Women's "not jeans" version of the men's thread

[AmericaOverland]

I'd thought to start up a thread for us ladies regarding clothes that you've gotten tired of wearing just because it's what everyone else wears, or maybe it's not really your style.

I've been trying to figure out what would take the place of my Jeans, as I work on a farm and get dirty quickly, and have to wear them 3 days in a row (space for clothing is tight).

Suggestions? I really love the safari style of clothing, such as www.tagsafari.com, which is the REAL DEAL. I wear their shirts every day on the farm because it's cooler and roomier for airflow, and they're made of long-staple cotton.

 

[Beowulf]

My wife wears the women's version of Vertx Original Pants.

 

[keezer37]

Consider what you do on the farm. I took this approach last summer in my NPS job. For the sake of comfort, I stopped wearing brush pants and went with the lighter material cargo pants. Granted, they do not have the durability of something like Vertx but it would not have mattered as it was not a matter of dirt and rocks but snagging them on metal objects so I doubt the Vertx would have come away unscathed. I'd start off with something inexpensive like maybe Columbia for just this reason. I've had Columbia and have nothing bad to say about them. They held up well.

Note: I seen this as a gender neutral issue for farm work.

 

[AmericaOverland]

What is NPS (National Park System?)?

I'm wearing jeans out in the field because I need something that breathes well, keeping me cool (wind over wet jeans and shirt cools me down for the summer). I cannot wear synthetics out in the field during the summer because it is just TOO HOT. The opposite of what I was telling customers when I worked at REI altogether for ten years. I have probably 15-20 years' supply of synthetics from REI, like the t-shirts, cargo shorts and pants, etc., but I only wear them around town because I want to wear them out before I pull out the really good stuff from Tag Safari (I did the same thing with them, fearing that they would disappear on me before I would have the chance to stock up, similar to Banana Republic's lineup change to office work apparel, which I failed to act on before the change).

I had the cheap jeans from that mall place in Houston on the extreme west side off Hwy 6. Bitten Jeans? At any rate, they were wearing down in the two years I had them, and boy, they dived to nothing in less than a year on a ranch and a farm. Three years, max. I usually go about 5-7 years on jeans. Now, I've got the Levi's with minimal stretch, as opposed to maximum stretch with the Bitten Jeans. They'd stretch out 4 or 5 sizes within a week of wearing them (space and laundry resources are very limited, so I have to wear two sets of clothes for the entire week in the field), and I could pull them RIGHT OFF without unbuttoning them.

Anyway, the Vertx pants seem to be an interesting style, if you are of the tactical mindset. Nice pants. I would have been ALL OVER them 5 years ago when I lived with such a mindset because of the colors available. So, here's the safari style, the tactical style, and what I call the REI style (simply because they are available at Academy, REI, Bass Pro Shops, Gander Mountain, Cabela's, being brands like Columbia, Kuhl, Prana, Royal Robins, Mountain Hardware, and several others I'm forgetting in my year after leaving REI).

Edit: Almost forgot - jeans would not be the best option for metal work because of sparks from welding and machine work around snaggy objects. I've had that happen at REI of all places, just because I whipped around a fixture and ripped my jeans on a fixture that had jagged metal. Another issue that I would have with synthetics is that they're noisy in the outdoors when you're moving around in them, which spook animals you're trying to get up close to for photos.

 

[AmericaOverland]

Dang it, forgot one other thing. Full-cottons are usually required during putsi fly outbreaks in parts of Africa when it's wet, because people there typically use very hot irons to iron the clothes, killing the eggs that may not come out in the wash. Synthetics will not stand up to this, as many a safari goer has learned.