Thursday
May142009
May 14, 2009 The scourge of convertible pants
Kevin at Practical Hacks asks, do you hate convertible pants?
Of course there are those who think that convertible travel pants are the quickest way to brand yourself a tourist; just a couple of examples:
@wikiHow: How to Avoid Looking Like an American Tourist
@everywheremag.com: Lose a few style points…
What do you think? Have you traveled internationally with convertible travel pants? Or do you think their functionality is trumped by their (perceived) cheesiness?
Hate them, resoundingly. I’ve long lamented the dearth of good-looking, functional, quick-drying pants…with legs that don’t zip off! Or have pockets on the sides large enough to hold a sandwich and a paperback.
We’ve done it before, but please share your favorite travel legwear…
Reader Comments (16)
My husband decided to buy a pair of convertible cargo pants for one of our trips to Europe.
He wore them on the plane giong over, BUT going through security was not fun he kept setting off the metal detector. They finally figured out it was all the zippers on the pants, not only at the knees but all the pockets as well.
After that trip they've been folded up in a drawer and forgotten.
He now wears chinos and packs shorts.
I've worn mine through many metal detectors without problems.
I understand the concern about looking like a tourist, but I think it's overdone. When I'm in Vietnam I look like a tourist no matter what I'm wearing! Even in Europe (I'm white), unless I'm in one of a few countries, I'll never be able to pass as a native.
I don't think I've ever met someone who I thought was a local who actually turned out to be a tourist. I've accepted that when I'm traveling I will look like I'm a traveler, and so I wear convertible pants when I think it'll be appropriate, like for hiking. When it's not appropriate, I wear nicer pants. It's never seemed that complicated to me.
I have a pair. Love 'em. What else would you wear hiking Two Med?
+1 for convertible pants
For whatever reason, I usually wear my Tilley pants for the airplane. They're very comfortable, although not entirely fashionable. Interestingly enough, they come with the ability to roll the legs up and wear them as capris/city shorts. Even though it's expensive, they're my favorite pair of travel pants.
I'm currently deciding between also bringing the REI convertible pants (with its many useful pockets) or a pair of capris (quick drying, but two normal pockets) for my trip to Europe. Because the convertible pants will not be transformed into shorts (I'm not interested in blinding people with my pale legs), the transformative ability is not so much a consideration.
My travel pants pet peeve is the inability to find it in a stylish color like black or slate. I am sick and tired of the khaki, white and green colors.
I always wear a set of North Face convertible pants. The slightly heavier material they are made with may make them harder to wash, but it doesn't look as cheap as some of the super-thin convertible pants.
I also love all the pockets for carrying passports etc. The North face pants have never set off the metal detector.
For me, trousers are the toughest part of light travelling: I don't have any that are quick drying, so I either have to bring enough for the whole trip or use hotel laundry. Chinos/khakis are heavy and slow to dry. Although they wrinkle fairly easily, I have a couple of pairs of Lands End tropical weight wool pants that I like. They are very light weight, good for year round use if you aren't in a place where it snows, and the price was right. Don't remember exactly how much, less than $40 for sure. So, if something terrible happens in the laundry it's not the end of the world.
Mea culpa, I'm a zip-off bigot. If you're under 35 and over 6 feet tall (I'm neither) you can probably pull it off.
Yes! I'm slightly below 35 and slightly above 6 feet!
I'm under no illusions that I can pull off wearing convertible pants. I realize that they look bad, but sometimes they seem necessary. Generally those are times where I want to wear shorts on a hike because it's really hot, but I know that mosquitoes will be coming out later so I need to be able to cover up. They're also useful as swimming trunks when you will want to cover your legs before or after.
I wear these from Tilley almost exclusively when traveling:
http://www.tilley.com/detail.asp?catId=13&gender=m&extractBy=CategoryId&id=7&productNo=RT26
They are certainly stylish enough and DO dry overnight - very nice.
I also have a much older Tilley zip offs, but yes, they do look, well, not very sophisticated. I wear them less and less. I just don't bother zipping them off most of the time, and find that a "real" pair of shorts is more comfortable.
Did anyone try the Scottevest pants? They have now four models. One is a zip-off, one is a hidden cargo pant, one more like chinos and one shorts.
I like some chinos I got from Cabela's. They're pleated, 65/35 poly/cotton and black. They dry quicker than cotton and look better than those "travel" monstrosities. I had a pair that I used for fishing and washed just the shorts a few times. Now the shorts and legs are two different shades.
Since I don't get too hung up about what others think about what I'm wearing, convertibles are fine with me.
As far as cargo pant alternatives go, I picked up a pair of Ex Officio Streamliner Field pants that offer multi-pocket versatility but are much more "low profile" in appearance. They have the usual ExO non-bulky, quick-drying properties and the pockets are secured by zipper, so there's no Velcro rrrriiipp when opening.
Patagonia carries several quick-dry pants that aren't zip-offs.. they're one of the few that actually makes them in normal/slender cuts instead of baggy MC Hammer pants too. I was looking for the same thing you were and they were the best I've tried so far.
The only bad thing is, Patagonia hasn't realized that some people are taller than others. Their max inseam is 32 on all pants.
People are short in Patagonia...
My legs don't get shown at home, so there is no way I'd show them away.
I have been asked for directions so I might be doing something right.
I use ExOfficio Excursion pants in black. They're good enough for going out. The Nomad would be as close as I'd get to convertible pants, in that the pockets are more obvious and they're in khaki.
I'd like to order "one more pair" of the Excursions, but ex-officio doesn't ship out of the USA :-( :-( :-(
Flerdle, the following online companies sell Ex-Officio and ship internationally and/ or to Canada (sorry, I don't know where you are):
http://www.backcountry.com
http://www.sierratradingpost.com
http://www.rei.com