State of the Pants - July 21, 2020

Oh have I got an exciting update for you today!

The Pants

The first round of prototypes are complete! Alpine Parrot's first hiking pants now exist in sizes 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, and 24 🎉 Each one is also slightly different than the other (with varying combinations of button, zipper, and contrast color), to help narrow down the final design for production. It feels so good to finally have these in hand, ready to be shared with the fit testing team (as shown in the awesome photo with fit tester, Kristine, below!).

Also, a big announcement: the pants have a name! The inaugural hiking pants shall now be referred to as the Ponderosa Pants! Why Ponderosa? First, the Ponderosa Pine is the most widely distributed pine tree in North America, where it can be found throughout the west coast in mountain areas. The word "ponderosa" is also Spanish in origin, translated as "powerful," "thoughtful," and "sensible." I have put a lot of thought and care into the design of these pants, and all I want is for those who wear it to feel the freedom of taking up space in the outdoors. I hope you enjoy the name as much as I do!

The Fit Testers

Now that the first six pairs of pants exist, I'm so excited to share that fit testing has begun!!

As of this writing, TEN fit testers have tried on the first round of Alpine Parrot pants 🤩

Here are some reactions from our testers:

• "This fabric is so soft!"
• "The belt is great!"
• "It's so easy to move around in these - I feel like I could do yoga."
• "My body feels secure"
• "OMG THESE POCKETS ARE THE PERFECT SIZE"
• "They fit! That's never happened before!"
• "They look like the shape of my body."
• "These aren't going to fall off when I'm scrambling."
• "I thought they were going to be too warm, but they're actually really breathable."
• "I barely noticed they were on."
• "Can I keep these?"

Alas, I had to (very lovingly) request the return of all the sizes, as I have more amazing people lined up to try them on. But the first impressions were SO positive that I've already started to make adjustments to address some of the common issues across all the fit testers: the leg is a bit wide for most shapes, there's maybe a little too much contrast stitching, and it'd be nice to have a zippered pocket. There were also some general fit issues across the board—but hey. That's why it's critical to test on a variety of women!

What's Next

While ten fit tests are good, 20-30 would be even better! So I'm currently working on a way to (carefully, safely) run another set of fit tests in other cities in the US! I'm willing to drive up to 10 hours from the San Francisco Bay Area to run a week's worth of fit testing: do you have a community of folks (or think there might be one) who are interested in testing the Ponderosa Pants? Let me know! Possible cities include Portland, OR, and Salt Lake City, UT. What other places should I put on the list?

Meanwhile, I'm continuing to tweak the pattern, source fabric (I'm working on multiple color options now!), and spread the word on Alpine Parrot. Stay tuned as we continue on this journey towards the perfect hiking pants!