Confession: I blow through jeans聽like nobody鈥檚 business. Often when I find a pair I like, I鈥檒l wear them day after day, only swapping another pair into the rotation if my first choice is dirty, funky鈥攐r both鈥攁nd in need of a good spin cycle. It鈥檚 usually the inseam that goes first, coming undone after several months of virtually nonstop wear.
But I don鈥檛 have to worry about that with ($180). Reason being: they鈥檙e made with Dyneema, the same material used to fashion sails and ultralight backpacking gear. It鈥檚 lauded as the strongest and most durable fiber in the world, and while it may seem like overkill to some to weave it into a pair of pants, my thought is, What took so long?聽And Sherpa鈥檚 done it in a way that looks classy, with a staid color and trim leg fit. In fact, I鈥檓 wearing the Gurkhalis as I sit in my office typing this, proof that they鈥檙e good business-casual wear. (Though in the admittedly聽laid-back outdoor industry, few things aren鈥檛.)
The fabric in these pants is聽mostly聽cotton and Lycra, ensuring that the legs stretch and don鈥檛 bind up. The range of movement is impressive, and adding to Dyneema鈥檚 durability are burly stitching and bar tacking鈥攏o more frayed inseams or tears from scraping against branches on the trail.
I haven鈥檛 taken them to the gym yet, but the Gurkhalis will probably work just as well there, too. Hell, I might even be able to sleep comfortably in them. Pretty soon I鈥檒l have no reason to change out of them.