quick tl;dr
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overall verdict: 9.5/10 this is seriously amazing!!! will last for ever, or at least decades.
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price: $245 at the time of writing
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tl;dr: Holy smokes these shorts do absolutely redefine performance clothes. These pants replace 3 others plus my swim trunks at once for me, and will be a staple throughout the summers, for life.
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Negative: The price tag can’t be ignored, probably justified but it is the one major thing that costs it the 10/10. Also I’d love a second pocket.
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positive: The durability is EXTREME. Comfortable like no shorts I’ve ever worn. Stretch of the material is great. Overall great shorts like no other.
I'll keep editing this review over time.
There’s no reason to list here what details & specs they already put on the website.
Why you should trust me
I have few clothes: <100 items, every single sock, tie and shoe counts. So I wear things more often than most people, everything needs to be good enough to be part of the 100, else it won’t stay. Weird, I know, but that means a month of wear from me means a year from other people, for you that’s nice because my review is more critical. I have some knowledge of fabric manufacturing, design and wear/abrasion. Sometimes I artificially age costumes/props, aka I destroy them on purpose as close to natural wear as possible. So I know where the weak points of almost any piece of clothing are, and can’t help but look for them.
I like Vollebak, I am not affiliated with the company, but I do like them, they’re nice and super positive, and their willingness to make extreme stuff is neat. They’re 10/10 cool, and this obviously affects my judgement a bit in one way. Let me tell you the story of how I got those pants to provide context if you want it (else, skip this paragraph): Vollebak made a competition to find a hidden treasure card in Iceland. Brede and Vegard from Norway asked on Reddit if anyone had any leads on the location, and while they were on the plane to Reykjavik, I started to dig into finding the precise location of the hidden card (I enjoy solving riddles, if you want me to solve stuff pm me!) I received these pants as part of the agreed upon reward for this challenge. So to be clear: I did not spend money on those pants, I spent time and effort. They weren’t free, but the fulfillment of a promise: Gear in exchange for the precise location of the card. My thanks to Vollebak and Brede u/Bodhisattvawow for keeping that promise! It's not often that internet-promises and honor actually mean something, but to these guys they do!
Details that matter
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These shorts are constructed differently from other clothes, instead of seams they are welded mostly, with reinforcement stitching where needed. This means I can’t review the quality of the seams as I want to, they have only one exposed seam: The inner mesh, is attached under the waistband and cats as a sort of wide, soft underpants. (You can wear them with or without any actual underpants just fine, but I wouldn’t want to wear loose boxer shorts under them, stuff would get tangled)
But the welds are super stretchy, super strong (trust me, I pulled on them so much that my flatmate said “if these get snagged on a car it’ll pull you along until only the shorts remain). I think they ar onto something here with pure welds instead of reinforced seams. For this item, the welds are extremely tough. -
They have one pocket in the back, with a zipper and two funny little holes for water to drain, and those holes work perfectly. The zipper also works well and doesn’t open by itself, even when running with a phone in the pocket.
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The knit is extremely tight, flexible and overall amazing. I have seen few fabrics with that fine of a knit, dense and even. Seriously this fabric is amazing.And light-proof, you can't see through them.
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The waistband has two lines of rubberized gripping stuff that keep them from falling down your waist even when swimming. Which actually works 10/10 perfectly, to my surprise. I thought it would be a hair-pulling gimmick. No, works actually really well.
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Notable is also just how flawless the construction is: Not a single stray thread on the seams, not a misplaced reinforcement dot. No misaligned prints, no skewed font, nothing. This means Vollebak has standards for their quality control that must be superb.
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They dry really quickly, albeit the inner mesh holds moisture a little longer than the rest of the pants. They are dry within an hour or two inside a ventilated room, and probably in less than that if its windy. I have yet to see how fast they dry while wearing them.
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A few nice details that I personally like:
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- none of these white care instruction tag made from that scratchy material. Nowhere. They just print the care interactions in black ink on the inside of the pocket. No need to scalpel-cut the dang scratchy-tag.
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- The front still looks like a serious piece of clothing and not like swim shorts
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- The rubberized stuff doesn’t act as wax hair removal. I was afraid it’ll epilate me while swimming or running, but no hair pulling on my legs or back.
Flaws
Flaws, as far as I can tell:
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alright, the price. They are very expensive. $245 at the time of this writing. Are they good enough value for this high price? Actually, yes. These will probably last me 8-10+ years, easily. They do have good value as a single item, I wouldn’t buy two or three of these shorts. If you have the budget, do it!
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The zipper for the pocket is good high quality, but not as high quality as the rest. I still expect it to last ~5-8+ years before wearing out. Everything else will last longer: We’re talking 8-10+ years wear from me, twice or longer for most people. When completely worn down, dragged through sand and mud and worn for a thousand days, the inner mesh will get holes, but I’d expect the seam that holds it in place to last, so it’ll still keep functionality even if the mesh is damaged. The main fabric itself will probably only wear down slowly on the front and butt, but that’ll take ~5-10+ years. Intense UV damage might accelerate this, so if you’re in Australia and hang it to dry in the summer sun every day, that will inevitably make any synthetic brittle.
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The color is slightly less vibrant when dry compared to when wet and compared to their pictures. However, I’m colorblind so don’t rely on me here. I like the color good enough to wear it, but not good enough that I wouldn’t wish for more color options.
Overall Verdict
Would I spend that price on these shorts if a burglar stole mine? Yes. I mean don’t get me wrong dear inner conscience, rent is nice too, but these are insanely high quality I’d think about it a lot, research, read reviews a lot before buying these. But I’d buy them again. Tbh, I’ve already ordered more stuff from their website.
These pants are super(!) lightweight and compact, so they’re great for anyone who’s traveling. They’re super strong, so for those who do sports in them, have them at the beach, etc
I have not worn them yet for longer driving, which might be relevant for travelers, but I’ll edit the review once thats’s done.
Who won’t like it:
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Anyone who has a ton of clothes that are specialized for their task might not have much use for an allrounder. This is true for those shorts as well. But quite frankly, the use of “being super tough lightweight cool shorts” isn’t really satisfied by any shorts I’ve ever encountered.
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People who swim really well actually need tight swim gear and won’t use them to seriously swim laps, if that’s you then you already know your swimgear.
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If you have no warm summers, are a penguin or live in Alaska, then these shorts might not be for you. Although if you’re a penguin, what are you doing on reddit?
Probably asked questions
- are the shorts good for just wearing around the house?
yes, absolutely! I’m wearing them right now as I sit on my bed writing this!
- are they good for hiking?
I haven’t gone on a serious long hike with them yet, but the’ll be perfect for a summer hike I’m sure.
- What have you put them through yet?
I’ve run in them, swum, worn them around the house and out, stretched, twisted, crunched, pulled them. I have yet to take them for a longer trek, go diving and through mud.
- marathon?
there’s this “fuck elitist runners who tell you you can’t do what they can”-schtick of mine, so I’m used to literal cutoff sweatpants with holes in them for marathons, but from now on I’ll wear those. From running with them so far, I’d say you can easily run a marathon in those, I know I will.
What I’d love to see in a version 2
- A second pocket would be neat, maybe one without a zipper, maybe with, I’m not sure.
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A better zipper would be an improvement for the weakest link of the entire product, maybe there’s also a solution without a zipper that still closes the pockets? We’re talking really petty pedantic criticism at this point, where I complain about a high quality zipper that’ll still last for years and years.
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Maybe a version with two cargo pockets, but that might compromise durability, and looks?
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A white version of the fabric would be cool (they already have a black version though), and maybe some crazy other color options, or heck even glow in the dark ones, I mean that’s right up their alley?
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I’d love to see a drawstring that goes around the waist completely, and I believe that’s a design element where a lot of cool solutions can be found for, e.g. with the drawstring visible in a few places so you can clip your keys in it.
I'll gladly include ideas and questions in further edits of the review.
Submitted March 18, 2019 at 06:49PM by P_Zorn https://ift.tt/2UIELE3
