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Craghoppers Kiwi Trouser and
Shorts
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Price: Trousers -
£30.00 Shorts - £25.00
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Weight: 495 /325 grammes (men's 32"
waist)
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Features:
SolarDry, Polyester Cotton, DWR finish, seven pockets (six
for shorts), reinforced seat and knees (just seat on
shorts), part-elasticated waist and belt, regular or long
leg lengths (trousers only), two zipped security pockets,
ooh, one's got a fiver in it... Also available as zip-off
and for women.
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Tough travel and walking pants and shorts
Erm we preferred the old Barkhan pant, but what do we
know?
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The old-style Barkhan pant and shorts were some of our favourite
trekking and walking shorts. They used a soft but incredibly tough
polyamide fabric that survived two serious trips to the Andes and the
Himalayas virtually unscathed, dried fast and were still comfortable
in hot conditions. They weren't faultless, things fell out of the
pocket when you sat down, but they were great, reasonably priced,
functional pants.
Unfortunately Craghoppers no longer make them, but don't write off
the Kiwi trousers and shorts - also available in zip-off form - which
have effectively replaced them. The cut is similar, but slightly more
generous and many of the features that made the Barkhan so good like
the reinforced seat and knees are retained along with some
improvements - your small change, for example, is safe in extra
zip-fastened hip pockets.
The main difference is the new fabric. Whereas the Barkhans were
100 per-cent synthetic, the Kiws use a poly-cotton mix with
Craghopper's Solardry UV protection treatment. The breakdown is 65
pre-cent Polyester to 35 per-cent cotton, which gives a good
compromise between retaining some of the quick-drying qualities of
Polyester and adding the soft, cool, luxurious - ooh er - touch of
cotton.
The fabric feels softer and thicker with a nice soft 'handle' as
the clothing pros say, compared to the thinner, tougher feel of the
old Polyamide. They also feel heavier, though in reality the
difference in weight for the trousers is just 50 grammes.
But
enough nostalgia, how do they perform? Very comfortable in all
conditions and reasonably fast drying, though they do become 'slappy'
if you get caught out and soaked. Cut is on the loose side, so you
may need to go down a waist size for your ideal fit, but then again,
that adds to the comfort, particularly when the going gets hot.
You can't argue with all those pockets either and the big one on
the right thigh actually holds an OS map without restricting
movement. A good call as are the extra zipped change pockets backing
up the normal hip ones and the merciful absence of those unuseable
cargo ones that stop you from bending your knees properly.
Anything else, well, apparently Michael Palin wears them - see
this news article - oh, and ther's one thing we don't understand.
Why, oh why, oh why do they come with a near irreversible ironed-in
crease, both trousers and shorts. We guess the rationale is that
they'll look smart when you stumble into that five-star hotel bar on
the Inca Trail, but frankly it takes ages to iron them out and looks
kind of incongruous, but maybe it's just us...
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Verdict: Apparently tough,
definitely soft and comfy, trekking trousers and shorts.
Whingers that we are, we have to admit that we preferred the
old 100 per-cent Polyamide of the original Barkhan pants and
shorts - the newer fabric takes slightly longer to dry - but
these are very capable and comfortable trekking and
three-season walking bottoms with a three-year guarantee and
knee / seat double thickness layers to reassure you. Very
decent pricing too. What are those perma-creases about
though? Still, you won't need the Corby trouser press with
these. Incidentally, Craghoppers donate 2 per-cent of the
trade price of the Kiwis to the Imperial Cancer Research
Fund.
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Performance
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Value
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Pushed for time:
Luxuriously soft-feeling polycotton walking / travel
trousers and shorts with loads of pockets and double
thickness on the seat and knees, as worn by Michael Palin.
100 per-cent synthetic pants might dry faster, but won't
feel as luxurious and the Kiwi's performance is still
acceptable. Also have anti-UV treatment and a three-year
guarantee, good price too. We're not convinced by the
semi-permanent ironed-in trouser creases though, if you
can't look scruffy when you're walking, what hope is there
for humanity?
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