Men In Tights?

[Elliott Wolin]

“Where are the Men,
The Men in Tights?
Woman in tights are everywhere,
Left and right!”

(sung to the Robin Hood movie tune)

During a recent two-week trip to RMNP I informally surveyed what everyone wore on their legs.  Over 90% of women under 35 wore tights, compared to maybe 5% of women over 35.  In the two weeks I only saw two men wearing tights under shorts, although maybe they just wore long underwear.

Percentages seemed independent of weather conditions, even when it was hot and I was down to a t-shirt and shorts.

I realize some men swear by tights although they look mighty warm to me (I wear shorts until it gets pretty cold).

If tights are great then why don’t men wear them more often?  And if they are not so good, why do so many young women wear them.

One obvious answer is fashion trumping function.  What do you think?

 

[Paul S.]

It is fashion trumping function but I think it’s an indirect influence.  Women wear tights all the time in their daily fashion, so they are well aware of the benefits of tights.  Men on the other hand never wear tights in daily fashion so don’t know what they’re missing.

I recall when I got my first 4-way stretch soft shell pants and being amazed at the mobility.  I exclaimed to my wife, “Now I know why yoga pants are so popular!”  Mobility is huge, but tights also offer superior chaffing resistance and less cloth to get in the way.  Knowing what I’m missing, I still make a compromise due to fashion/decency to wear long-inseam underwear with stretchy soft shell pants over the top.

[Nick Gatel]

Hardly a fashion statement but I (person in the middle) am wearing Cap 1’s under my shorts. Also a wind shirt under my down vest. It was a cold and windy morning. Who do you think had the best thermal regulation and the easiest time of adjusting layers as we walked and the day got warmer?

If you look closely at the other hikers, you will see their pants are being hit by the wind coming from left to right, same with my shorts.

[Sean B]

Elliott,

I hope you don’t mind me side-barring a bit on this but after two weeks in RMNP, did you have a favorite hike that you did? I will be there for 1 day next week and planned to hike Mills Lake unless you have a different suggestion. This will be my first time in the area and will need to consider difficulty, altitude, and temperature as my wife has never been in the area and is a fairweather hiker.

That said, I sometimes wear tights (REI lightweight base layers) with shorts over them while backpacking/camping. If you see me in them anywhere else besides the hills, I have been kidnapped. If I don’t have shorts on over the tights, it’s too late.

[Tipi Walter]

I wouldn’t call them tights but instead call them Leggings.  “Tights” infers some type of ballet outfit.

I’ve been wearing leggings under shorts since I first starting backpacking 40 years ago.  Then it was the blue polypropylene and later capilene and then merino and back to capilene and now a return to merino, Icebreakers to be exact.

In the winter I don’t carry standard pants except for rain pants and so when it’s cold I’m usually in my “hippie hiker” look, see Nick’s pic.  See below pic—(big pack—18 day food load)—

Only drawback is putting holes in my nice $100 leggings due to brush etc.

 

[Roger Caffin]

I am not that keen on tights: i prefer a bit of ventilation. Mind you, skiing is another matter.

Cheers

[Franco Darioli]

Not my favourite attire but men in tights is still better than men in gites.

[Catherine Harley]

Leggings and shorts are ubiquitous in New Zealand – on men and women. If you are tramping in ‘proper pants/trousers’ then you are likely a visitor.  Tramping is close to a ‘national pastime’ in NZ – I guess they know what they are upto ??  :-).

[Jerry Adams]

“Where are the Men,
The Men in Tights?
Woman in tights are everywhere,
Left and right!”

Trying to compete with Doug

Futile…

[Ryan Jordan]

There’s this:

https://backpackinglight.com/backpacking-tights-tougas-part-1/

When it gets cold, I’m a huge fan of tights/leggings.

I “grew up” mountaineering and backpacking in the PNW (Olympics / Cascades) in the 80s and tights under running shorts was the uniform du jour in the Seattle Mountaineers etc. So I have a soft spot for that uniform and find it a great conversation opener in Montana coffee shops.

But, as @tipiwalter said, bushwhacking = damage and that alone gives rise to the key benefit of a “trekking pant” in spite of what NZers say about touristy fashion.

[Justin Baker]

My layering system is short tights right above the knee and then I can layer full length tights on top of my short tights. Tights on top of tights. I’m not about to take off my nylon shorts to put tights on underneath and then take my shorts off again to take the tights off when I’m overheating.

I get the feeling that putting on shorts over tights is more of a modesty thing, but also if you are wearing tights/leggings with delicate fabric then wearing shorts over protects them when sitting down on sharp rocks and logs.

[Katherine .]

Age >35, I’m in the 5%. Up until recently I only wore tights if I’m hiking in a place where there are a lot of similarly underdressed runners around – my winter day hikes.  Now I’ve discovered *dresses* and felt much more at ease modesty-wise wearing tights in combo on my last non-runner-trail.

 

[Roger Caffin]

Interesting that so few (apart from Tipi & Ryan) comment on damage to tights. We (Sue & I) wear tough longs in the Australian scrub just to survive. I have seen shorts wearers emerge with bleeding legs. Our ‘lawyer vine’ is covered in little barbs. Tights would be trashed. I guess it all depends on the country.

Cheer

 

[David Noll]

I live in Minnesota, backpack a lot in Wyoming, and tights and Skeeters are not a good mix.

[Jerry Adams]

Supplex pants work better.  Or there are many similar pants available – tight weave nylon that has a cloth like feel.

More resistant to damage from brush or rocks.  Bug proof.  Sun proof.  Looser is better because there’s an air space that adds to warmth and ventilation.

[Tipi Walter]

Roger says—

Interesting that so few (apart from Tipi & Ryan) comment on damage to tights. We (Sue & I) wear tough longs in the Australian scrub just to survive. I have seen shorts wearers emerge with bleeding legs. Our ‘lawyer vine’ is covered in little barbs. Tights would be trashed. I guess it all depends on the country.

It’s a balancing act between the cold and the brush.  We have trails full of briars and sawbriars and blowdowns which on occasion trash both the legs and leggings.  I can endure a lot of bare leg abuse and save my leggings, it really depends on the cold.  If frigid on a nasty trail I’ll slap my rain pants over my leggings to stay warm and protect the leggings.  Good rain pants can withstand briars but not so much blowdown snags.  I prefer bare legs for 80% of all my hiking—

Get ready boys for some fun backpackaging on the South Fork Citico trail.  Better a minor wound than torn merino.

Rain pants over leggings snagged by a blowdown stub.

Field fixed!!

Oops, nice smartwool sock bitten by another nasty blowdown.  Field repaired later in my tent.

A nice pair of North Face rain pants snagged and ripped on a blowdown on the Fodderstack Ridge trail back in 2010.

[Brad Rogers]

Tipi –  I wore shorts on a backpacking trip to Joyce Kilmer Wilderness once and paid the price.   I still prefer shorts if I know the trails are maintained well, but for off trail or wilderness areas (unmaintained) I prefer supplex pants.

[David Chenault]

Tights have too much spandex (ergo; they dry slow) and are fragile.  Didn’t take much experimenting for me to give up on them for backpacking.  I do like a close fitting, light (<200 grams/meter), low spandex (<5%) pant, which is tough to find.

Kiwis can get away with polypro and shorts because sandflies, unlike mosquitos, don’t bite through them.

[Ethan A.]

Not a fan of tights for summer, spring or fall hiking – prefer the ventilation, cooling and abrasion-resistance of pants. Also I find them too hot when the sun is out, especially when most are black. Haven’t worn shorts over leggings (Helly Hansen polypro) since the Boy Scouts/grade school, though I have friends who love this combo.

In addition it’s easy to find hiking pants these days with enough stretch so that there’s no mobility issues. I can do every stretch imaginable in my 3 season hiking pants.

I do use windproof Craft tights for cold winter running and X country skiing. Also all my and my wife’s winter pants are semi-fit and stretch offering many of the benefits of tights with more abrasion protection and some room for light layers.

Only issue with my 3 season hiking pants is that the spandex makes them a bit hot for hot summer hiking, so looking for a pair of light but tough hot weather summer pants without spandex.

[Diane Pinkers]

The older ladies don’t care to be seen publicly in Spandex, if they have any sort of middle age spread. I wear tights or spandex shorts under a skirt now, for chafe protection. The skirt is for modesty and pockets, and I have the lightest weight one I can find. Spandex seems to dry faster in our area than nylon pants, or at least it is warmer to wear when wet.  Infinitely preferred over wet nylon that  chafes.

[Roger Caffin]

Even our Taslan or Supplex suffers sometimes:

But it was a good trip.

Cheers

[Jerry Adams]

you mean Taslan/Supplex?

[Roger Caffin]

Alzheimers …

Thanks, fixed.

[Jerry Adams]

I am well aware of Alzheimer’s, not totally there yet though : )

The spandex reference was confusing though because a lot of Supplex/Taslan like fabric pants have a little Spandex in them too…

[Roger Caffin]

MY Alzheimers…
Yeah, my confusion. We use Spandex or Lycra for some running gaiters – and for ski tights of course :)

And to stay on topic – I have seen a few shredded tights coming out of the bush here. Mind you … there was a time we took the boring fire trail around, while a girl (from overseas) chose to take the ‘direct’ route through the bush in her ‘tough’ cotton longs. We met again as she emerged back onto the fire trail – she was now wearing shorts. All that was left, I gather, but that was cotton.

Cheers

 

[Author]

Posts