Every so often we hear from our customers about how our gear performs out in the wild. From riding a desk at school or the mean streets as a messenger, or on a cross country tour, we’ve heard some pretty great stories and have been given a glimpse at some amazing adventures.

A recent email from our customer Alex raised the vicarious adventure bar to a whole new level. (Let’s just say that if we suddenly vanish for a while we might be following in Alex’s footsteps.)

Back in December, Alex picked up some Lightweight Trousers from us for a trip to South America with his girlfriend. Before submitting his order, he wrote with some technical questions and ended up getting some bonus travel tips from Erin, our all-round ace employee who has recent stamps in her passport from Peru and Bolivia. What can we say? It’s all part of the excellent service we aim to provide.

After a five-month long adventure through Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador, here’s what Alex had to say about his Lightweight Trousers:

I bought the lightweight trousers in the slim fit.  These are by the far the best pants I have ever owned.  I brought two pairs of pants for the whole trip.  The SWRVE pants and a real lightweight pair of Patagonia pants for jungle excursions.  I wore the patagucci pants actually at La Senda Verde animal reserve which you mentioned (we volunteered there for a week!) and they got completely trashed, so I had to throw them away.

Meanwhile, the SWRVE pants I wore on average every other day for the whole trip.  From Bolivia to Quito I honestly wore them just about every day, going sometimes well over a week or two without washing them. Gross, but in reality I was amazed at how I never sweat in them and they never smelled.  They were also incredibly versatile.  I wore them out to bars in cities (they look pretty rad), hiking everywhere including Torres del Paine where we got caught in a crazy snowstorm, mountain biking in Bolivia, and even traversing lava fields.  I was never too hot or too cold no matter the weather.  The pants even made it all the way back home without a single rip, tear, or serious stain.  Well, perhaps just one small mystery stain that’s barely noticeable, inevitable when eating strange Bolivian food…  I am so happy I can still wear them back at home and they still look brand new.

I would fully recommend these pants (as well as one of the cotton-bamboo shirts I bought) to anyone who wants to look sharp and not like a huge tourist while still being durable enough for hiking or any other adventures.

Hiking through Chile. 

Torres del Paine National Park. 

Biking in Bolivia!

 On a motherf’ing boat! 

This “Chilean Adventure Mobile” is a Ford Taunus wagon manufactured in West Germany in 1973. It has less than 20,000 miles on the odometer and Alex picked it up for under $1,000 USD. Going downhill with a stout tail wind it could hit a max speed of 50mph.

Penguins in Patagonia! 

Alex makes some new friends!

 Later gators!