We hadn’t heard of SWRVE Clothing line before a few months ago, yet we were intrigued because they offered such a wide variety of pants in various “weights”, and the quality of the material seemed like a perfect option for travelers, especially the adventurous sort.
Dedicated to men’s clothing, we decided to take a look at a few of Swrve’s shirts and pants, including jeans to assess the durability for longer and more active trips….could they withstand a lot of wear, tear and washes? First up is a long sleeved Henley shirt, which is great for every day use, hiking, cycling or for a cool day walk through a city center. It is made of a super soft cotton Modal jersey blend, which btw, is one of the things we noticed about it upon first trial. It’s frankly just softer than most shirts in the same category and the color we ordered was a nice rich medium blue you don’t often see, a nice step up from your more traditional light blue or navy options.
That brings me to the next great feature we liked about both their tops and bottoms: stretchability. Their shirts are designed for ease-of-movement but because their style is more fitting than many other brands, you may want to order a size up — also useful to have the extra size padding after a few dryer runs.
There’s a drop tail hem and a seamless armpit for freer arm movement as well; they boast no-itch labels, which we had to laugh at, yet useful nevertheless. It’s 55% cotton and 45% Modal and because of the blend, you don’t have to worry about shrinkage as much. For those of you not familiar with Modal, it is 100% natural and derived from beechwood trees. It naturally resists odor and, as a superior insulator, it will keep you cool in summer and warm in winter. We also like the above shirt in the muted/olive green, which is a great option for travel since it goes as well with jeans, as it does both brown and black pants.
When Anthony first tried them on, he noted how strong and yet soft they felt right away. The CORDURA fibers woven into the fabric makes the denim tough. The second thing he noted was how stretchy they felt compared to other jeans, which makes them easier to move around in…..what every adventure traveler needs. Think fabulous combo of durability, performance, and style in one pair of jeans mixed with soft feeling material up against your skin.
Here’s a fun stat for geeks who want to know — apparently, regular 100% cotton denim held up to between 75’000 to 25’000 rubs (depending on number of times the denim was washed) compared to the same weight CORDURA denim where they stopped the tests at 250’000 rubs on all samples because the denim was just not wearing through.
We also learned that their jeans have been pre-washed to soften the fabric, prevent shrinkage, and reduce the dark indigo dye from staining although they note that some can still occur. To get around this (as was suggested), we washed the jeans twice on their own without other clothes to avoid any issues.
Other cool features for travelers include triple chain stitch on high-stress areas to make the stitching super durable, reflective belt loops which I found amusing and Anthony found interesting, seamless diamond gusset to keep pressure off sensitive areas, articulated knees for ease of movement and a slight rise in the rear waistband to stay respectable while on the saddle or crouching and an additional reflective strip on interior drive-side leg, which is revealed when you roll up your cuff.
Note that we tested out a pair of regular fit mid-weight down town trousers – they come in brown, navy, black, and charcoal. See below the reflective strip on the inside leg.
They offer lighter and heavier weights depending on what time of year (or part of the world) you happen to be. The regular fit mid-weight is our favorite and recommendation for travel since you want your trousers to be roomy, durable and flexible. Below, Anthony in the darker Indigo jeans in a regular fit and the blue Henley shirt.
The great features of their jeans extend into their pants — their midweight regular fit downtown trousers are a great buy for adventure travelers. We love those lash pockets and no knee articulations for a clean and sleek look. They are also water and wind repellent which is great for European travel any time of year. There’s a cool coin pocket, double-welted back pockets with one zipper and like the jeans, a low waist in front to prevent your belt from digging into your gut and the higher waist in back to stay respectable and to keep you warm.
Here, the fabric is high nylon which makes them both tough and durable and also like the jeans, a fabulous 4-way stretch, which makes it that much easier for unrestricted movement. French terry interior is soft next to skin and will wick sweat away. Another great godsend feature for those on the go is that the trousers are quick to dry. They have a no-stretch interior waistband and those funky reinforced reflective belt loops that they offer in their jeans as well. We also love the fact that they’re made in the states. Below is the same trouser in charcoal.
Another soft trouser we think is worth mentioning, are their durable cotton regular fit trousers. We love the “feel” of them and they come in some really great colors: Olive, Prussian Blue, Black, and a dark Gray.
They have the same low waist in front and higher waist in back as the others, the same seamless diamond gusset for comfort and articulated knees for a better fit on a bike, plane seat or office chair – bravo! Because their clothing is designed to be used for outdoor activities, the reflective belt loops are included on all their trousers and jeans. The zipper quality is great and these ones have two front pen pockets, as well as the double-welted back pockets for a mini U-lock and a back pocket with a zipper for the important stuff. We love the zipper feature here as it protects things like a passport while you’re walking around a foreign city.
The material is a 55% Cotton, 38% Nylon and 7% Spandex blend. Its burly weight (325 gsm) cotton / nylon mix makes it both tough and abrasion-resistant as well as comfy to move around in with its standard Swrve 4 way stretch to help with unrestricted movement during any activity. They also add a DWR coating so you have both light water and wind resistance.
Our favorite of the cotton pant? The rich olive as it’s a little more unique and can be dressed up or down. Two thumbs up for this line! More information on all their clothing can be found on their site at: http://swrve.myshopify.com/.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
