Boundary Chase Pants: reviewed

A sneak preview of some comfortable, stretchy, and incredibly well-designed travel trousers

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Boundary Chase Pants: overview

What do you want from your travel pants? Utah-based makers Boundary call them the “ultimate everyday and travel pants”, and after two weeks of wearing them first on a business trip and then on a hard-travel trip through Bolivia, it’s hard to argue. A collaboration with Bluesign Factories and Mills, they’re available for both men and women, in five colors, and in both slim and straight styles. We tested the men’s straight style in ‘midnight’ blue and, boy, were we impressed.

Boundary Chase Pants: pockets

As with any good pair of travel trousers, the Boundary Chase Pants have pockets galore, but these go a lot further than most when it comes to security. There are no less than three highly secure pockets hidden away on these travel trousers. On the right-hand side, there is the usual hand pocket, with a small, open keys pocket recessed on the inside (just as on most pairs of jeans). However, on the outer seam of the right leg is another hand-sized, yet hard-to-see pocket entered using a very slim and impossible-to-see zip. That’s ideal for hiding a credit card or cash. There is a similarly secure, hidden pocket on the left-hand side, but this one is ranged lower down, and actually goes backwards into the rear of the leg. That’s unexpected, so a great place to put some emergency cash, cards, or a hotel room key. Lastly, there are the usual two pockets provided on the buttocks, the right hand of which contains a hidden zipped pocket that’s ideally sized for a passport (though not much else). Again, it’s secured using a zip. Seriously, in a decade of trying we’ve not found travel clothes that have been this well designed for security.

Boundary Chase Pants: details

As well as a well-thought-through design, there’s also a lot of attention to detail on the Boundary Chase Pants, from excellent YKK zippers both on the fly and on the security pockets (the latter are smaller, much more subtle versions) to the innovative RIRI snap enclosure, again on the fly, which is both easy to use (it looks like a popper but slides in and out) and secure. There is also a tiny, easy-to-miss loop provided above that recessed keys pocket on the right-hand side of the trousers that is perfect for attaching a key clip or a carabiner. Lastly, if you roll the legs of the trousers up, perhaps to go for a paddle, you’ll find some handy, hidden reflective strips that read ‘land water rock’. Nice touch!

Boundary Chase Pants: in use

Here’s a pair of travel trousers that are super comfortable to wear, and even super stretchy so you don’t have to worry about rips when you go climbing, or gusset tearing when you squat down (been there, done that). They’re pretty warm, and proved ideal for the freezing cold conditions of the Atacama desert at night, but are also highly wearable in middling temperatures. However, they’re not ideal for hot and humid weather, so are best regarded as ideal for all seasons except summer. As a bonus, they look simultaneously smart enough for work yet casual enough for general travel.

Perhaps the best feature of these travel pants is that they can be washed easily. Some technical travel clothes require to be machine washed in cold temperatures, completely separately and hung out on the line to dry. However, the Boundary Chase Pants can be machine washed with like colors and tumble dry on low. That makes them a lot easier to care for than most. During our tests, they dried quickly after a serious splashing on the Uyuni salt flats of Bolivia.

Boundary Chase Pants: conclusion 

Above and beyond its main features is the fabric the Boundary Chase Pants are made from. It’s soft, slightly stretchy, and really strong, and forms the backbone of this great product. It’s apparently a custom-made fiber called TT-1, a combination of ‘combat wool’, T-400 Lycra, and Nylon 6,6 that together creates a fabric that’s really well suited to travel clothes. Here’s hoping there are a few more products coming down the pipeline because the Boundary Chase Pants are some of the best – and most comfortable – travel pants we’re tested.

Price as reviewed: US$99