Designing the Venture Trail Trouser

The Venture Trail Trouser started with a frustration. Every technical trouser we could find either performed well and looked terrible, or looked decent and fell apart the moment you took them off tarmac. We couldn't find anything we'd actually want to wear into town after a day out. The brief we gave ourselves was simple: make a trouser that works on a ridge, works in a gallery, and doesn't announce itself as outdoor clothing from across the room. The fabric took the longest to get right. We went through eleven samples before landing on the stretch-canvas blend — 72% cotton, 24% nylon, 4% elastane. Cotton gives it the weight and drape that makes it look like proper clothing. The nylon and elastane give it the durability and movement it needs on uneven terrain. The patterning was the other major puzzle. Articulated knees sound like a small detail but they make an enormous difference to how a trouser moves. We went through six versions of the knee panel before it stopped pulling when you raised your leg. The relaxed-through-the-seat, tapered-from-the-knee silhouette came from looking at workwear as much as outdoor clothing. Painters' trousers, Japanese field trousers, old military surplus. Things made to move in, that happened to look good. We're still not done. The next version will have a slightly cleaner waistband and we're looking at a water-resistant finish for the outer layer. But the current version is something we're proud of — a trouser that does what it says without shouting about it.