HeadphonesandLSD
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2011
- Messages
- 2,260
Sick of these "work pants" falling apart within 2 years.
For years I loved the Duluth trading company firehose pants. Best pair of pants I ever owned. But after 15+ years of use they finally failed. I could have patched them and left them with someone to patch them up. But they vanished (I think their son threw them away or stole them). I tried to order some new pairs from Duluth but they'd changed the type of material they were making them out of and it was very obvious they weren't the same type of quality. The two pairs I bought fell apart in under 3 years. They all developed holes in the pockets within a year and holes where my pistol rubs up against the right/back side of the pants near my pocket within a couple of months. They also developed holes in various places like the knees from very minor abuse. I tried really hard to take care of them. The stitching on them was terrible so holes quickly developed around the corners of the back pockets and other places.
I moved on and took a gamble on Carhartt work pants next. They are terrible quality. They develop holes in the same place with my pistol/holster rubs against the back of the pants within 6 months. Crotch blew out within a year. They were not fire proof as advertised and water does not bead off of them as advertised. They are obviously cheaply assembled crap using slave labor from overseas. I got fooled. I guess because they're fashion for young people now with lifted trucks they'd rather scam those people than sell a decent product to people like me.
Looking around online a ton of people are complaining and no real advice on any companies making decent work pants any more.
What I need:
- Fireproof/water proof pants that can hold up to welding, working around fire and water. Working all day in pissing down rain outside. Wading through creeks and misc. abuse from doing actual work.
- Deep front pockets, velcro back pockets (so I don't loose my wallet), tough material that can hold up to having metal objects like pistol, multi-tool, hand tools, clip on pocket knife and other misc. stuff on/in them all day
- Cargo pockets for storing misc. stuff
- A place to hang my hammer on the right leg when I'm working with a hammer while standing on a ladder
- The type of extra crotch space the Duluth pants had so my balls don't get smashed when I squat while working (they keep descending a little more with each passing year).
- Knees that won't easily blow out because I often have to work on my knees for extended period of time while hammer nails into boards or doing misc. work on concrete.
- Belt loops that won't fall apart from the heavy belts+stuff I hang off my belt everyday (like my firearm)
- wide enough legs to go around my work boots that won't get chewed up from rubbing against my leather work boots all day
- Easy to repair/patch using sewing materials I have at home
That's about it I guess. They need to also be some type of material that can resist being exposed to things like gasoline and motor oil fairly often.
I am willing to pay $150+ a pair for these. I want to buy at least 3 pairs and I want them to last at least 10 years. I'd settle for 5 though. As long as they can last as long as work boots I'm cool with it. I generally replace work boots every 5 years (I take care of them with mink oil and regular brushing). I guess I should be thankful I can still purchase decent steel toed work boots right now as I already had to switch brands due to the ones I bought for years going the same route as every company selling "work clothing". All the old heavy duty boot companies have figured out they can make more off instagram users than actual working men and quality has tanked (they all moved production outside of the USA).
If you know of a local USA company still producing good high quality work pants please let me know.
For years I loved the Duluth trading company firehose pants. Best pair of pants I ever owned. But after 15+ years of use they finally failed. I could have patched them and left them with someone to patch them up. But they vanished (I think their son threw them away or stole them). I tried to order some new pairs from Duluth but they'd changed the type of material they were making them out of and it was very obvious they weren't the same type of quality. The two pairs I bought fell apart in under 3 years. They all developed holes in the pockets within a year and holes where my pistol rubs up against the right/back side of the pants near my pocket within a couple of months. They also developed holes in various places like the knees from very minor abuse. I tried really hard to take care of them. The stitching on them was terrible so holes quickly developed around the corners of the back pockets and other places.
I moved on and took a gamble on Carhartt work pants next. They are terrible quality. They develop holes in the same place with my pistol/holster rubs against the back of the pants within 6 months. Crotch blew out within a year. They were not fire proof as advertised and water does not bead off of them as advertised. They are obviously cheaply assembled crap using slave labor from overseas. I got fooled. I guess because they're fashion for young people now with lifted trucks they'd rather scam those people than sell a decent product to people like me.
Looking around online a ton of people are complaining and no real advice on any companies making decent work pants any more.
What I need:
- Fireproof/water proof pants that can hold up to welding, working around fire and water. Working all day in pissing down rain outside. Wading through creeks and misc. abuse from doing actual work.
- Deep front pockets, velcro back pockets (so I don't loose my wallet), tough material that can hold up to having metal objects like pistol, multi-tool, hand tools, clip on pocket knife and other misc. stuff on/in them all day
- Cargo pockets for storing misc. stuff
- A place to hang my hammer on the right leg when I'm working with a hammer while standing on a ladder
- The type of extra crotch space the Duluth pants had so my balls don't get smashed when I squat while working (they keep descending a little more with each passing year).
- Knees that won't easily blow out because I often have to work on my knees for extended period of time while hammer nails into boards or doing misc. work on concrete.
- Belt loops that won't fall apart from the heavy belts+stuff I hang off my belt everyday (like my firearm)
- wide enough legs to go around my work boots that won't get chewed up from rubbing against my leather work boots all day
- Easy to repair/patch using sewing materials I have at home
That's about it I guess. They need to also be some type of material that can resist being exposed to things like gasoline and motor oil fairly often.
I am willing to pay $150+ a pair for these. I want to buy at least 3 pairs and I want them to last at least 10 years. I'd settle for 5 though. As long as they can last as long as work boots I'm cool with it. I generally replace work boots every 5 years (I take care of them with mink oil and regular brushing). I guess I should be thankful I can still purchase decent steel toed work boots right now as I already had to switch brands due to the ones I bought for years going the same route as every company selling "work clothing". All the old heavy duty boot companies have figured out they can make more off instagram users than actual working men and quality has tanked (they all moved production outside of the USA).
If you know of a local USA company still producing good high quality work pants please let me know.
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