Technical details Open Accordion
- Material made in Switzerland by Schoeller
- Fabric composition: 58% polyamide, 23% aramid, 18% polyurethane, 1% elastane
- The fireproof fabric complies with EN ISO 11612
- Highly abrasion resistant and tear resistant fabric
- The pants are water repellent and breathable
- 4 way stretch throughout the pants and all seams are engineered for torsion and stretch
- 2 large zipped side pockets with reinforced pocket lining
- Two large bellows pockets on the thighs with waterproof zips, storm flaps and stainless steel press studs
- All critical seams twin needle stitched with two lines of stitching and heavy duty thread to double the strength
- Heavy duty elasticated belt tape on the bottom hem of each leg with four press studs to tighten the pants
- Highly abrasion resistant rip-proof fabric at both ankles built with an ultra-tough polyurethane membrane and attached with bonding
- Large lower leg vents with fully bonded, waterproof zips
- Reinforced pants seat
- Custom engineered waistband constructed from two layers bonded together for extra strength, with perforated layers in the bonding to create airflow and stretch
- 5 belt loops on the waist, 2 with a small reinforced loop underneath for clipping on extra gear
- Watch pocket fitted with black nylon paracord
- Back pocket with press studs and storm flap
- Fly fastens with a zip, stainless steel press stud with a rubberised cover, and lockable press stud
- The fabric is bluesign® approved – a system for environmentally friendly production
- Cool wash max temp 40°C and tumble dry low
Size + fit Open Accordion
Fit guide: The 100 Year Pants are designed with a regular fit. If you’re on the borderline between two waist sizes, we recommend going for the smaller size.
Model wears: Trail runner, swimmer and surfer Aljoscha Fabregas is 6ft 1 / 185cm with a 31in / 79cm waist. He has a slim build and wears the 100 Year Pants in size Small.
Personalised advice: See our size guide for more advice on sizing, or you can ask us for personalised sizing advice here.
Returns and exchanges: Don’t worry if you order something and it doesn’t fit – we have a free, no hassle 30 day return and exchange period.
| XS | S | M | L | XL | XXL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fits waist | 71-76 | 76-81 | 81-86 | 86-91 | 91-96 | 96-101 |
| Outside length | 102 | 103.5 | 105 | 106.5 | 108 | 109.5 |
| XS | S | M | L | XL | XXL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fits waist | 28-30 | 30-32 | 32-34 | 34-36 | 36-38 | 38-40 |
| Outside length | 40 | 40.5 | 41.5 | 42 | 42.5 | 43 |
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Swiss-engineered material developed for the military
It wasn’t enough for us to build a pair of pants that could simply last for 100 years. We wanted to build a pair comfortable enough to spend the rest of your life in. So we worked with a new, military-grade fireproof fabric engineered in Switzerland that’s built to help soldiers handle the most extreme scenarios, but without having to dress like firefighters. The result is a crazily strong and amazingly comfortable pair of pants that you can wear in any terrain and emerge unscathed.
The material is made from three layers sandwiched together
If you looked at a cross section of the pants you'd think you’re just looking at one layer of fabric. But just as you’d find with any high-performance jacket, it’s actually three separate layers sandwiched together and performing three distinct roles. The outer layer is a stretchy, windproof soft shell. The middle layer is a fireproof coating. And the bottom layer next to your skin is a soft, knitted fireproof fibre that feels like cotton.
On the outside they feel like sweat pants
Even on its own the outer layer of the pants would make the toughest pair of pants you'd ever worn. Highly durable and abrasion resistant, it’s also water repellent, stretchy and windproof. Yet despite this it’s still super soft and feels nothing like any fire-resistant fabric that’s ever been made before. And that’s because it’s the two layers beneath that turn it from a tough pair of pants to ones that can go through fire.
The middle layer acts like an airbag in a fire
Any contact with fire triggers the fireproof middle layer of the pants. This layer instantly expands to 1000x its size to create a protective barrier between you and the flames, writing off the pants but saving you. It might sound like an airbag, but it looks more like tiny plants growing at high speed as the protective layer increases in volume and expands to about 6mm in height. This video shows the expansion process. Even if you hold a flame on these pants they can’t catch on fire, and fire simply can’t spread on them.
The pants feel like cotton next to your skin
It’s the inner layer of the pants that keeps them together in an emergency. Built from an aramid fibre that can’t burn or melt, it’s there to protect the structural integrity of the pants in a fire. These kinds of fibres are typically built for practicality rather than comfort, but we’ve knitted them into a soft and ultra thin layer that feels more like cotton on your skin.
Fireproofing the pants makes them more breathable
While it’s completely counter intuitive, having a protective layer in the middle of the fabric makes the pants more breathable. Because it’s created from a fireproof coating rather than material, it acts like a gap or firebreak between the inner and outer layers of fabric, and it’s this invisible gap that lets air pass through the pants and makes them more breathable.
It will take more than 100 years to break the fabric
The Martindale abrasion resistance test is the way clothing is normally tested to see how quickly it will break down. A mechanical thumb rubs the surface of the fabric repeatedly until the fibres start to break. The test goes up to 100,000 revolutions which is the equivalent of a lifetime of wear and tear. A normal polyester fabric can survive around 25,000 revolutions. These pants easily passed 100,000 cycles of wear, and even then the fabric had to be checked with a magnifying glass to see if any fibres had broken. None had.
The pants stretch in every direction
Despite being insanely tough, the pants stretch in every direction and there’s no move you can pull where they’d restrict you. Apart from the reinforced ankles, the entire pants are made from the same high tech fabric with four way stretch. And every seam has been engineered to follow the way your legs move whether you’re climbing a mountain, setting up camp, or descending into a volcano for fun.
The pants are water repellent
The surface of the 100 Year Pants is water repellent and fast drying, so a rain shower will just roll off them. If you’re out in heavy rain for a prolonged time, the three-layered construction of the fabric means that water will take much longer to get through than your average pair of pants.
How we built a pair of pants to last 100 years
Designing and building a pair of pants that can last for 100 years is an exercise in no expense spared craftsmanship. And it’s as much about what you can’t see as what you can. It starts with bespoke materials created in the most cutting-edge fabric mill in Switzerland, before being followed by hundreds of separate construction processes – from hand testing every stainless steel press stud, to stitching every critical seam twice with a heavy duty thread, to reinforcing the lining of the pockets.
Four giant zipped pockets to carry your gear
There are two large bellows pockets on the thighs that can open out to hold anything from your breakfast to a small machete. Each pocket has a concealed, waterproof zipper and fastens with stainless steel press studs. Above them are two large zipped side pockets. While the lining in normal pockets is made out of cotton, ours is made from a stretch fabric with reinforced seams so your hand doesn’t end up going through them like it normally does in your jeans.
How the pants tighten at the ankles to fit
You’ll find a military grade belt tape on the bottom hem of both legs that attaches to four metal press studs. The belt is heavy duty, elasticated and almost impossible to snap. To tighten the pants you pull the belt out of its garage and attach it to one of the four press studs, giving you four different settings of tightness depending on what you need. On its tightest setting the belt attaches to all four press studs so it can’t come undone on the move, and there’s no spare loop to catch on anything.
You won’t kick a hole through these ankles
It’s the inside of the ankles that always takes a kicking during any adventure, so we’ve used a material even tougher than the pants themselves to stop you accidentally kicking a hole in the ankles or even putting a crampon through them. It’s made from a highly abrasion resistant rip-proof fabric with an ultra-tough polyurethane membrane. It’s attached with heavy duty bonding to give extra strength to the seams and is absurdly technical for a detail at the bottom of a pair of pants - but that’s why these are 100 Year Pants.
You can open up the leg vents when it’s hot
At the bottom of each leg you’ll find a heavy duty, fully bonded, waterproof zip that lets you open the pants to just below the knee. Concealed behind an extra layer of protective fabric, the zip is solid and chunky so it’s easy to operate even if you’re soaking or freezing. In the heat you can undo all the press studs at the base of the pants to open up the whole leg and roll the pants up. But if you’re just looking for extra airflow you can keep the bottom of the pants fastened and still open up the entire leg vent.
The seat of the pants is designed to last 200 years
We've reinforced the seat of the pants with two layers of material. The maths is pretty simple. If it takes at least 100 years to go through one layer, it should take 200 years of sitting to go through two. The single back pocket on the seat of the pants fastens with two stainless steel press studs and a storm flap to stop anything falling out when you sit down or run.
Even the waistband is custom engineered
The fly fastens with a zip, a stainless steel press stud with a rubberised cover and a second lockable press stud. The waistband has five belt loops, and the two at the front come with a small reinforced loop underneath for clipping on extra gear. The waistband is constructed from two layers of fabric that are bonded together for extra strength. We created tiny perforated holes in the layer of glue that bonds them together so the waistband can still stretch and air can still flow through it.
The watch pocket can start a fire
The 100 Year Pants come with a watch pocket just under the waistband. It’s fitted with a black nylon paracord loop so you can clip anything from a flashlight to a compass onto it. If you cut open the paracord you’ll find threads of kindling inside it, so if you’re out in nature, need to start a fire and have nothing else to hand, this will help you do it.
Built in the SpaceX of fabric mills
Every pair of 100 Year Pants starts its life at the same space age factory in Switzerland. Based in the mountains, Schoeller is to material technology what SpaceX is to rockets – a bunch of people and machines quietly making the future happen faster. While fire resistant clothing has historically been based on heavy, uncomfortable, chemical laden materials, Schoeller created the world’s first intelligent material that can be worn everyday then alter its behaviour in the face of fire.
