Trew Gear Cooper Pants Review

Overview of the COOPER’S Specs

Who are the Cooper Most Suited To?

The Cooper are best suited to someone who:

• Needs good waterproofing;
• but not necessarily a lot of extra warmth; and
• have a mid level budget;
• prefers a shell they can layer underneath of; and
• likes to have plenty of functionality in their snow pants

COOPER PANTS TESTING DetailS & RESULTS

WATERPROOFING

Waterproofing rating: 20,000mm

Seam Taping: Fully Taped

Zipper Waterproofing: Covered, Water Resistant Zips 

Trew Gear are based in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). Anyone who has been to the PNW or lives here, outside of summer, will know that this means rain - and lot's of it!

Trew pride themselves on producing outerwear that performs well in PNW conditions. So, waterproofing is key to fulfilling that. The minimum waterproofing rating that Trew outerwear gets is 20,000mm for this reason. 

So how did the Cooper do? 

Results

The specs suggest that the Cooper should have very good waterproofing with a 20,000mm rating and fully taped seams, and we found the results to be consistent with that. 

While we didn't get them out in any heavy rain on the slopes, we did test them in our in-house shower test and they came through really well (more details on how we test this to come...).

Keeping the Snow Out

Gaiters

There aren't any hooks or eyelets or anything to hook them on. But they are nice and tight and didn't ever feel like they were going to come off for me. Especially with BOA boots - what they'd need to do to get over that BOA coil would be pretty extreme!

There's no zippers or snaps to loosen them up or anything, but I've always found those kind of redundant - and they're nice and stretchy, so no problems stretching them over BOAs or stretching them back. 

Some pants (686 are the only ones I've seen so far) have holes for the BOA to go through, so you can adjust your BOA without taking the Gaitor off. These don't have that, but I think it's a pretty cool idea - so far only 686 pants have had them, that I've seen. 

Jacket to Pants Connections

This is one of the only things that these don't have. There isn't a way to connect Trew Gear's jackets to their pants. In truth, I never think of doing this myself, even on the outerwear I have that has this feature, but some might like using this feature.

BREATHABILITY

Fabric Breathability: 20,000g

This is a hard one to measure in an objective way. But I did hike the park on one of the days I was up in these - and it was a warm day too. Early season and there wasn't much snow around, so I was sessioning boxes/rails and hiking back up. 

I was sweating up a storm for sure, but I found that the pants wicked that sweat away well. I wasn't uncomfortably wet on the inside of my legs from sweating and when I got home I didn't notice they were wet at all. So, from that, I'd say they do a good job of being breathable. 

Venting

They have inner thigh vents (which I forgot to unzip that day, which would have helped as well!) - which are around 10.5" (27cm) in length, which will also help to cool you down on warmer days. 

Unlike on some pants the vents weren't mesh lined - so they just open right out onto the skin. 

Liner

While they do have a liner, the liner isn't insulated. They should do a good job for most situations. For a long backcountry hike on a warmer day, you might be asking for more, but for most situations they should be fine breathability-wise. 

WARMTH

As mentioned above they have a liner, which helps to give them a bit of warmth, but they aren't going to be super warm pants. If you're out on a really cold day or ride very cold conditions, you'll want to layer underneath. 

Of the 3 days I had them out, the first day was quite cold on the lift - the other 2 days were very warm. I found it was all I needed on the first day - on the lift for moments I could have done with a base layer, but that was just from the wind. As soon as I got off the chairlift, there was no need for it (though I do run warm). 

It wasn't a super cold day or anything, just a cold wind on the chairlift. 

FIT

Now, I probably could have gone medium, but I find I like to size up a little bit. I like to go a little baggier than typical. And while with the waist uncinched the pants would drop right down, I could cinch them up tight enough to hold fine. 

Waist Cincher

You can cinch the waist to help them fit, if you aren't exactly on the measurement of the pants. On the large you are able to go from roughly 39" to around 36.5" (by my measurements), but you could probably go a little tighter, if you had the hook and loop closure overhanging a little bit. 

The hook and loop closure on the waist cincher seems to be of a decent quality. For the Cooper pants this adjustment is on the inside of the waist of the pants, which I like. Some have it on the outside. 

Measurements/Fit

Thigh: That inner thigh vent that had no mesh made it easier to try to measure the thigh circumference. I got around 28", but won't have been that accurate - measuring around a slippery liner like that wasn't easy. So I am happy to go with the 27.5" measurement that Trew have on their specs. With my 22.5" thighs, this left plenty of room for movement in my thigh area.  

Crotch: I find that a lot of modern day pants have a crotch that is too high for my comfort levels. But the relaxed fit of the Cooper sat well for me. It was low enough to be comfortable but no so low as to look like my pants were falling down. Got this one just right, for me anyway. 

Crotch measurement (which I measure from the top of the waist of the pants to where the seam ends) = 15.75" (40cm). 

There is a crotch gusset too - which should help with both durability and mobility. 

Mobility

I found a good amount of mobility in these pants and found they didn't restrict my movements at all. 

Stretch Fabric?: There is a little stretch in the fabric. It's not overly stretchy but there's definitely some subtle stretch, which helps with mobility. 

I have other pants/bibs with me with noticeably more stretch but another pair that has less stretch. But the fabric feels tougher than it does stretchy overall and most pants/bibs I have with me are more stretchy than these. 

Articulation: It looks/feels like there is articulation in the knees of the pants.

Had I gone with the Medium, they may not have had as good a mobility, but in the large they had all the mobility I would ever need. 

COMFORT

I found the pants nice and comfortable overall. They were roomy enough for me, the liner felt nice and they weren't too heavy. The crotch was low enough (I often find the crotch on pants to be a bit tight) - but that may have had something to do with sizing up a little. 

PREDICTED DURABILITY

So while the fabric isn't overly stretch it does feel tough. 

They use a 200D (denier) x 320D fabric. What that really means is a bit beyond my understanding of fabric, but those are higher numbers than are typical (for those that publish the denier of their fabric) - so they should be tougher than most. And the fabric does have a tough feel to it. 

They use an "Oxford Weave" - again, this doesn't mean much to me, but apparently this is used in canvas work pants - so again, used focused on toughness. 

Reinforcement

There doesn't appear to be any reinforcement on the seat and knee areas. But with an already tough overall fabric, it seems less necessary. 

Reinforced Cuffs: It does have these. What Trew Gear call "tough cuff". They put what they describe as an "abrasion-resistant" fabric at the bottom of the cuffs to reinforce that area. I like this, because I'm always getting that part of pants scuffed up, even when I roll them up sometimes (see below). 

Bottom Hem Drawcord: There's no drawcord to pull up the bottom of the pants, which some have (usually operated from within the pocket you can pull up the bottom hem, to stop the cuffs from dragging on the ground, especially good for when you're wearing them without snowboard boots. 

But you can just do the old fashioned roll up, if they're long enough to drag on the ground (which is what I did with them).  

POCKETS

Total Pockets: 4

Hand warmer pockets: 2 (zip opening 7" (18cm) | dimensions roughly 5" (12cm) x 8" (20cm).

Back Pockets: 1 (zip opening 7" (18cm) | dimensions roughly 4" (10cm) x 4" (10cm).   

Cargo Pockets: 1 (zip opening 7" (18cm) | dimensions roughly 7" (18cm) x 7" (18cm). 

Cargo pocket has a flap covering it, with hook and loop closure. 

There aren't any key loops or anything in the pockets (though I'd typically use a jacket pocket for this, it's always good to have other options) but the zippers do seem like good quality. 

TOTAL Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

While there's nothing that makes the Cooper Pant stand out, there's also nothing that Trew Gear have really forgotten - there are no glaring weaknesses.

Often we see pants with great specs only to be let down by critically taped seams or missing waist cinch adjustments or lacking in pockets or making you look like a skier from 1985!

But the Cooper manage to be reasonably priced and posses all the features and functionality most are likely to need, all with a good level of predicted durability as well.

Yes you can get pants with better breathability and waterproofing, but you're also likely to pay more for them and some of those won't have the durability you see with the Cooper.