Ethical Fashion, Ethical Product Reviews, Fair Trade & Ethically Made, Sustainable Fashion, Sustainable Living, Sustainable Product Reviews, Travel

The Best Travel Pants: Athleta Headlands Hybrid Tight Review

The Best Travel Pants: Athleta Headlands Hybrid Tight Review

Disclaimer: This post is NOT sponsored and is my unbiased, independent review.

When I learned recently that Athleta is now a Certified B Corporation, I freaked. out. I had actually never shopped at Athleta before and only vaguely knew what they were all about, but I was over the moon excited to finally have an ethical big box store at our local mall!

A couple of weeks before my trip to Belize, I realized that my wardrobe was a bit lacking in outdoorsy gear. I needed some athletic tops, and I also wanted to find some cute, quick-dry athletic pants that I could wear out into the jungle but also feel good about wearing to dinner later in the day.

I first went to Athleta to shop for workout tops. Pants weren’t even on my mind because I had ordered a couple of pairs of the Jetsetters pants from Albion Fit and was just waiting on them to arrive in the mail. While I was at Athleta, I noticed that they had a lot of apparel outside of workout gear. There was a lot of casual loungewear, but also streetwear and even a collection of work pants.

When my Jetsetters arrived, I was less than thrilled with the way they looked on me. So disappointing, because they are so highly reviewed, and I had been banking on them working out. With just a couple of days until my departure to Belize, I decided to head back to Athleta to check out their pants selection.

When I arrived, I basically grabbed every single style of pants in the store in multiple sizes, hoping I could find one that worked. I did indeed find a winner!! I absolutely adore the Headlands Hybrid Tight. I bought two pairs of the cargo style–one in black and one in olive–and took them on my trip to Belize. After wearing them, here is my unbiased, non-sponsored review.

The Best Travel Pants: Athleta Headlands Hybrid Tight Review  |  Fairly Southern

Pros:

1. Comfort. Let’s face it–I like to be comfortable every day, regardless of whether I’m traveling. But comfy is especially nice when you’re out being active. These pants are stretchy and have an elastic waistband (all the praise hands!). Seriously, so comfortable. It’s basically like wearing yoga pants, but they look nicer.

2. Style. One of my goals was finding a pair of travel pants that were stylish enough to wear out to dinner while on vacation. I was packing light, and I didn’t want to have to bring one set of clothes to wear while being active during the day and a whole separate set of clothes to change into for dinner. I love that these pants look nice enough to pair with a cute top and wear out to a restaurant. They have a slim fit, and the high-rise waist keeps you tucked in.

Below is a photo from the Athleta website showing the pants dressed up a bit. So stylish!

The Best Travel Pants: Athleta Headlands Hybrid Tight Review  |  Fairly Southern

3. Wrinkle-resistance. This is key for packing, especially if you are going to be living out of your suitcase as you travel from place to place, as I did. It’s also nice if you’re spending a lot of time sitting in an airplane, bus, or car. You can sit all day, and your pants still look fresh! Love that.

4. Durability. The fabric is abrasion-resistant, which is great if you’re planning to do some outdoorsy activities while wearing these pants. On a more basic level, you can also tell that the pants are well-made. The stitching and materials are high quality. I expect that these will last me many, many years.

5. Water Resistance. The Headlands Hybrid Tight is water-resistant, which is great when you’re traveling, especially when you’re spending time outdoors. They dry quickly, too! I had the opportunity to test that out when I hand-washed them in a hotel sink.

6. Pockets. The cargo style Headlands Hybrid Tight has lots of great pockets, including subtle pockets on your derriere (in case you’re a fan of a pocketed bum, as I am). The pockets create helpful storage for when you’re out and about and don’t want to carry a purse!

7. Easy to find. I am old school: I love to try on clothes in person rather than shopping online. Since Athleta is a big brand with lots of in-store locations, it isn’t hard to try their clothes on in person if you live in or near a decent sized city. This makes it easy to figure out the correct size and avoid the hassle of returns!

8. Ethically and sustainably made. Obviously, ethically made clothing is very important to me (read more here about why). So, I love that Athleta is a Certified B Corporation, meaning they meet certain standards for fair labor and sustainability. And, the pants are made from 90% recycled nylon, making them eco-friendly too (also something that is important to me!).

The Best Travel Pants: Athleta Headlands Hybrid Tight Review  |  Fairly Southern

Cons:

1. Cost. The only con I have for these pants is that they are pricey….to the tune of $108.00 per pair. Yikes. I don’t ever pay that much for a pair of pants. Still, I felt pretty good about the investment since I could tell they were high quality and would last, and because I knew I would get a lot of wear from them outside of my trip to Belize. They aren’t just pants for a jungle vacation–they could also work in a big city, in Europe, really anywhere where you would wear pants! I also felt okay with a higher cost since I knew that the pants were being produced by garment worker(s) who were being paid a fair wage. And finally, I do think that you spend less money overall when you are willing to spend a little more on clothing you really like. When you only buy items that you love, you don’t need to buy as much, because you want to wear the few pieces you have over and over again. That’s how I feel about these pants!

At the time of this writing, the regular pants (not the cargo style) are actually on sale for just $59.99 in two colors that I assume Athleta is discontinuing. Go snatch them up!

I hope this was a helpful review. I’d love to hear from y’all in the comments…what clothing items are your favorites for travel? What other items of clothing do you like from Athleta?

xoxo Laura

The Best Travel Pants: Athleta Headlands Hybrid Tight Review | Fairly Southern

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