Some fashion movements are immediately recognizable from a few key garments. Black and white tie dress codes are as distinctive as the sportswear worn by athletes. Each of these has a readily associated image, user, and history. Some hyper-contemporary movements lack these associations.
Travel days are spent in a variety of ways. They can be purely transit-oriented, whether by plane, car, or local train. They can be spent exploring distant landscapes, fathomless historic cities, and much more.
All this travel requires the right apparel to power your journey. Travel apparel at large serves the specific needs of travelers in form, style, and comfort. One of the most essential garments in this style of wardrobe is your pants.
We will explain the essentials of what makes a great pair of travel pants. Along the way, we’ll also showcase the fundamentals of travel clothes and what to expect from them.
What Is Travel Apparel?
If you look closely into the travel industry, you will notice a few trending topics. Even beyond where people are visiting, travelers are becoming more concerned with the ethics and sustainability of how they travel.
Nearly every detail in how you travel affects your environmental impact on the area around you. It includes what you pack in terms of toiletries and where you stay and go when you visit. It consists of your plastic use, including in luggage and personal effects.
It also includes the clothing you wear:
Travel apparel emerged as a distinctive genre of clothing in the 19th century. Mass production allowed for specialized articles in a society that increasingly traveled. The specific history of dress code in travel is a complex one, relating to historic cleanliness and social mores. One essential detail, however, has always been the desire for wrinkle-free fabrics.
The invention of synthetic fibers has been a boon for technical apparel. When utilized on their own or in blended fabrics, they can reduce wrinkles and enhance comfort. They are often a component, even if it is a small one, of many technical fabrics. Technical fabrics are any design created to address special performance issues.
Travel apparel exists to bring style and comfort together, as well as provide versatility across climates. Some convertible pants feature seams or zippers, which allow a transition from pants to shorts. A relaxed fit and overall breathability are often other major concerns regarding travel pants.
Travel apparel comes in many forms, primarily because it arose as a solution to an issue. Travel apparel refers to any clothing item which serves the needs of travelers. For these reasons, the particular style varies widely from brand to brand.
Essential Features To Look For in Travel Pants
Travel apparel has a wide-ranging set of goals. For that reason, it’s important to know what to look for, so that your clothing addresses all your needs.
Comfort, wrinkling, responsiveness to the elements, and security form the essential elements of any pair of travel pants.
Pants like joggers and sweatpants are often comfy but may not have all the elements we desire from our pants. Stretchy fabrics and elastic waistbands allow for a full range of movement and ample functionality in any situation.
Two-Way Stretch vs. Four-Way Stretch
Two-way stretch fabrics are stretchy in two directions, but four-way stretch fabrics are even better. These fabrics are stretchy throughout the entire design and are especially prominent in high-end sportswear and hiking pants.
Great travel apparel should also be moisture-resistant. A water-resistant pair of pants may either have a high saturation point or even repel water. This latter element can be achieved by durable water repellent, or DWR, coatings. Some technical fabrics are also quick-drying, which is another essential feature.
Wrinkle-resistant clothing keeps its shape, which is especially essential when things are packed on long flights. These details are often more reliant on inherent fabric properties rather than coatings.
In all climates, sun protection on your clothing matters. In sunscreen, protection is measured in SPF. In clothing, that protective feature is measured as UPF, or Ultraviolet Protection Factor. In UPF 50, only 1/50 of harmful rays can penetrate the article.
City travelers also need to worry about safeguarding their valuables. Pickpockets are least likely to target a person's front pockets.
Travel pants can heighten these security elements by utilizing hidden pockets. With security pockets, one is even less likely to be targeted for their valuables. Travel pants often feature a dedicated phone pocket that’s hard for pickpockets to reach.
Our Favorite Travel Pants
One of the ways travel pants excel is their incredible versatility. The right pair can go from semi-formal dinners to backcountry road trips without ever changing your clothing. The Warrior pants embrace this concept as one of the best men’s travel pants.
The pants feature an interior elasticated inseam and drawstring for a personalized fit. The front has a snap closure above the gusset, giving it the buttoned-up look you’d typically expect from a pair of chinos.
Adventure fabric technology provides moisture-wicking properties alongside the stretch expected of high-performance travel gear. Hidden zipper pockets also provide security that acts as a theft-preventative measure.
For enhanced utility, there are also cargo pocket pants in the form of the Wanderer. These feature zip pockets as well as cargo pockets in one design. Water resistance and breathable comfort meet every demand from expert travelers. The Wanderer exceeds traditional cargo pants expectations with UV-stop technology that offers sun protection.
In the world of women's fashion, the offerings for travel pants are no less limitless. Meditation provides a pair of pants that stretch to exactly meet the body while also being slim fit to provide a tailored figure. These straight-leg pants are made by USA craftspeople to provide travelers with individually-crafted goods.
Two front pockets and one back pocket are all concealed and zippered to provide the maximum security available. The fabric itself resists shrinking, wrinkling, and moisture in a bid to be high-performance and high-style.
What Makes Paskho’s Travel Pants Special
Above, we’ve listed the essential elements that make up travel pants. These include high-performance technical designs and high-style, minimal offerings ready to rival dress pants and chino pants alike. These pants embrace versatility, functionality, and fashion equally.
Commitment to Community
However, a few details elevate Paskho’s pants in particular. The first is a dedication to community manufacturers. We choose to source our collections in the USA. We do this not because it is easy, but because it allows us to support our local communities.
We establish production in areas that have been historic sites of injustice and inequality. This allows us to give jobs and spur the economic growth of those who need them most. It also embraces and acknowledges the rich history of creators across the nation.
Commitment to Sustainability
Another essential component sewn into our being is our overarching and never-ending commitment to sustainability. The fashion industry provides a true essential for people in the form of clothing. Unfortunately, much of this clothing is produced unsustainably, whether through unfair labor practices or impractical farming methods.
We embrace sustainability in every stage of production. It begins with the manufacturing of the textile we use in our clothing. By utilizing fabrics made under the strictest environmental certifications, we encourage safe practices in creation and harvesting. We also reclaim fabrics that otherwise would be discarded and wind up in landfills or our oceans.
From there, we equitably source labor to remain accountable for the creation process. Our focus on minimalist and high-quality apparel allows individual garments to seamlessly integrate into wardrobes.
Sustainability isn’t a process with a set end goal. It is an ongoing determination to improve existing methods and be transparent about everything.
What To Expect From Your Pants
You can, and should, expect a lot from your travel pants. When visiting unfamiliar places or returning to old ones, they will be your closest companion. They can protect you from environmental hazards, safeguard your possessions, and help you look your best. They should also embrace sustainable and ethical practices in every facet of creation.
Creating an excellent pair of travel pants takes an undeniable amount of work. Thus, there’s no room to cut corners, especially when it comes to the human impact of a garment. You should ask of your pants not just how they look or feel but how they impact the world.
Our dedication is to both the travelers and explorers at large and to the communities worth exploring. We produce travel pants and other apparel at a high standard for those seeking to exceed the basic essentials.
We do this because, at the end of the day, what you wear tells a story about your values. At Paskho, we value comfort, performance, sustainability, and justice.
Sources:
Sustainable development | UNWTO
How DuPont Transformed Fashion With Stretchy Synthetics I JSTOR Daily