Bergans Moa Pirate Pant

The Bergans of Norway Moa Pirate Pants are a nice, all-around functional garment. The capris style provides more coverage than shorts, but is still great for staying cool in hot and muggy environments. I especially liked the fabric for its lightweight, stretchy and quick-dry properties.

On the downside, it has a rather paper-like feel and makes a considerable "swooshing" noise when rubbed together. Fit, styling, and construction are good and on par with a higher price-point.

Manufacturer Claims:

Lightweight and comfortable 3/4 hiking and mountain pants with straight legs and thigh pockets. The pants are made in wind and water-repellent softshell material with 4-way stretch. They have good breathability and dry quickly. Product contains bluesign® approved fabrics. Belt loops. Articulated knee sections. Use: Specially developed for Hiking & Outdoor. Also suitable for Lifestyle & Travel.

Bergans has joined bluesign®, which is a voluntary initiative among textile companies. bluesign® works to ensure that all textile suppliers improve their standards of production and comply with their stringent standards of HSE. If the standard is complied with, suppliers may sell their fabrics as 'bluesign® certified'. This offers the reassurance that these fabrics have been produced in accordance with the most stringent environmental certifications available. Material 87% polyester, 13% elastane

Weight: Weight-weenies might be interested to note that my sample weighed in at around 6 oz. For comparison, my lightweight hiking pants weigh around 10 oz. and the ultralight thru-hiker's favorite of lined-running shorts weigh around 3 oz, so these line up in the middle (weights are all in a woman's size small). The weight makes them pretty suitable for backpacking and travel.

Fit & Comfort: This is a pretty subjective topic, so bear in mind that I am reporting on how the capris fit my unique dimensions. Admittedly, I have a hard time with the fit of many pants/shorts because I have relatively no hips but a somewhat disproportionally curvy seat. Often pants are too loose around my waist, tend to ride low, but are then too tight in the back.

I was sent a size Small in this sample. Normally I wear between a size 4 and 6 in women’s pants, so a size small was definitely in order. I did find the waist slightly loose (nothing a belt couldn’t fix) but overall the fit was good. The stretchy material should also help to adjust to a variety of body shapes.

The only other characteristic I noted is that the knees felt a little tight, for my preference. Now, it must be said, capris pants are my favorite style for daily life in south Florida and are even a part of my standard work outfit, since I am most often outside doing stuff on boats. As such, I am already somewhat particular about capris fit, based on a style made by another prominent outdoors clothing manufacturer. Aptly titled the ‘Pedal Pushers’, this brand has a split-knee, asymmetric design, allowing for a front and back flap to be rolled up and thus a very unrestricted fit around the knee.

If I hadn’t worn such a design nearly every day for the past 5 years, I would probably find the Moa Pirate Pants perfectly comfortable. This design does boast an articulated knee, and that combined with the stretch in the material is sufficient for natural movement.

As you can see from some of my pictures, I was able to do a wide range of activities while wearing the capris. This included biking, hiking, swamp exploring, and a bit of alligator/crocodile/goose wrastlin’, just to round things out and meet the high expectations of fellow Trailspace members (rest assured, no live reptiles were harmed in the making of this review and the goose walked away with only a hurt ego:)

Adjustability: These capris have a zipper and sturdy button at the waist, but otherwise there is little adjustability. They do have nice, large belt loops, both good for a belt and hanging gadgets.

Water Resistance & Breathability: Manufacturer claims of water-repellency seem a bit incongruous, given that the fabric is so lightweight and thin. The material does wet through rather easily, but absorbs very little water and dries just as easily.

I spent some time wading and wallowing in cypress swamps, which allowed me to test just how comfortable they are when saturated. I did not notice much of a difference between when the fabric was dry or completely soaked, so I would say that breathability and wicking properties are good as well. Mesh pockets help in this regard, too. As capris, and their counterpart shorts, are meant to be worn in warmer conditions, such were the limits of my testing.

Construction & Durability: The fabric and stitching performed as expected through a variety of conditions and activities. I wore them through overgrown brush, water obstacles, etc.

The one complaint I have is the color of the sample I was provided. I generally don’t put much stock in color but the light purple did stain rather easily. Perhaps "soft lavender/funky purple" was never intended for swamp wallowing. If given a choice, and knowing my propensity for getting dirty during my activities, I would choose a darker color.

Additionally, given its lightweight properties, the fabric has a very "paper-like" feel. This does not detract from performance, comfort, or durability, but does lead, I believe, to a higher-than-usual amount of noise when the pant legs rub together. It’s similar to the noise that rain pants make.

Personally, I didn’t even notice; rather it was my husband that pointed out that I was “wearing noisy pants!” Take that for what it’s worth.

Function: Despite a rather simple feature set, all components work well. The zipper slides easily, the button holds, and the mesh pockets are large enough to accommodate most smartphones. Even the zippered side pocket is generous in size. Note, there are no back pockets, just the two front and one zippered side.

Conditions: I tested the Moa Capris over the summer (roughly three months) in Florida. I wore them causally while out-and-about the town and for a wide-variety of outdoor activities (as listed previously).

In summary, I would recommend these pants for a variety of warm-weather activities. I liked the fabric very much and would be interested in similar products made from the same materials.

Both men's and women's styles of the Moa shorts, pants, and Pirate pants (capris) are available. Different color options of 'Aluminum' and 'Pumpkin' are currently available for the capris (though I've seen images of these in black, which would be my preferred color---perhaps these are a previous year's offering).