A good pair of pants is hard to find.
But finding a good pair of hiking pants is honestly even harder. They need to move with you, stretch with you, not ride up, not slip down, not hold sweat and, most importantly, not chaff – all of this while enduring HEAVY wear.
NOTE: This is a sponsored post that also contains affiliate links. Anything you purchase using one of my links earns me a small monetary kickback at NO extra cost to you. Of course I only link to products that I believe to be useful and good quality. If you want more information on affiliate links, click here.
I own over fifteen pairs of hiking pants [it’s a little ridiculous at this point] and am always on the lookout for that perfect, soft-yet-tough pair. Seems like an oxymoron, but I hold out hope. So when KÜHL reached out asking if I’d like to test out their Trekr hiking pants in exchange for coverage, it was pretty much an immediate “yuuuup”.
The Trekr hiking pant boasts super-stretchy, super-comfy material that still holds up to heavy use. I decided to put those claims to the test by doing a couple hikes here in my home state! One of them a 6-mile hike through the Boise foothills, and the other a desert-y oasis in the Owyhees [that would inevitably involve some scrambling].
In this review, I’ll go over [and rate] the following “key points”:
- Sizing + Fit.
- Style.
- Features.
- Comfort.
- Durability + Stretch.
- Value for Money.
For reference, I am 5’7 and 155lbs. Wearing a size 8, 32 inseam, in the color ‘Pine’.
SIZING + FIT
Their sizes are pretty typical: 0 – 16, increasing by multiples of 2. The thing that makes KÜHL stand out a bit from other brands though, is the choice of inseam length. Most outdoor clothing brands [at least the ones I buy from] don’t offer different inseam lengths, so this is a super nice option if you have shorter or longer-than-average legs.
Sizes Available: 0 – 16
Inseams: 28 | 30 | 32 | 34
AS FAR AS FIT GOES…
Obviously everyone has vastly different ideas of what a “good fit” is. For me, I like my hiking pants to be a little roomy, but not so roomy that I look frumpy – I still want to see the shape of my body through the clothes preferably. That being said, I feel like KÜHL knocked it out of the park with the Trekr pants! I love both the look and the feel of these pants, and I would say they definitely fit true to size. I also love the cut of the leg on these pants – they fit perfectly over my hiking boots and look really good!
I’d like to note that I would [very generously] say that I have an “athletic” body type. I have narrow hips, but I’ve always had sort of a bigger butt and thicker calves – even back when I was a size 2. So my biggest problem with pants is that they’re too tight around the calves and/or they are either too tight for my butt, or they fit my butt but are loose around the waist. I did not have that problem with these pants!
RATING: 10 / 10
STYLE
I’m not going to lie, when I pulled these pants out of the bag I wasn’t 100% sold on the look. It wasn’t until I put them on that I was like “Oh… okay. These are alright!”. Better than alright, actually. They photographed nicer than any other pair I’ve worn on my hiking photoshoots!
The fit is perfect, the cut on the leg works super well with hiking boots (both functionally and aesthetically), and I love the “Pine” color! It’s kind of a grey-green and I think it looks super dope. It also matches with almost every piece of hiking clothing I own – so that’s a nice bonus.
Obviously the Trekr pants have a rugged, cargo-pant look about them, so if that’s not your bag these probably aren’t the pants for you. But for me, personally, these are worthy of a 9.5 in the style department. Super close to a 10, but I have one, teeny-tiny negative note.
My ONE negative note: When converting them to capri pants, it’s kind of tricky to get them to stay that way (and to stay even-looking) – especially when you’re hiking, since there’s so much movement going on. I felt the capri-pant version looked a little lopsided. But honestly, that could just be user error. I wouldn’t put it past me.
RATING: 9.5 / 10
FEATURES
Pants to Capris: The main feature of these pants is the ability to convert from long pants to capri pants. As I said earlier, I wasn’t as big of a fan of this feature as I thought I’d be. I kind of struggled to get them even and to make them stay cinched in place. That being said, I really did like the look of the capri version. The ruching on the side of the leg looks pretty cool, and perhaps one day I will master the art of cinching these pants.
Pockets: The Trekr pants have six pockets. Two snap-back pockets on the butt, two normal pockets in front, and two “hidden” zippered pockets on the side of the mid-thigh. The side pockets are where the pull cords are hidden, in order to cinch the pants into capris, but you could theoretically use them to store other things (and it’s kind of nice to have a zippered pocket to fully secure items). The zippered pockets, however, are not very big. For example, I can’t fit my iPhone 12 in them. I can, however, fit my phone in the front pockets – which is normally what I do, anyway. Overall, for my needs, the pockets worked great!
Internal Drawcord: The pants secure using a zipper and button combo, but you can tighten the waist using the internal drawcord. I’ll dive more into this feature in the next section, but essentially I loved it! Typically, I’m not a big fan of drawcords (I usually just leave them undone), but this one was the exception. It’s so stretchy that I hardly notice it’s there.
RATING: 8/10
CLAIM #1 OF THE KÜHL TREKR PANTS
COMFORT
The Trekr pants are made from KÜHL’s exclusive REKOIL fabric, which is a 57% Polyester / 43% Nylon blend.
And let me tell you guys, I had NO idea polyester and nylon could be soooo comfortable! It’s honestly unreal. I tried them out the day before my planned hiking trip, and I ended up wearing them for the rest of the day – even though I had literally nothing planned. They were practically lounge-wear level comfy. So obvs this is another 10 / 10, but let me tell you my reasons for the rating:
- The fabric is unbelievably soft and feels nice against my skin. Which for someone with sensitive skin (like me) is a big deal! Lots of fabrics make me itchy and uncomfy – these did not.
- The pants allow complete freedom of movement. Even when climbing on rocks (where my knee was practically at chest height) I didn’t feel any tension or pulling in the fabric.
- They don’t slip around, ride up, or fall down. Enough said.
- The internal drawcord (to tighten the waist, if needed) doesn’t affect comfortability at all. Most of the time I despise drawcords because, as I inevitably bloat throughout the day, they dig into my skin. This drawcord is elastic, super-stretchy, and I don’t even notice it’s there.
- There are no “stitch lines” embedded into my skin after wearing (which happens to me a lot, actually, with other pants). To me, that means the fit is right and the fabric is light and pliable.
So, in summation, KÜHL’s comfort claims are definitely legit!
RATING: 10 / 10
CLAIMS #2 + #3 OF THE KÜHL TREKR PANTS
DURABILITY + STRETCH
Now to the most important part! KÜHL claims these pants are durable / tough and also stretchy enough to offer freedom of movement in any challenge. Those claims were definitely put to the test during my hike in our local canyonlands! I was constantly climbing on rough rocks and, a couple times, slipping down said rocks on my butt [not on purpose]. I was fully convinced that by the end of the hike, the butt of these pants would be all worn down and pilly-looking. Not so! In fact, they took absolutely no visible damage from my rocky butt-scoots.
Of course, I can’t comment on the long-term durability of these pants [yet!]. But from my limited experience, the KÜHL hiking pants are much more durable than other brands I’ve tried. And being that I love the Trekr pants so much, I will definitely be wearing the crap out of them for years to come – so I will report back in the future 😉
I’ve already kind of spoken about the stretchability [not a Webster-certified word] of these pants, but I’ll go into more detail. The stretchy-ness of these pants is honestly ridiculous – in a good way. Out of the 15 + pairs of hiking pants that I have in my closet, only one other pair can compete with the Trekr pants as far as stretch goes. During my very-amateur climbing, I had my knee up to my chest a few times trying to step up onto large rocks, and I had my leg bent up backwards on a 4 ft. tall rock behind me at one point – I was in all kinds of weird positions. Never once did I feel any tension or pulling in the fabric and I never had an issue with the pants riding up. Seriously, you could do advanced yoga in these bad boys, if that’s your thing.
To sum it up, claims #2 and #3 are completely truthful! I was looking for something to complain about, but… there just isn’t anything.
RATING: 10 / 10
BOTTOM LINE: Are KÜHL Trekr pants worth the money?
Currently the Trekr pants sell for $89.00
So are they worth $89.00? I’d say definitely yes!
As I said before, I can’t speak to how the Trekr pants will hold up over the years. But based on how well they handled the long hikes and super sharp lava rock I was climbing on, I’m comfortable betting that they’ll last me a lonnng time. And in my opinion, it’s worth spending extra money for a product that lasts rather than a cheap product that you have to replace yearly or bi-yearly. Not to mention, it’s much more eco-friendly!
Anyway, let’s sum up my ratings.
Sizing + Fit. 10 / 10
Style. 9.5 / 10
Features. 8 / 10
Comfort. 10 / 10
Durability + Stretch. 10 / 10
Tallying all that up, the KÜHL Trekr hiking pants have an overall rating of…
Drumroll….
9.5 / 10!!!
Impressive, KÜHL… Most impressive.
These pants held up to a lot of abuse in the limited testing I’ve done. They look good, feel good, and definitely live up to the hype as far as durability, comfort and stretch. The Trekr will for sure be my go-to pair of hiking pants this fall, and probably every fall until they are destroyed – cause that’s how I roll. Thanks, KÜHL! 🙂
You can check out the Trekr pants & all other KÜHL women’s hiking pants + leggings, here!
PIN IT LIKE IT’S HOT. BECAUSE IT IS.
