Sturdy Work Pants Recommendations

Wrangler Riggs are super tough and usually cheaper than Carhartt's, but I prefer the fit of the Carhartt's.

there are some nice European work pants , 

heavy material

replaceable knee pads 

lots of pockets , 

leg bottoms come off so they can be worn as shorts.

My friend from Finland brought me a pair last visit , 

I will dig them out of the van on the weekend and get the brand !

Joe Gearin said:

If you want long-lasting, rugged clothing, Carhartt is hard to beat.   

My weekend job is a Carhartt dealer so I have several of those, which i love. They retail for like $60

That said, the $12.99 heavy cargo pants i have bought at WalMart are honestly just as good, and last just as long. I pretty much just get those these days...Plus I don't care if I ruin them, becuase they're dirt cheap. I'm actually more careful wearing my Carhartts since they're not cheap.

D2W said:

Tyler H said:

wae said:

Wait.  Pants are required?  Well, this is embarrassing.

 

Only for welding.

How am I supposed to tan my legs if I wear pants while welding?

I sunburned my left calf the other week while doing some exhaust welding squatting down wearing shorts.. Didn't even realize I had done it until the next day when I was like what the hell??

I can barely stand to wear pants over shorts in Texas summer anyway, so i don't know why for some reason this was the most exciting thread title that i couldn't wait to read. Commencing e-commerce..

I like Dickies. 20 or 30 bucks a pair, and last well. I'm tough on clothes.

Carhartts and Duluth would intrigue me for a more bucks up option, though. I've had good luck with Carhartt, no experience with Duluth, but all their products seem A-mazing. Seriously, check out their socks and underpants.

I wore Carhartt double knee for many years, mostly brown, also blue. Then I went for a number of years buying thrift store jeans for about $10 or less, shorter life but new replacements more often that look better than worn out Carhartts.  Then I found some KEY jeans at the thrift store, and hunted them down online. Now I've bought them a few times and seem to be the equivalent of Carhartt in durability, but cheaper.

KEY

There are some tough Euro carpenter pants I want to try, with "fire hose" material, haven't yet.

I was intrigued by this thread as I was thinking about getting some work pants, but when I went to Amazon the reviews for recent Carhartt Work Pants purchases are saying the fit is all over the map, literally, as depending on what country they get made in the fit could be completely different from the same sized pair made in another country.

The fit issues seem be completely random too, with complaints about the waist size being too small and the seat size being alternately too large and too small.

I guess this is why I usually hit the store to try on clothing.

Late to the comment earlier but I love Bullhead jeans as well. Bought my first pair getting close to 20 years ago and still have them. Best fitting pair of jeans ever. Did not wear them out tho as the other poster said I no longer fit them. So I bought bigger ones haha.

Dickies is my favorite though for tough pants that I am actively trying to destroy at a reasonable price...

Vigo said:

I can barely stand to wear pants over shorts in Texas summer anyway, so i don't know why for some reason this was the most exciting thread title that i couldn't wait to read. Commencing e-commerce..

I never wore shorts. Like never in my life, until I moved to Texas. Now from March to October you'll almost never see me in long pants. 

I was disappointed with my Duluth pants. They are very heavy and hot but wore much more quickly than I anticipated. And once they start to go they go downhill very quickly. I was expecting a longer lasting pant. I bought three pair at one time and they all feel apart at the same age. I've since decided that the cheap and replace often is better than the expensive and replace almost just as often is the way to go.

Harvey said:

I was intrigued by this thread as I was thinking about getting some work pants, but when I went to Amazon the reviews for recent Carhartt Work Pants purchases are saying the fit is all over the map, literally, as depending on what country they get made in the fit could be completely different from the same sized pair made in another country.

The fit issues seem be completely random too, with complaints about the waist size being too small and the seat size being alternately too large and too small.

I guess this is why I usually hit the store to try on clothing.

Fit is DEFINITELY all over the map. Of the 5-6 Carhartt pants I have, all of them are different sizes, but all of them fit me well. Don't buy Carhartt online, go to one of their outlets or a shop that sells them and buy in-store. 

Prison Blues. The heaviest weight cotton I have ever found in denim.  Double knees from the All American Store for a little over $30. They last much longer than Carhartt's  in my experience and fit much better. As a caution, the waist size is the actual measured size of your waist.

I buy Wrangler ripstop cargo pants from walmart for summer and the heavier weight ones for winter. I do concrete for a living and concrete destroys everything it touches.

$20 and they last about 2 years before they rip off the belt loops

Another thing to consider- not only how long the pants last but how well they PROTECT you.  My mom got me a Carhart jacket for Christmas a few years back, and the thing is sturdy as can be.  She's kindof appalled at how greasy and nasty it looks (I'm sure it cost a three-digit sum....and the first digit may not have been a 1...) but I told her, I wanted a good sturdy work jacket for doing lumberjack stuff, and it's perfect.  If anything, it's a bit too thick, it can be a hindrance to mobility.  But its also warm, so great for winter.

I was doing some chainsaw work Saturday (yeah, in 85+ degree heat and 75% humidity) and had on long work pants and long sleeved Dickies shirt.  I try to buy light colors so I'll still wear them in the heat.  Happened to graze my leg with the chain saw and luckily all that happened was the pants got torn and I got a tiny nick on my knee.  Had I been wearing shorts it likely would have drawn blood.

californiamilleghia said:

there are some nice European work pants , 

heavy material

replaceable knee pads 

lots of pockets , 

leg bottoms come off so they can be worn as shorts.

My friend from Finland brought me a pair last visit , 

I will dig them out of the van on the weekend and get the brand !

I have a pair from Sweden. Brand name is Blaklader.  The average European worker is well-equipped and organized. Saw the pants in a factory and had to have some. 
 

They have internal knee pad pockets and a variety of other cargo pockets; external pockets leave more room. Super tough construction. Wish I could wear them more often; FL heat limits the times I do. 
 

Haven't looked at this thread for a while! I for the most part have kept wearing my Duluth Firehose pants- though I haven't actually worn any of them for months now since I'm almost always in shorts when I'm working from home. I did pick up a pair of Dickies Duck Carpenter pants a few months back with the express intent of using them for shop pants and they've worked out well so far. Those Blaklader pants look really nice though, may have to look into those as well!

Down with pants!

I've done some of my best work without wearing any pants at all.

1988RedT2 said:

Down with pants!