May

Convertible travel pants: make sense or just make you look like a tourist?

Kevin on May 14th, 2009

I received an email yesterday announcing that SCOTTEVEST is accepting pre-orders for their new travel pants, to be available in mid June:

How many pockets does one need in a pair of pants? SeV is touting the 11 pockets these pants feature. Uh… how much stuff do you really need to carry in your pants??

This got me thinking about convertible travel pants, and how they’re often denigrated as being the ultimate way to announce that you’re a tourist.

I have a pair of Columbia Titanium lightweight (100% nylon) pants that convert to shorts (via zip-off legs). They’re great – especially for those situations where it’s a bit cool in the morning and gets hot in the afternoon. I’ve even gone as far as wearing them as golf shorts on really hot days.

Of course there are those who think that convertible travel pants are the quickest way to brand yourself a tourist; just a couple of examples:

@wikiHow: How to Avoid Looking Like an American Tourist

@everywheremag.com: Lose a few style points…

What do you think? Have you traveled internationally with convertible travel pants? Or do you think their functionality is trumped by their (perceived) cheesiness? Please comment…

The Fine Print: I have no connection with SCOTTEVEST

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19 Responses to “Convertible travel pants: make sense or just make you look like a tourist?”

Eric
May 14th, 2009 at 9:24 am

I think convertible pants make you look like a dork. Yes, they are handy and cut down on the items you need to take. But in many parts of the world shorts aren’t as acceptable as pants anyway. Bottom line, I think they are great for backpacking, but make you stand out too much for general travel (and make you look like a dork).

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Kevin Reply:
May 14th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Eric,

Your comment made me laugh. I wore mine when we were in Vegas last fall (Hoover Dam, etc. & looked no more dorky than all the other tourists in Vegas, but that’s not saying much!) but your comment and posts like those I linked to make me think it’d be best to leave them home when traveling internationally. Thx for the comment.

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Kate Stone
May 14th, 2009 at 3:16 pm

Let’s take a look at what the finely dressed, undorky, European travellers are wearing while they are in the USA. I have been in NYC all week and the place is swarming with tourists, mostly European if language is any indication. There is a real breakdown based on age. Younger Europeans tend to wear clothes that are two sizes too small for them and carry a messenger bag that won’t fit in the overhead compartment of most airlines. No cargo pants among that set. Older Europeans are not wearing cargo pants but there is a preponderance of backpacks and running shoes or “sensible shoes” and windbreakers and hats that look like those dorky Tilleys. I was just at a meeting across the street from Ground Zero and the swarm of foreign tourists was daunting. Were those the Germans in those “sensible shoes” and Tilley like hats? And were those the French in those wonderfully knotted scarves? Aside from the language issue and the many maps they openly carry, how would I know they are tourists in a foreign land? They are thinner than we are and their eyeglasses are styled differently. Otherwise, not much difference — most of what they wear unless they are wealthy was made in China, too. So, I say wear cargo pants if they work for you. Everyone knows you are American anyway. If you don’t want to be identified as an American slap a Canadian flag on your jacket and be a dorky Canadian, unles you are from Quebec and don’t want to be identified as a Canadian. My bet is that cargo pants will make it to Europe soon enough and the French and Italians will adopt them and we will say “oh, so stylish.” In the meantime, I think the whole issue of worrying about looking like a dorky American is misplaced.

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Eric
May 14th, 2009 at 6:45 pm

Yet another reason to wear clothes you can ditch and buy something locally to fit in a little better. Of course, the camera around your neck probably gives you away anyway. But I’m not referring to what you look like in touristy public places. Its when I’m away from those places that I want to fit in better. I will never fit in perfectly, but when the pickpocket is scanning for his next mark, who will he pick, the guy dressed like the locals, or the guy in the convertible pants?

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Miguel Marcos
May 15th, 2009 at 10:32 am

I don’t know that ‘looking like a tourist’ matters much anymore anyway. I think cultural knowledge is so broad nowadays across the globe that no matter how you try to dress locally, the locals will spot you as a tourist.

I believe it’s more important to think about how respectful one looks in countries where it’s a big deal but convertible vs. non-convertible? Don’t think it’s an issue except for one’s level of comfort.

The Scottevest pants, to me, don’t appear to be a useful travel tool, certainly not as much as the vest. The vest is easy to take off and put on the xray machine, or just to take some weight off and relax. Pants (generally!) have to stay on.

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Michael W.
May 15th, 2009 at 1:31 pm

A separate pair of REAL shorts from Patagonia – the classic Baggies – are spec’d at 6.8 ounces on their website. You can order these in a 5″ or 9″ inseam (the extra 4″ of inseam adds less than an ounce of weight).

Compare that to convenient “convertible” pants which have a bulky zipper on each pant leg mid thigh, which makes them look odd, and which don’t really work well as shorts and certainly not as swimming trunks in a pinch (the Baggies are quick drying nylon and styled like board shorts).

Finally the Baggies have their own mesh liner which will serve in lieu of underwear saving a pair of underwear from your bags (and drying more quickly if you take a swim).

So all in all, convertible pants aren’t quite the weight-saving, dual purpose god-send they purport to be.

Plus they look dorky even to me, and I’m pretty dorky to begin with.

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Michael W.
May 17th, 2009 at 5:59 pm

I am in Thailand right now.

There is no substitute for experience in terms of efficiency in travel.

I can see now that most over-packing comes from hat a combination of inexperience (not sure what you really “need”) and lack of self-confidence (“but what if??!!).

I hate carrying bags by hands. Wheels are great. That having been said, even with the Paty Lightweight Travel Duffel, I was a pound overweight (15 pounds isn’t enough!). So I think wheelies are more prone to being obsoleted by the weight limitation than by any other factor. But believe me, hauling a 16 pound bag across an enormous terminal isn’t any fun.

So next trip I’m going to use the Steves Classic or something with backpack straps. Maybe a Bihn bag or the much-maligned MLC for Paty, something mid-sized not too large to force me to keep the weight down.

Off to the beach island resort, Koh Samed, in two hours.

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Michael W.
May 18th, 2009 at 8:58 am

One of my wife’s nieces wants the Red Oxx Gator flight bag. I don’t know if I should feel complimented (great travel bags transcend international borders) or depressed (despite it’s rugged appearance it appeals to a dainty Thai woman for use as a purse!).

Well maybe she wants to use it for gadding about.

It is highly functional, the best bag so far for this trip.

I am using an Acer Aspire One which is good but the mouse is skittish – the curse will sometimes decide to jump around on its own.

Thailand is pretty dusty. The Gator is picking up “dust scuffs” every time I turn around. Nothing as bad ad bouldering last week with my brother and getting chalk on it though.

The Ex Officio travel pants are working well at the beach. Not too heavy, not too hot.

The Crocs Specialist are also working well.

I may not put on Baggies shorts at all. I am afraid my pale foreigner skin may blind the Thais. Well really I am afraid of burning.

I have lined up 3 mornings training jiu jitsu so far.

When you right up your trips and travels, you failed to mention that making connections when severely jetlagged is quite a struggle!

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Michael W.
May 18th, 2009 at 9:00 am

Forgot to mention. The Royal Robbins travel vest is great for the plane, but drives me nuts in town, too many pockets and I have to go through every one to find what I am looking for. I just transferred all that junk back to the Gator, which organizes better.

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Kevin Reply:
May 18th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Michael,

Glad you made it ok and your trip is going well. Your comments are interesting… I got a kick out of your comments on the Royal Robbins vest. Most travel vests have so many pockets it’s absurd. I’m beginning to think a regular golf vest with a couple of zippered pockets is plenty.

Did you not use the backpack straps on the Patagonia Lightweight Travel Duffel? And did you really get 15 lbs. of stuff in it?? Please explain.

I think the biggest factors in traveling light are experience and discipline. We drove down to Kansas City for the weekend and I must have brought enough clothing for 5 days. Why was I so sloppy packing? It didn’t matter – all I had to do was carry the bag out to the car here, and into the hotel on that end. But when it comes to air travel, I watch every ounce and bring the bare minimum while still planning for the odd contingency (an extra shirt, etc.)

Have fun – and travel safe.

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Ted
May 29th, 2009 at 4:55 pm

I read that review at everywheremag and I have to say…I can’t believe there are people who feel *such* a *very* strong stigma that they can’t *bring themselves* to wear convertible pants! :eek:

Grow up. Put on some practical pants and move on with your life.

BTW, the commenter who ACTUALLY COULDN’T BRING HIMSELF to wear practical pants is obviously an American who’s trying to appear British by saying “give them another go” instead of “give them another try” like a normal American. Too bad he’s unaware that “pants” mean “underwear” in British English. :rolleyes:

That said, actually I don’t like convertible pants: After I’ve worn my pants a couple times, now my shorts are dirty. I’d rather have separate shorts that give me another day’s worth of clothing before I have to do laundry.

I dislike shorts with a mesh liner for the same reason: Once you’ve worn them once, your underwear’s dirty and you have to wash the entire pair of shorts. With travel underwear, you have less fabric to wash.

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Kevin Reply:
May 29th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Ted: thanks for commenting; you made me laugh. I avoid wearing the shorts portion of my Columbia travel pants on the golf course for the same reason – it’s just too easy to get them dirty and I fear they’ll wear more quickly than the pant legs. kc

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Rick
June 24th, 2009 at 6:06 pm

That’s largely my reaction, too, Kate Stone. Non-US tourists don’t seem to be overly anal … they wear what they want. Me too. I’ve never been a shorts person (pasty white, somewhat skinny legs). But I’ve always found it easy and relaxing to observe and blend. Wherever … Lapland to South. I’m not wild about Adidas and logo shirts, but they’re pretty ubiquitous.

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Adam
September 14th, 2009 at 1:51 pm

I have been wrestling with this issue for a bit myself. I am just about to graduate undergrad in December and need to be in Israel in February, and want to hit Cambridge and the Netherlands in between. My goal is to do this whole trip with one carry-on. I have looked at onebag.com -fabulous, and am looking at the air boss, but can’t decide if that or the sky train is better, or if I can really afford either. I am also trying to decide on the convertable pants issue, looking at North Face Paramount Convertible Pants. I just want to have 1 (maybe 2) pairs due to space and a desire for minimalism, and would love recomendations. I don’t think I want the thin nylon cargos, as they do look obvious, and I am young and callow. Also, they will have to do double duty as niceish looking. I do not have much travel exp. at all, so this site is helping!
Thank you all for any wisdom.

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Kevin Reply:
September 14th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Adam –

I think the issue is totally overplayed. Wear what’s comfortable and versatile, and the convertible pants couldn’t be much more versatile. I even wear them playing golf on cool mornings, zipping off the legs when it warms up. If you want to go the minimalist route when packing, they can be an important part of your arsenal.

As for bags, you can’t do much better than the Air Boss, although it may not meet the Euro carry-on regs. The Bihn Tri-Star is more likely to be ok with European airlines, but it’s not inexpensive either. One thing you might want to check out are the bags available at overstock.com They occasionally have terrific bargains on quality bags.

Best of luck, and travel safe!!

Kevin

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Miguel Marcos
September 15th, 2009 at 1:03 am

> I think the issue is totally overplayed.

Amen. It’s far more important how you behave and integrate with the people of the place you’re visiting.

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Adam
September 15th, 2009 at 4:43 pm

Thank ya’ll for the comments. Is the a comparison of the air boss, sky train, tristar, aeronaut, Rick steve’s classic back door and finally the convertable carry on?
I think all of them except the air boss have backpackability, and the later 2 are the cheapest.
I am mildly worried about Kevin’s comment on the air bosses possible too large size. Are the rick steve’s worth buying, how much worse are they than the first 4, and what other questions should I be asking?

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Michael W.
September 15th, 2009 at 4:55 pm

There is a review on this blog about the Rick Steves Classic … just use the search feature.

I just saw the Steves Convertible (I own the Classic) at a luggage store and it isn’t worth the extra money.

IMHO the Steves Classic will work fine (as it has for many Euro tourists) if you always carry it with you – but it is not nearly as robust as the AirBoss (I don’t have the AirBoss but I have several other pieces from RedOxx) if you decide to start checking it through. A big plus, to me, on the RedOxx line are the non-”spilling” (read about this at onebag.com) zippers that greatly increase the tamper resistance of the RedOxx products.

The RedOxx Small Aviator Duffel is only $35 for a “bare naked” suitcase style duffle with NO shoulder strap or backpack strap options. It is rugged enough to check, and that’s what I’m doing tonight on my flight to Asia! However, you need a cart or strong arm and shoulder if you are going to lug it around.

What you might do is get the Steves Classic for carryon, and a EXTRA Small Aviator Duffel (only $30!) which you can stow in the Steves Classic until you are filled up with souvenirs and have to check at least one bag home!

BTW this is my favorite travel site, although Kevin does occasionally stray into non-travel gadgets and other interesting, albeit distracting, stuff.

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Adam Schwartz
November 18th, 2009 at 9:16 pm

A short pants review:
(well, the pants are short too, I hemmed them as I am just 5′8′.)
After my sept 15th comment I bought the t North Face Paramount Convertible Pants, they work rather well except for too deep front pockets. There were also almost too many pocket options, I kept getting things lost in them-not that I am ever paranoid in NYC. The asphalt colour worked well, and I was able to wear them 4 damp days in a row in NYC without any issues, smell or otherwise. I also splurged on Patagonia’s Continental pants, in henna. These are dressier, while still cargo, and feel great. They are less “technical” than the north faces and do not zip off. I have worn them so far about 5 days in 2 weeks and no problems yet!

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