World Wide Sportsman Gulf Breeze Convertible Pants

Competitive, value-priced convertible pants play hard and stand up to the activity. Options help you meet the demand of the day: long pant, capri, or shorts.

Several years ago, I went on a pretty exhaustive search for women's zip-off hiking pants that would fit two criteria: my size 18 body and my tight budget. Besides being pricey, the Columbia hiking pants just did not fit me, among several other top brand pants. I finally stumbled onto the World Wide Sportsman brand pants at Bass Pro Shops. I suspect this is Bass Pro's in-house brand.

I love these pants. These are my go-to pants for hiking and kayaking. "Convertible" means not only do they zip off to shorts, they also can roll up and be turned into capris with handy fabric button tabs. The fabric has peach-skin, soft to touch finish, not the slick feeling nylon like some pants are made of.

My only real quibble with the pants' design are the back pockets that have small flaps with velcro closures. Those pockets NEVER stay closed, especially when I bend over or sit down. But the real flaw is that the velcro should have been reversed in sewing so that the tab that gets revealed when pulled apart is the soft side not the hook side. Because the hook side is what is revealed when the pockets gap, that hook tab catches on the fabric of the tail of my shirt. I just live with it.

Since it's been about four years since I bought the pants, they have been redesigned slightly. I was just thinking today that I need to buy another pair. From the website, it appears the pockets have been reconfigured, but they still have the long/capri/shorts options in the design which is what makes them so functional. Hopefully the fit has not been tweaked. We'll see.

That's me on the left in my World Wide Sportsman convertible pants, on the way to The Hike Inn in north Georgia.

Background

I wear these pants hiking and kayaking, and for outdoor days that start off cool but will end up hot. I've even worn them hiking in temps in the 40s or colder with a thin base layer underneath. I've had these pants for four years.