Brief
To develop a range of climbing pants to compliment the Alpkit lifestyle range of t-shirts and hoodies. They must be comfortable to wear all day and not look out of place in the pub.

Research
We have been messing around developing climbing pants for several years now but nothing seemed that inspirational about them. None of us crank hard enough be able to slap our name on a pair trousers and sell hundreds on our climbing reputation alone. Then in early 2007 we came across Epic Denim on their stand at an Outdoor Trade Show. As soon as we saw it we heard all those instructors over the years saying ‘never wear denim in the hills!!’ This was exactly the sort of fabric we started Alpkit for. An exciting technology however due to it cost it would be too expensive at retail for most tradtional brands once every step has taken its slice of the pie..

Read more..

So why do we ladies have to wait for the mens to sell before we get a look in?
Will you make the men wait for something in future?

What is the score with washing them?  Should the jeans be washed in the usual way, or do they need to be washed as per other technical garments?

Just ordered a pair.

Hopefully I’ll love them as much as my CoLab PooterPod!

Just ordered my pair as well. Intriguing concept thank you Alpkit.

Am off to Nepal for a month and a bit on Wednesday, so if they arrive in time I’ll take them with me.

Have decided I will most likely be providing feedback on the effects of continuous wear without washing them…

Cheers

Christian

Yeah, i’m intrested in how they’ll wash too.

I’ve decided to get a pair for commuting to and from work on the old Fixie.  I’ll be able to have em’ on all day and go for a pint on the way home aswell.  I’m looking forward to see how they’ll stand up to a winter on North Yorkshire roads.

From what I was reading on the Alpkit pages, I got the impression that these were “looked after” much like a normal pair of jeans…I imagine this goes for washing them as well?

Just ordered a pair too. I like the idea of jeans in the outdoors, and have tried Rohans quick drying travel jeans ( only available with 34” leg, bit naff styling, fairly basic design, yes, quick drying, but compared to standard denim) plus a pair of vaude jeans ( supposedly water resistant, bit more technical, with pre-bent knees but a) not very water resistant and b) not very generously sized). Read about these a while back in one of Alpkits blogs , I think, where they got a mention as a development idea.Will be used paddling and mountain biking and everyday use around the farm. Will report back.  Mark

i too have just ordered a pair after getting soaked going for a curry on saturday night, they should also come in handy for impromptu hill walks and days out like when we went to brimham rocks and i had “normal jeans” on which werent great for messing around on the boulders.

Well it seems you are all getting behind the idea of our new re-launched Colab Projects. I hope you’ll all continue to use this forum as a way of influencing our design decisions on product development.

Let me answer the questions above.

<u>1) Ladies Style</u>
The factory that makes the jeans have large minimum order quantities. We are not 100% sure about the concept of Softshell Jeans as an Alpkit product yet, hence launching as a Colab Project, and did not want to commit a large amount of capital into this product straight away. We are working on 3 more styles of trousers at the moment, including ladies styles, and If the feedback on the fabric is positive will progress with them. The pencilled launch date of Jeanius as a full Alpkit product is the 2009 Outdoors Show.

<u>2) Washing the Jeans</u>
As mentioned you can treat the jeans pretty much like any other pair of jeans. Stick them in the washing machine with the rest of your washing on the washing powder recommended lower temperature washes and hey presto… clean jeans. Tumble drying the jeans on a low heat helps re-activate the silicon a little but isn’t needed. I have put my test pair in the tumble dryer once in 18 months.

Cheers, Jim.

Just ordered my pair.  I have an Epic Cotton jacket, and it is excellent, so I hold high hopes for the denim.

Just got my pair the other day there.

Stood up well to the Glasgow rain on Saturday, and i’m give them a trial at the wall tomorrow, so far they seem like a pretty decent jean, good fit, good deal of stretchyness.

SIZING

Can you tell a little about the sizing?

I’m normally a 34/32, does the Alpkit sizing match up with your regular type of jeans eg Levi’s 501 ??

Looking forward to gettin these and trying them out.

I live in Bergen, Norway, reputedly the rainiest city in Europe, and believe me it is!!

I want to try these cycling to work and we are starting the rainy season (October-May) about now.

Have just ordered a with the weather as it is not a moment to soon.

Just tried to order a pair of 34/32 jeanius as I’m off on an arboriculturalist tree climbing course next week for 4 weeks.  The jeans will, I suggest, get battered.

However, the site seems to be throwing a fit everytime I try and add anything to the basket.  Is there a problem?

Cheers,

Mike

yeah, just ordered a pair, they’re coming with me on a cycle tour (with my Hunka bivy as well) around the desert of Southern Tunisia. If they do well I’ll make them my sole long-legged wear (normally ride in shorts) for my next visit to the Andes on two-wheels. I’ve been looking for something that looks good casually when off the bike and in town but that is effectvive when camping or riding if I’m not wearing shorts/lycra. I used a Gourdon as a dry bag-come-stufsack for my sleeping bag-come-backpack on the rear rack of my bike in Colombia and Ecuador this year, it was excellent. You make good kit, look forward to hanging out in the Jeanius.