Posts Tagged travel pants
Columbia Sportswear’s Fashion and Function for the “It Girl”
Columbia Sportswear didn’t get so popular without some clever marketing and equally clever design to back it up. After spending 16 hours surfing the manufacturer’s booths at the winter Outdoor Retailers show, it was easy for me to get a little cynical. Are there really major noticeable differences between 500 fleece jackets or 200 different pairs of hiking socks?
I capped the show off though with something that reminded me why there’s a lot to celebrate about the current crop of wonder apparel: a fashion show from Columbia. The company slid me into a VIP seat next to the runway where I could be dazzled by their form-meets-function collection for women that will be hitting the stores this coming fall.
I gotta say I like their attitude. They say this collection is for the “it girl” out there, who may be in her 20s but may be a 40-something mother. She bikes, she snowboards, she hikes, but she works, she pounds the city pavement, and she runs errands. What she wears needs to be comfortable and warm but look good. Her clothes need to do more than one thing. They need to do what they promise without a lot of fuss.
That’s my paraphrasing of a more finely-tuned marketing message, one you’ll surely have seen a lot of by this time next year. Based on what I saw, touched, and tried on, however, they back up the hype with great technology and design.
Enjoy the fashion show video above, especially if you thought that being warm in the outdoors and looking great had to be mutually exclusive.
For more on what’s out there now, visit Columbia.com or search for Columbia at your local retailer, REI.com or Backcountry.com.
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on January 24th, 2010
9 Road-tested Travel Gear Winners
I am still unpacking my stuff from a two-month trip through Mexico and Belize. I was carrying plenty of travel gear I was trying out for the first time—and have reviewed on this blog—but also some “oldies but goodies” that proved their worth once again. Here are nine items that have stood up to the rigors of the road and have performed well time after time.
Pac-safe Laptop Backpack and Daybag
I have used a Pac-safe B100 laptop backpack on a whole series of trips and I used it again on this one. It still looks almost new though and has retained its shape perfectly. I felt confident nobody was going to slash my bag in a crowded market and it doubled as an in-room safe where I could lock up my laptop and camera (with a cable lock) when I was wandering the town without it. My wife used the smaller Metrosafe 200 bag to carry all the essentials when we were sightseeing. This company makes great stuff and it’s worth the premium, especially if you’re carrying anything valuable you’re worried about. You can get most of their product line at Magellan’s.
Eagle Creek Toiletry Kits
When I’m checking a bag, I travel with an Eagle Creek Wallaby I got a few years back. My wife is still using an older version she got more than 10 years ago. Filled with compartments and pockets and a hook to hang it from wherever you can in the bathroom. When counter space is limited, this is very helpful, plus when packing up to go you just zip it up and you’re done.
Clothing from ExOfficio
I talk up ExOfficio travel clothes on a regular basis because time after time they meet or beat my expectations. I wore something of theirs pretty much every day for two months solid, yet the shirts and pants look just as good as they did the day I took them out of their packaging. From travel underwear to Insect Shield items to quick-dry shirts, this is great stuff. My one complaint is that every bead of sweat shows up way too easily in some of the darker shirts—a problem that’s not as obvious with some of my cheaper patterned shirts (also synthetic) straight off the local clearance rack.
Steripen Water Purifier
I’ve raved about this SteriPEN Traveler so many times since I got it three years ago that I ought to be doing TV commercials for them. I got the runs exactly one half of one day on this trip—out of 61 days total in Mexico and Belize. By using this I also saved at least a hundred plastic water bottles from the landfills or sides of the road. The one drawback I’ve found is the optional solar battery charger takes a good 6-8 hours of direct sunlight, which is not always plentiful during rainy season or while hiking in the mountains.
Skype
OK, this is technically software, not gear, but it’s a wonderful thing for travelers. I got a Skype unlimited calling subscription and online phone number with my own area code before I left so relatives could call us with their regular phone and it was a domestic call for them. It rang anytime we were online or they could leave a voice mail if we weren’t. It’s so cheap I’m keeping it going permanently just for when I travel. I took along a Philips Skype USB phoneon as well so I didn’t need a headset.
Convertible Travel Pants
Yeah, they’re kind of dorky, but all three of us had a pair or two and they got a lot of use. Pants when you need pants, shorts when you don’t. The definitive double-duty travel gear item. You can get nice versions from Columbia, ExOfficio, North Face, etc. at Sierra Trading Post or a slightly cheaper store brand version at REI. Right about now at least one brand is probably going on sale…
Chargepod Callpod
This is another product I absolutely love. Between two of us we were carrying two iPods, two home cell phones, and two Mexican cell phones this summer. With this cool Callpod gadget we could leave all the proprietary cords behind and have just one charger. (See photo at the top of post.)
Timex Rugged Field Expedition Watch
I’ve got eight watches on my dresser at home, but this is the one I take with me on trips. My Rugged Field Expedition watch has taken a licking and kept on ticking in six countries so far, through all kinds of weather. I think this one pictured is not available anymore, but I’ve had good experiences with the whole line. (And I like the light-up Indiglo feature.)
Teva Omnium Shoes
I just reviewed these awesome
Teva Omnium sandal shoes last week, so click the link above for the lowdown.
Also, from a working digital nomad standpoint, I was quite happy with the performance of some items I reviewed here recently, like the HP DV3 13-inch laptop and my Kodak Easyshare Z1012 IS camera with 12X zoom.
Stay tuned for more!
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on August 12th, 2009
Ex Officio Women’s Travel Clothing: Savvy Skirt and Nio Amphi Roll-up Pant
Now I know why my colleague Tim digs Ex Officio travel clothing so much. This brand understands that ideal clothes for the road (or plane or cruise) need to be lightweight, versatile, functional, comfortable and stylish. My Savvy Skirt and roll-up pants from Ex Officio fit those criteria and more.
The Savvy Skirt is made of “lightweight scrunch cloth,” which means you can literally ball it up and throw it in the bottom of a piece of luggage and it won’t matter a hoot — it’s thoroughly wrinkle resistant, since it’s already “wrinkled.” At 33 inches long, it’s the perfect length for my 5-foot, 9-inch frame (petite women may find it too long), and the wide stretchy waist makes it ultra comfortable. Plus, the skirt is cute — the flirty bottom (almost mermaid style, the way it hugs my hips) flares out a bit and swishes when I walk.
But I think the feature I like best about the Savvy Skirt is that it can be worn as a skirt or a halter dress with a tie at the neck (a necessity, since I’m not, er, chesty, and it would slip down without the tie). I’ve used the skirt/dress most often as a bathing suit cover-up, but it would make a fine item of clothing for a travel day, sightseeing or dining out on vacation.
The Nio Amphi Roll-up Pants are designed to be worn in and around the lake or river, with fabric that is engineered to “dry quickly and resist wrinkles, water and stains.” But there’s more, the nylon fabric is also treated with “sun guard,” so it protects your legs from harmful UV rays.
I like that the pants fit me beautifully in the waist. They are “mid rise,” so they don’t hang as low as many pants do these days (do I sound like a Granny here?). If they were a bit big in the waist, however, I could use the hidden drawstring to tie them a bit tighter. Length-wise, they’re a bit short on my tall frame, so I don’t foresee unrolling them to full-length; but that’s okay, I love the capri, roll-up style anyway. Two other nifty features I appreciate: an “undestructible” button (don’t you hate it when your sewed-on buttons fall off?) and two hidden-zipper “security” pockets.
Truly, the roll-up pants are versatile — I wore them hiking and out to dinner on a recent weekend getaway to Keystone, Colorado, and they’ll come along with me on my camping/houseboating trip to Utah’s Lake Powell next month.
Visit the company website to purchase the ExOfficio Savvy Skirt ($60) or the Ex Officio Nio Amphi Roll-up Pants ($65).
Posted by Kara in Travel Light on July 30th, 2009
Better-priced Travel Pants From REI
Walking through your local REI store can be like a traveler’s version of a trip to Tiffany’s. When I stopped in two weeks ago to use my annual rebate check and a “20 percent one full-priced item” coupon, I had trouble actually using the latter. After perusing racks of $95 slacks from Columbia, $80 t-shirts from Mountain Hardwear, $200 sunglasses from Smith, and $18 socks from a whole slew of companies, I ended up using the coupon on some heavy-duty DEET bug repellent. I saved $1.60. Woo-hoo.
In all fairness though, REI does run some killer sales now and then, in the stores and their outlet site, plus the prices on their own private label versions of popular clothing items are much easier to swallow. Like the lower-priced snacks and cereals under the Target or Costco brand name, the REI versions of pants, jackets, or wicking shirts won’t sting you so badly at the cash register.
So I used my rebate check to go toward these nice REI Adventure Pants, marked down from $44 to $32.83—a deal that is still up on their website too at the moment. I usually travel with a pair of convertible pants that turn into shorts, but you’ve got to admit they scream “Tourist!” just as loudly as a floppy hat and a camera case. So when I’m traveling some place where men in shorts aren’t common (um, turns out that’s most of the world actually), I like to have a pair of lightweight pants that stay cool and don’t make me look like a backpacker. These do the trick nicely and are the kind I can wear out to dinner or a club without feeling self-conscious. Or I can wear them on a hike and know that they’ll wick away the sweat.
They’re not your average cotton chino slacks. They call the synthetic fabric “neo-linen nylon,” but all I know is it’s soft, breathable, and very lightweight. These are the kind of pants you can wash in the sink and they’ll be dry before morning, which means less to pack. They’ve got plenty of pockets tucked around them, including two rear button-closure ones, two concealed zipper pockets at side seams (handy for those pound or euro coins) and a zippered hip pocket. Like most any sheath of fabric they will “block harmful UV rays.” Not completely wrinkle-free, but close enough for casual wear.
They come in khaki or graphite in a variety of inseams. Men’s versions only though unfortunately: REI’s Roundezvous Pants for women list for $56.
Search “adventure pants” at REI.com
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on May 6th, 2009
