These are great pants, if they suit your shape. I had to go up a size; the 14s fitted like a Berghaus 12. In common with Berghaus’s Statis, they have lightly reinforced bum and knee patches. While the main fabric is stretchy, these panels have some ‘give’ horizontally but nothing obvious vertically. If you have a flat backside you won’t notice, but mine is curved so the waist dipped at the back to accommodate the (effectively static) seat panel. Despite the effort put into ‘low-profile’ – waistband, seams, cuffs – this dip made the waist into an odd shape and it felt as though it was tugging downward, like hipsters. The waistband itself is lined with base-layer fabric. Fit is flexible, with Velcro strips at the side and two front studs, plus belt loops. Short zips at the cuffs have fabric inserts but open fairly wide for venting. Zipped hip pockets are meshlined but low volume. Oddly, plastic-like seam tape is used on the inside, down the pocket zip, across the mesh vent and up the side of the pocket. This tape feels cold when the trousers are pulled on; I assume it’s because the seam is welded but it does feel bizarre on a chilly morning.
First published: Spring 2013
