Over the last few years, joggers have been cropping up in fashion trends everywhere. Originally designed as a more fashionable sweat pant for men that’s actually acceptable to wear out of the house, joggers combine a few key elements: an elastic waist with a drawstring, a tapered leg, and often an elastic cuff around the ankles.
I decided to model WorkWear’s first pair of utility pants off of joggers for both fit and comfort. I loved the fit across the backside and really liked the tapered leg with the more interesting ankle cuff as opposed to a regular hem. There was one thing that had to go though. Nix the drawstring. That just wouldn’t be safe (especially if you work with machinery), and a drawstring doesn’t offer enough tension to hold sturdy pants up. So, let’s add a zipper and two snap closures to make these more casual pants ready for any professional worksite. With a few other tweaks specific to workwear needs, we now have our version of a utility jogger nearly complete!
If you want to know a little bit more about the history of The Jogger PantTM, check out this article The Real Story Behind the Jogger PantTM from “The Hundreds”.
So here’s the skinny. I'd like you to meet "The Harvester".
Fit: let’s start from the top and work our way down.
-Elastic waistband: no, no, no, not like maternity pants, silly. Our soft elastic waistband is enclosed in the same fabric as the pants. With minimal gathering, this waistband offers more comfort during movement but still looks like a real pair of pants.
*Oooo Look at that butt!: We’re not down with the saggy diaper look. These pants are form fitting through the hips and backside, but won’t restrict your squats and sits.
*Thighs: these pants are tapered just enough to show off your figure but not restrict your movement.
*Knees: we gave your knees plenty of room for kneeling while still maintaining a slim leg for aesthetics.
*Elastic ankle cuff – allows for easy on and off with boots as well as offers a modern/utilitarian aesthetic. Love them with some Teeva sandals for light tasks where you don’t need toe protection or love them with your chore boots or something in between.
Features:
*Beltloops – since these pants have an elastic waistband for added comfort, you shouldn’t need a belt with these. But if that is you jam, and you just can’t part with a belt, we got six functional beltloops to hold it in place. We’ve even put two at the center back to keep your belt from crawling up during squats. My all-time favorite use for belt loops: keys!
*Double lined knees: Cause most of our jobs have us crawling and you need that extra layer for durability
*A perfect place for your pocket knife: we've added a triangular insert into our front slash pockets that makes it a perfect spot to hold your pocket knife.
6 Functional Pockets:
*2 traditional back patch pockets – because they’re not good pants without them 😉
*2 traditional front slash pockets – allows for an easier reach in and out of the pocket and more capacity for carrying (not pictured: pocket knife insert)
*1 hidden welt pocket on the left side – being hidden keeps in line with our modern, clean aesthetic while still offering another place to hide your phone, hold those screws, or house those pruners. We’re experimenting with some extra durable fabric (SuperFabric) that’s meant to stand up better to abrasion and punctures. This pocket is my favorite to house my phone. (note: the phone is only sticking out for this picture. This pocket fully hides an iPhone 7 with a Lifeproof case on).
*1 angled patch pocket on the right side – angled lines compliment the natural line of the body while offering another place for small hand tools, harvest knives, or twist ties. Also lined with SuperFabric. I personally love this pocket for my harvest knife and twist ties.
Fabric:
Workwear in general needs to stand up to tough jobs and rough surfaces, which is why most workwear is made out of duck canvas usually from cotton with some companies recently adopting hemp as their main fiber. The problem with canvas? It’s so uncomfortable and is a you-know-what to break in. With traditional workwear, very few companies offer their pants in a stretch material. This is so crazy to me! We need to be able to move and in all directions. With no stretch the only way to do that is to have a boxy, non-figure-flattering shape to allow for movement. As patterns become more fitted, your fabric has to have stretch or it just won’t be functional.
This is one area that still requires some research. Ideally we’re going to find a sustainable and organic fiber like cotton or better yet hemp, with stretch. We’ve come close, but are still on the hunt. We’ll keep you in the loop as the hunt continues.
We know that there’s no magical pair of pants that can fit every job, every personal preference, and every body shape, which is why we’re planning to have a few styles of pants as the company evolves. Each will be a little bit different when it comes to fit and features with the hope that we can outfit as many hard-working women as possible.
Drop us a line and tell us what you think about our utility joggers. We’d love to hear from you. Or have a style or feature in mind that you wish you had in your closet? We want to hear that too. Drop us a line here.
Cheers,
Lesia
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