Run Oregon sometimes receives products to review. In this post, Matt Rasmussen provides some initial impressions of some man-centric gear from Betabrand.
Betabrand is an online clothing community, based in San Francisco.
We design, manufacture, and release new products nonstop. Brand-new ideas spring to life on our site every day. Our fans co-design and crowdfund them into existence in a matter of weeks.Betabrand is home to Web hits like Dress Pant Yoga Pants, Executive Hoodies, Bike-to-Workwear, Disco Hoodies, Black Sheep Sweaters, Cordarounds, and many, many, many more.
Our customers are our models.Our customers are our designers. Our customers are helping us build a brand unlike any other.
Products:
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5-Pocket Dress Pant Sweatpants ($98; Some no-return sale items for $43)
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Oxblood Slackies ($98)
The first thing that I noticed about Betabrand was their crowdfunding community. Since we here at Run Oregon do a Kickstarter of the Week feature, in which we highlight some of the coolest items from smaller and start-up companies, we found that a cool connection. In fact, what Betabrand does is place a variety of prototyped designs in their crowdfunding area and determine if they become actual products given the popularity on the website! Super cool! Check out our previous post on their crowdfunding process.
Impressions (5-Pocket Dress Pant Sweatpants):
Specs (from website):
- Fabric: super-soft French terry (23% cotton, 73% poly, 4% spandex).
- Classic 5-pocket jean design.
As someone who has to dress up for work 5 days/week, I have a pretty diverse wardrobe. Over time, I have become more comfortable with business casual clothes, and luckily have stocked my wardrobe pretty well. But even with my relative comfort with dress slacks, oxford shirts, and ties, it really is more out of necessity than anything. I mean, if I could wear a pair of sweatpants to work without getting fired, I definitely would.
Enter the 5-Pocket Dress Pant Sweatpants at Betabrand.
These are a perfect crossover for those of us who appreciate a little comfort, while still looking stylish. I mean, they are essentially business on the outside, party on the inside! I have worn them to work a couple of times and have received comments such as “those pants look really comfortable”. When I describe the construction of them (“fine French terry that features a subtle heather texture similar to suit cloth”) and the sweatpants feel of the inside, I am met with jealous stares.
They are described as having a slimmer cut, though not what one would consider “slim” or “skinny”. It’s a nice balance considering.
Impressions (Oxblood Slackies):
Specs (from website):
- Fabric: super-soft hemp/cotton twill (54% hemp, 43% cotton, 3% Lycra).
- Internal waist drawstring — no belt, no problem!
- Contrast fabric inside waistband and on left front belt loop.
- Two pockets front and back.
For someone who generally runs in the most boring color schemes (blues and blacks), I do have a diverse and colorful closet when it comes to my work and casual clothes. My wife jokes (accurately) that I have more pink in my wardrobe than she does. I don’t know what it is, but I prefer to have some items that allow me to stand out a bit.
I also have a love-hate relationship with khakis. Maybe it’s the general blandness of the color. Maybe it’s because they can’t seem to figure out if they want to be a dress option or a casual option. Or maybe it’s the fact that khakis were invented by the British Army in India around 1850 as part of a soldier’s uniform. Whatever it is, I only have a single pair in my closet.
So the Oxblood Slackies are a great marriage – a wardrobe staple (for most people at least) combined with a little bit of flair. I mean, with a color called “oxblood”, I knew I would have no problem finding a place for them (there are more neutral colors as well).
To me, these are the best kind of khaki’s (in the sense that they hardly resemble them) – a super soft hemp blend that brings extreme comfort and some color options that really pop. Even the Blue Slate color is really cool. Even if you are a khaki guy, you can order these in true khaki brown and take a step up in feel and comfort. I actually found that these seem to be tailored to an active male. With two young kids, it was great to have a pair of dress pants that I could actually move around freely in, letting us get straight to our after-work trips to the park without needing to stop home first so I could change. From frisbee to tag, they moved with me quite well.
