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Patagonia PowSlayer Pants | Review

Sustainability is the name of the game when it comes to the PowSlayer’s face fabric

Why We Chose The Patagonia PowSlayer Pants: Sustainable, lightweight, and protective. 

Price: £470

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Remember that time you were 14-years-old, and decided it’d be cool if you – a kid who’d been on one school ski trip in your entire life – had a ski-focused nickname. Were you drunk on alcopops at the time? Stoned on oregano? Who can possibly say? What we do know, as a matter of historical record, is that you stood in front of the bathroom mirror and said quietly to yourself “Are you a PowSlayer? I don’t see anyone else here so you must be a PowSlayer.”

What you didn’t know at the time is that someone from Patagonia’s ‘R and D’ team was walking past the bathroom, and overheard the words you uttered. Many years later, Patagonia served up the PowSlayer Jacket and PowSlayer Pants. Just like the excellent jacket, the equally excellent pants are lightweight and optimised for backcountry touring.

Materials

The PowSlayer Pants utilises a 3-layer, 40-denier 100% recycled nylon plain-weave Gore-Tex Pro shell fabric with a DWR (durable water repellent) finish. This shell fabric is extremely protective – shielding the wearer with its highly waterproof and windproof nature. It’s also durable and breathable, meaning you can get out and get active safely in the knowledge that your outerwear isn’t going to get shredded like a paper plane in a samurai’s dojo and / or overheat you like it’s summer and you’re in a sauna.

“The PowSlayer Pants uses 100% recycled nylon”

You might have noticed in the paragraph above that the PowSlayer Pants uses 100% recycled nylon. From an environmental and sustainable perspective, it literally doesn’t get better than that on the nylon front. Of course, Patagonia are well known for leading the way on ‘being green’ but even by their lofty standards we think this is an eco-commitment that’s worth celebrating as much as possible. Great work, Pattie G. Hopefully all brands can follow suit in the years ahead.

The Patagonia PowSlayer Pants are also Fair Trade Certified sewn.

Features

Weighing in at just 547g, these lightweight yet tough ski pants tell you what they’re all about the second you put them on. It’s clear they’ve been optimised for the backcountry. We like that.

The articulated patterning for an increased range of motion will make moving across the mountains a hell of a lot easier, while the concealed RECCO reflector is a reassuring addition (no substitute for a transceiver of course, but better than nothing). 

“It’s clear they’ve been optimised for the backcountry”

There’s gaiters for sealing out snow, tough scuff guards that’ll protect the inside leg and bottom hem, and zippered water-resistant pockets for storing your essentials. There’s also a side zips for venting, a zip fly with a reassuring double-snap closure, and nicely implemented belt loops on the waist. 

The loop on the rear yoke of the PowSlayer means it can be attached to the powder skirt on any ‘Patagonia Snow’ jacket – including, you guessed it, the PowSlayer Jacket. 

Conclusion

Patagonia are, of course, well-versed in producing quality gear designed to look after people in mountain environments. They’re also, and this is one of the most important issues facing our planet, very, very, good at serving up items that take Mother Earth into consideration – not just as a tokenistic afterthought, but as a fundamental part of the kit they make. 

“Patagonia are, of course, well-versed in producing quality gear designed to look after people in mountain environments”

The lightweight PowSlayer Pants are brilliant in the sense they’re lightweight, tough, protective and optimised for backcountry touring. Without question though, the coolest thing about them is the fact its face fabric is made from 100% recycled nylon. 

Tired arguments around whether it’s even possible to produce sustainable gear that can do a job as well as unsustainable gear can are becoming increasingly ludicrous by their very nature – spoken, more and more, only by those on the fringes or those with a vested interest elsewhere.

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