid security of a leather belt, and leaves a lot on the looks side.

There’s a myriad of tactical or outdoors belts with variations of g-hooks, cobra buckles, and other intricate systems for latching what is essentially nylon webbing together. But it all ends in something you likely won’t wear to the office, on a date, or generally at all.

And then there is GRIP6 belts, which seem so simple and inexpensive you might quickly dismiss them, but then in doing so you would be missing out on what might be my favorite belt I have worn.

Materials & Concept

There’s two components to this belt: the belt itself which is offered in various colors and widths, but is just a nylon webbing strap; and then the buckle which also has various colors and some variations on materials but at the base is metal and slightly curved, with two slots on either end.

The end result of all this is a very low profile belt, which is easily adjusted, won’t trigger metal detectors, and is very secure overall. There’s even a model which is more rigid for those who need to clip things to their belt. For this I tested the narrow variant which is 1.1” wide with the metal buckle in the gunmetal color way.

Fit & Style

The fit of these belts is tricky to figure out at first, but order your normal belt size. I’ll spare you my rant on why belts aren’t sized so you order your normal pants size. Anyways, I wear a 34” pant, and got a 36 sized GRIP6 and that seems to be sized correctly for me.

The belt itself is essentially a fancy nylon webbing belt. As such I think it works in casual to smart casual styling, but won’t cross over the line to business casual. My office dress code is all over the place, but I have been wearing it to work with my Futureworks (and other chinos) and a button down without a second look from anyone — I think it looks good for that.

The narrow size is right for chinos, but too narrow for jeans. You’ll need to pick which works best for your clothing, I have two straps in narrow (brown and black) and will likely grab a standard width version in another color for wearing with 5-pockets styled pants.

Because the belt has no set holes or ratchet positions, you can fine tune the fit pretty easily.

Performance / Use

This belt is cumbersome to use for the first day. Because it doesn’t loop back to itself, instead you pass the free end into the buckle from the face, and then slide it along behind the buckle and down the other side. Friction essentially locks it in place, and you will notice the first time you try to take it off that there’s no worry about it coming undone by itself. I recommend watching this to get the hang of it.

Once you get going this belt quickly shows how great it is. It’s very low profile and never adds bulk or weight to your waist. The fit can be fine tuned and really comfortable. In the narrow model I have, I find the belt curves to your body very well — like a nicely molded leather belt. All in all: no complaints, just happiness here.

Overall

My only wish is that they looked more business casual because they are my favorite belts. I’ve instead decided to throw fashion to the wind, and wear these belts with everything. They are great, and you should own some.

Buy them here, for about $35.

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.

A year of working from home means that we forget about some types of pants. As jeans, and then joggers, and then whatever-is-clean takes over our non-video half of our wardrobes you would be forgiven for not really thinking much about the humble chino. But, things are changing and it is a good time to start looking at what might give you that jogger comfort while still being office presentable — on both halves of your body.

With that in mind, I picked up a pair of Bonobos’ Tech Chinos in Navy. I wasn’t expecting much, but I’ve been very impressed with these pants. Allow me to share…

Materials

These pants are made with Schoeller textiles, enough said? If not, they are 59% Cotton, 36% Polyamide, 5% Elastane. On top of that they have 3XDRY applied to them. All in all the fabric is pretty awesome.

It feels and drapes like cotton. It has grime/oops resistance with a strong DWR coating. And the stretch is fantastic — there’s not been a single time I felt restricted by the pants at all. I don’t know what to make of this fabric, because it is simply great.

Fit and Style

These pants have a lower rise than some of the other chinos I have tested, but not so low that they are hard to keep a shirt tucked into. Whether wearing them around the house, or into the office they look like chinos. A nice pair of chinos at that.

Bonobos offers a wide range of fits so you can dial in the fit to your body type, I went with a 34×32 in the Slim cut and find that it fits me really well with no tailoring needed. The only hint of these not being a standard chino are the back pockets where one is a snap and the other is (annoyingly) a zippered pocket.

Performance

I’ll say it again: this are among the most comfortable chinos I have ever worn, that they look like normal cotton chinos is only more impressive. These are so good I’ll just shift to comparing them directly to Outlier’s Futureworks which are my gold standard for performance chinos:

• Dirt/Grime Resistance: the DWR treatment is impressive and generally these pants don’t get that dirty. But when compared to the Futureworks there is one downside: the Tech Chinos tend to collect dust and light colored marks very easily. Where on the Futureworks I can brush such marks away with my hand, the Tech Chinos generally require a touch more effort — a damp rag generally cleans them back up. So if your are in a position where you are in a dusty area, or prone to brushing against things the Tech Chinos might become slightly annoying for you. Aside from that the performance for repelling splashes of water bests that of my Futureworks.
• Movement Comfort: I find these to be even with Futureworks when it comes to how easy they are to move around in. They offer more stretch than the Futureworks but a lower rise and a trimmer cut negates that extra stretch — whereas the Futureworks have a better gusset on the crotch. Both are easy to move in, so much so I would not worry about wearing either for most things I might find myself doing.
• Breathability: the one shortfall of these pants is breathability, the Tech Chinos don’t breathe nearly as well as the Futureworks. For cooler weather, the Tech Chinos will be great, but for summer the Futureworks are greatly preferable. I wish there was a slightly more breathable pair because that really is the biggest knock against these.
• Durability: I suspect they both last a long time. In normal wear the Futureworks are likely to outlast. But if you are prone to snagging pants, the Tech Chinos will be a better option as Futureworks do tend to get a snag under certain circumstances — like cats and thorns.

Overall, the Futureworks are better for warmer weather and they dry much faster for travel. Otherwise the Tech Chinos are really neck and neck with the Futureworks.

Overall

I would peg these as a sleeper hit. I know a lot of people don’t want to play the waiting games for Outlier’s Futureworks to be in stock, in the color you want, in the size you need. I know that a lot of people want more fit options and wider size ranges. For those of you in that camp the Tech Chinos are the best option I found for performance chinos which are available in the size/colors you want on demand.

That said they come in at the same price as the Futureworks and given that I would still prefer the Futureworks over them, but the margin is much closer than I ever expected.

You can find them here.

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.

Shorts are a tough area to review here, because shorts by very nature are performant for their use and really adding anything more on top of them has a lower net effect that it might in something like pants. But, these shorts caught my eye because a lot of the summer I spend hanging out after work in basketball/workout shorts and while those work fine, they don’t look great.

With that in mind, I snagged these Rhythm shorts to see how they faired as a good looking, casual short.

Material

As the name suggests the main performance attribute is linen and in this case: 45% cotton, 55% linen. The cotton is there to soften the material to the touch and add some more structure. Because of that the hand feel is very much linen with slightly less scratch to it. And a nice benefit here is that while these shorts have some rumple like pure linen does, they have far less and end up being a little less wrinkly.

Overall the material is really nice feeling, both to the touch and while wearing — while still looking pretty sharp.

Fit & Style

These are casual lounging shorts — I think you could say they are beach-eque. But to me they feel like ‘drinks by the pool’. So the style is casual but has enough structure and treatment that they are like a linen button up: casual but not sloppy.

As for fit they run slightly small. I ordered the Large and I feel like I would not want to have them any smaller. The material is loose fitting as well, which adds to the naturally loose/drapey style overall.

No real complaints here, I wouldn’t really wear them out to a dinner. But I have no worries about being social in them near pools, beaches, or otherwise relaxed settings like that.

Performance

As I stated at the beginning these are nearly impossible to evaluate on a pure performance basis. They are shorts, and they are lightweight shorts so by nature they dry quickly. They are also 7” inseam so they don’t restrict your leg and are cut loose so they further don’t restrict.

There is linen, but not a ton. They dry faster than most shorts, but not so fast that there’s anything to write home about. And the waist is elastic which is comfortable and that’s the nature of that.

The pockets are a standout feature, because unlike all my basketball shorts, stuff stays in these pockets. Which is awesome.

From a performancestand point they are comfortable and that’s about all I can say.

The one big negative for me is that the material has developed those orange bleach spots in areas — even though they have never seen bleach and only washed with like colors and hung to dry. I am not sure if this was a fluke, or something to expect.

Overall

For $50 I don’t know that these are worth it, at something closer to $40 I think they would be a much better item to recommend. I do like them, but $50 seems like a high price point for something with pretty low performance which would be hard to find a ton of uses for.

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.

Houdini Sportswear has been on my radar for a while because of their sustainability initiatives. They are best known for their Mono Air Houdi, a fleece hooded jacket made from a special Polartec fabric designed to reduce microplastic shedding, is at least 50% recycled, and the whole jacket is designed to be fully recyclable. The whole jacket is also open source. But that’s not what I’m reviewing today (I already have plenty of fleece…).

Houdini recently released a few pieces geared more towards lifestyle than outdoors, and when I saw the Omni Pants, I figure they were the perfect piece for me to give the brand a try.

Material

The pants are made from a fabric Houdini calls Thrill Twill, a blend of 41% EcoCircle® recycled polyester, 38% polyester, 21% PTT stretch polyester at 180 gsm. It is one of their tried and true fabrics they describe as “dense enough to shelter you a little bit from wind, but also light and open enough to provide high breathability. It is fully recyclable.” This seems like a lightweight but durable fabric.

When pulling up the fabric info to write this review, I was surprised at the high “stretch polyester” content, as the fabric doesn’t feel noticeably stretchy in the hand until you look for it (it is two-way stretch in the horizontal direction). The fabric is matte peached on the outside, but softer on the inside. You will also notice a lack of a DWR finish here.

My main point of comparison when thinking about these pants is the Outlier Futureworks. The F. Cloth is made from a 200 gsm 97% nylon, 3% elastane canvas, with a 35% two-way stretch. Comparing the two fabrics, they don’t feel noticeably different in weight, but the F. Cloth feels a bit more rough and tightly woven, with more texture and a bit more stretch.

There is, however, some technical swoosh here. This does seem to be getting a little better as I wear/wash them though.

Fit & Style

Houdini describes the fit as a “regular tapered fit”. I’d say compared to the typical tapered chino or the Futureworks, these are more of a straight or relaxed fit. Some of this may come from the fact that the sizing is XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL (I was able to get a good fit with the XL), vs. waist sizes, but it is also the general design of the pants. I don’t think they look sloppy, just more on-trend for the more full pants that seem to be coming back into style.

This style to me is more “technical pant that you can dress up” vs. “chino you can hike in” for the Futureworks. Not a bad thing, and considering the dress codes we will likely see post-pandemic, these likely could be worn in a lot of offices.

Performance

Wearing these pants in the spring, I was able to test their wind/chilly weather resistance. I think they are about on par with the Futureworks, which is somewhat surprising due to their weight and what looks like a more open weave. I’m really looking forward to seeing how these compare in hot weather.

The movement feels great here — the slight give the two-way stretch imparts combined with the cut make these pants stay out of your way. Additionally, the pre-bent knees help with binding around the knees when crouching or squatting.

While there is a lack of DWR, these pants dry so quickly, I don’t think that detracts from the appeal too much.

A few other hidden performance features are the zippered compartment in the right front pocket — a feature I often don’t love, but this one seems to stay out of the way (and the zipper pull docks at the top). There are also pulls at the leg cuffs, to all you to cinch them out of the way of a bike chain, as well as a hanging loop under the back belt loop.

Overall

I really like these Houdini Sportswear Omni Pants. The cut combined with the fabric make them comfortable and durable, and they fend off the chillier weather while seeming like they will do great in the heat. For those looking for sustainability, they contain 41% recycled polyester and can be recycled at the end of their life.

While they won’t replace my Outlier Futureworks for office wear (for now at least), they will remain at the front of my closet. At $140, they are competitively priced. Recommended.

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.

When I last did a round up of socks, I commented how bummed I was that Outlier stopped producing socks. Which is actually how I came across Farm to Feet, as I saw a rumor that perhaps they were the company who manufactured the socks for Outlier. I have no idea if this is true, I honestly doubt it, but since hearing about them I knew I wanted to check out their socks. I bought two different types to try out, but I want to focus on just one of them: Damascus 3/4 Crew.

The other is a thicker Merino hiking sock, which I will comment on briefly but otherwise nothing super special about it.

The thing about the Damascus though is that it is generally a light weight sock, but has full cushioning that Farm to Feet calls “targeted”. I’ve found them pretty great, so let me share with you.

Materials

Merino wool, I mean there’s no other way to go with socks, but yes these are all wool blends. The Damascus is 52% US Nylon, 44% US 10.5 Micron Merino Wool, and 4% US LYCRA® Spandex. The Boulder is a little higher merino: 71% U.S. Merino Wool, 28% U.S. Nylon, 1% U.S. Spandex. Essentially you reduce merino in the thinner sock to maintain durability of the item. Either way, my general sock comment is that anything close to 50% merino is all you need in socks, so both check that box.

Generally the feel of both socks is pretty luxurious. Even at only 19.5 micron, they are very soft feeling. The down side is that the stretch is oddly low in both. Especially the Boulder, where it can be a little tough to put on your foot at times — needs more stretch. The Damascus works a little better for stretch, but I still wouldn’t mind a little more.

Fit and Style

The Boulder is firmly a hiking sock in style. Whereas I think the Damascus in a neutral tone is fine for wearing with any type of boot — dress or otherwise. Beyond that it’s more of a casual athletic sock look.

As mentioned the stretch is not as prevalent as it is in other socks, and as such my roughly size 11 feet found the size Large (rated for 9-11.5 to really be on the edge of being too small. I worry that the XL would just be too large. But if you are on the top edge on the size chart, I would recommend sizing up. I can make it work, but I certainly need to pull the sock over my heel to stretch it around the heel into a proper placement.

Performance

Outstanding is my general review on the performance of these. Better than Darn Tough? Better than Outlier? Better than Wildly? Hold up there. Let me tell you what I mean, sock by sock.

Damascus Performance:
– The targeted cushioning works exceedingly well on this sock. Often when wearing boots like my Iron Rangers I need a thicker sock for the tongue of the boot to rest against my foot, but this sock has that ribbed cushioning along the top of the foot and that makes the boots wear really nice.
– Generally a light compression around the arch, which gives a nice fit.
– Zero to seam issues.
– Moderate odor resistance, I would say two all day wears and then wash. Mostly to push the sock back into shape given the higher nylon and spandex content.
– Durability seems perfectly fine on this sock, no issues to report.

Boulder Performance:
– The full cushioning feels like pure luxury to wear.
– There’s very light compression, instead the sock is shaped really well.
– No seam issues at the toe box.
– Very good odor resistance because of the very high merino content. I get about 3 wears, but the lack of spandex does mean the toe box gets floppy decently quick.
– The durability has me worried. After the first wear the heels on both pairs of my Boulder socks showed a lot of pilling. Subsequent wears seem to not be adding more, but I am worried that the socks will wear out in hot spots much quicker than they should for the price.

Overall, on par with most merino socks. They are soft, without being fuzzy soft. I prefer them over my Darn Tough socks for comfort, but worry about performance as I have had other Darn Tough socks for a very long time without issue.

Overall

I need to give you the sum up by sock type. The Boulder socks are really nice, but I wouldn’t buy them again. They are expensive enough and I worry about durability and if I were actually hiking in them I would think I want something that generally has a little more stretch and a much better fit — I’d stick with Darn Tough.

The Damascus though, even with it costing more money than the Boulder, I think it is a great sock. I’ll buy more of these. The targeted cushioning is smart, it makes the sock feel smart. Makes it fit and wear better — but only if you are wearing it with shoes. It’s not a good around the house sock. If you typically wear boots, you might give a pair of these a try — they are really nice.

Find them here.

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.