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Carhartt vs. Duluth vs. ? work pants

Now that I've had a pair of Duluth firehose pants in the work rotation for a couple years now that have seen some hard use I can say that they have held up great and get more comfortable the older they are. But I've been wearing Cargo pants since Vietnam Era baggy Army Pants hit Surplus stores back in the day because I like the style . I just got another pair of Black ones like my first pair. I have several pairs of Carharts too, just had a pretty new pair have the waist button fall apart. That's kinda bullshit.
 
I used to wear the wrangler cargo pants , but have switched to Duluth double flex ballroom jeans .

I can get two pair , wearing one of them them every day, and get about two years out of them before they have holes worn .
 
Ridgeline from TSC have been holding up well.
 
I used Duluth on and off for well over 20 years, some great results some at best ok. You have to watch that many of their short run and "sale" products are sized oddly and can have very poor quality and materials. I have a couple of pairs of their work pants that have held up well. The flannel lined ones are too hot unless it is under 20 degrees. Their underwear have held up great. I bought a pair of slip on shoes that I wore from the house to the car and than a 1 block from the car to work before I put my work shoes on. On both shoes the stitching fell apart a couple years into them, they probably didn't have 25 miles total walking. I took them back to the closest store and no one there wanted to help me and did their best to ignore me hoping I would leave telling me the manager was in a meeting and could not come out and they did not know when she would be available. . I got a bit louder and finally the manager came out and informed me in a very condescending way that they were out of warranty and even though the soles looked brand new I was out of luck and suggested that I should leave. I had a catalog and pointed out all their customer service promises which really pissed her off thinking that by seeing that she was angry with me that I would back off but it didn't work out that way. I made sure I was loud enough that the other customers could hear my complaints. They will not get another dime out of me.
 
3 pairs of Duluth firehouse all ripped out in the crotch within a year. Pretty disappointed in them, that's working primarily interior construction, so ladders and up and down but not like I was riding a saddle for hours.

Maybe my gas is to spicy or my nuts to large for them, but they are out for me. Carhartt is durable but fits like crap for me
 
The Duluth firehose flex are awesome comfort wise. Durability, I busted out the crotch 2x in the same spot. Probably has to do with how they fit me…. Carhartt seems to just hold up better and last longer. Not nearly as comfortable though.
 
I tried on every pair of Duluth pants in my size 34*34 at the store and I was swimming in all of them. WAY too baggy, did not buy.

I were the basic Carhartt jeans all the time now. They last well but eventually get holes in the knees like all of them.
 
Ridgeline from TSC have been holding up well.
I bought a pair because they were cheap…. I dig the heck out of them!!!
They are lighter and flex better than carhart and seem to hold up just as well.
Not sure where they’re made though…. Might look at the tag when I get home!!!!
If they’re American made I’m really sold!!!
 
That must be what they replaced the Schmidt brand pants with.
No idea. I bought a pair on a whim. Holding up great. TSC has pretty much become my clothing store. :laughing:
 
No idea. I bought a pair on a whim. Holding up great. TSC has pretty much become my clothing store. :laughing:
Same for me. I liked the Schmidt brand pants. They held up decently for the price. I can recreate 98% of my ensemble from TSC and Academy.
 
Been wearing 5.11 taclite ripstops for a while now, but I'm not welding in them. They're fairly cool, not as good as the Carhartt heat gears I had, but they quit making them, and they didn't last for shit. They sure did keep my crotch from sweating like a mule though.
 
Same for me. I liked the Schmidt brand pants. They held up decently for the price. I can recreate 98% of my ensemble from TSC and Academy.
I'm actually in the middle of a wardrobe switch. I typically wore all the pro-gun and offensive t-shirts. Lately I've been rocking the plain white tee under a tucked in button down plaid shirt. /shrug
 
Interesting this pops back up now. I was out yesterday and decided to maybe pick up another pair or two of Dickies for the winter. Holy fucking shit, everywhere I went they were priced like gold leaf encrusted Carhart gear. Too bad as part of the appeal to me was great quality at a reasonable price, guess I'll be looking for something else now.
 
I wear Kuhl Rydr in the winter and Truewerk T2 in the summer. Both are fairly water proof and extremely durable.
 
Can't believe you guys like the tsc pants. I tried a pair years ago and I think the pocket ripped the first or 2nd time I wore them :laughing: they felt like the denim would have lasted weeks, not years.

Anyone try Smith Rouge brand pants? I saw some at north 40 that looked good. Said "original canvas pants" or some shit. I was interested until I saw the $99. 99 price tag :barf: wtf?

I'm still rocking the wild ass jeans plus a few pairs of prison blues. Made in the USA and are legit old school jeans that last a long time. Like carhartts, but for men :flipoff2:
 
I only have experience with Carhartt and my only real complaint is that they fade pretty bad.
 
I'm currently replacing my Carhartt Canvas Utility Work Pants that lasted about 2.5 years and trying their Rugged Professional Work Pants. I wear these pretty much daily doing mechanic/fabrication work. The fronts from knee to mid-thigh were mostly what was wearing out. One pair was also wearing out in the seat.

The Canvas pants were 7.5-ounce, 100% cotton ringspun canvas while the Rugged Pro pants are 8-ounce, 59% cotton / 39% polyester / 2% spandex. I figured the heavier weight and polyester would give them some more life over the cotton only. We'll see. The Rugged Pro were a few bucks more than the Canvas ones.

I have to say that I liked the feel of the cotton more. Maybe the polyester will wear in a bit after awhile (I just started wearing them).
 
Anyone use key brand pants?

Local store carries a ton of their stuff, looks pretty good, the logger pants were like $23 ea. But no double knee and not made in us.
 
Wife just bought me some Duluth jeans look cheap and gay as fuck. Hard pass.
 
Anyone use key brand pants?

Local store carries a ton of their stuff, looks pretty good, the logger pants were like $23 ea. But no double knee and not made in us.
Baby's momma's dad used to wear Key bibs all the time.

I wore carhartts all the time when working. They held up better than the other stuff I tried. They did fade, but I would blow out the ass bending over before the knees wore out.
 
Anyone use key brand pants?

Local store carries a ton of their stuff, looks pretty good, the logger pants were like $23 ea. But no double knee and not made in us.
20 years ago I had a pair of Key bibs that I bought at either Sears or Farm and Fleet, they lasted many years and took a lot of abuse. A couple of years ago I bought a pair of Key bibs at an outlet store, they shrunk about 2 sizes and turned the wash water dark blue even after 20 washings. I got tired of them and threw them out. IDK if they have different lines of bibs but the 2 pairs I had were night and day different.
 
20 years ago I had a pair of Key bibs that I bought at either Sears or Farm and Fleet, they lasted many years and took a lot of abuse. A couple of years ago I bought a pair of Key bibs at an outlet store, they shrunk about 2 sizes and turned the wash water dark blue even after 20 washings. I got tired of them and threw them out. IDK if they have different lines of bibs but the 2 pairs I had were night and day different.

I feel like carhartt kinda did the same thing. Roped in a lot of people with good quality stuff, then slowly upped their prices and dropped their quality. They may have gotten better, but I feel like the last few pair of carhartts (5? Years ago) I had shredded really fast.
 
Have a couple pairs of the double front carhart, I like them. Need to get the B01 code pants that are still made in usa though.
B01's are literally the only pants I've worn for over 10 years, not counting shorts, dress pants or pajamas.

I didn't know they were made in usa so I just checked and mine.

Says made in mexico from USA components...weird.
 
Dickies is what I wear. Cheap enough I don't worry about how long they hold up. They also are decently burn proof if I'm welding and hold up pretty good if I take a slide on my bike.
 
since Vietnam Era baggy Army Pants hit Surplus stores back in the day
oh man just reminded me, I got me a pair of ww2 pants
those fuckin' things are comfortable

the waist is actually at your waist instead of being some faggoty booty shorts cut for fatasses that rides on your hip bones
 
Whatever I get at Costco these days - mostly jeans anymore.
Usually buy 4-5 pair at the time.
Keep in rotation, as they start getting ruined I shift them into garage use - then trash.

Have a pair of Duluth flexhose pants, pretty comfortable - one tear due to me running into an exposed nail during house interior work. Got oil stains etc. on them as well - garage pair:)
That company has gone downhill - no interest in giving them more of my $$$ (bought socks/boxers a few times).

Dickies I owned in the past wore well, however they were not what I’d call comfortable/pliable.

When on my motorcycle I bought some kevlar/sawn in knee guards jeans - so far so good.
 
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