Hello all. My wife and I will be traveling to Switzerland in June and I'm looking for some decent hiking pants for us. We are both above average in height and it makes it difficult for us to find pants long enough for us. We both need pants with an inseam of 36 inches. My wife will settle for men's pants if they're not to terribly big. Also, I would like to get a few pair without paying $75 a piece for them.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Chad
Have you tried Eddie Bauer? They sell most sizes in short, medium, and tall---at least for women. I assume they have the same for men. They have serious outdoor clothing (expedition tested) and casual travel clothing as well.
If that doesn't work I'll just say that some outdoor companies make things in one long length, assuming everyone else can shorten. Also one Seattle outdoor company, maybe Outdoor Research (OR) sized their clothing by length mostly, not width, on the assumption that people fit enough to buy their products would be slim. Not sure if they still do but worth checking out.
Try REI.com, esp the outlet page where they put end of season sales up.
If you want to wait until you're in Europe (and in a less expensive country than Switzerland), try Jack Wolfskin.
You might take a look at Sierra Trading Post online, unless there is one in your area and if that's the case go to the brick and mortar. They usually sell overstock and last year's clothing so will not dependably have Talls but certainly worth a look. I agree with Eddie Bauer, especially if you have an Outlet store near you. It seems they often have 30-40% off their prices so you might have some good luck. It seems like this may happen on a Tuesday or Wednesday but if there is one near you I would just ask the store employees.
I looked at my reliable places for outdoor clothes, Lands End and LLBean and they are all closer to $100 for hiking pants. If you see something you like on Land's End, sign up for their emails and you will frequently get an offer for 30-40% off, so wait a couple of weeks before buying.
If you are buying online, some people recommend signing on to a website, adding stuff to your cart, then leaving the website without purchasing. They indicate often you will get a discount offer within 24-48 hours. I don't know if that works as I mostly use the Land's End email discounts.
Hi Chad, Eddie Bauer has a very good sale going on right now. My friend has a couple pair of the Travex pants and loves them. Looks like they're 50% or so off.
LL Bean's hiking pants are generally reasonably priced but don't appear to meet your 36-inch inseam criteria. During my youth years as we kids would outgrow our pants the tease for kids who really outgrew their pants lengthwise was "high-water" pants. A non-stylish possibility is buy the 34-inch inseam pants matching your waist dimension and fit preference and add short breathable gaiters to span the pant hem and top of hiking boots. The short gaiters will keep the dust/dirt out as well as ticks and midges. One example:
http://www.rei.com/product/852794/outdoor-research-rocky-mountain-low-gaiters
PS For Texas: http://www.turtleskin.com/Snake-Gaiters.aspx
