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I was lucky enough to get The Trewth Bib for my uniform. Bibs are definitely making a comeback, I am seeing more people rocking them on the hill and in the bar, and working in a ski shop we've had many people come in looking for bibs this year.
These pants are amazing. Side zips to the knees make getting in and out of the pants easy. The kangaroo pouch plus chest pocket are ample for carrying the goods. A hip pocket on each side and a knee pocket on each leg offer enough room for everything else. Unfortunately there are no rear pockets. I always put my wallet in my butt pocket and it's kinda strange for me not having it back there.
The quality is up there as well. The fabric is on the stiff side, but all the seams are taped and the fabric is thick. YKK zippers will keep you dry. The cuffs are made of this special durable fabric to avoid abrasions.
There are two major drawbacks with these pants. The suspender part of the bibs are velcro. Last year they had large backpacky clips which I liked much better. The other drawback is the fly. The fabric overlaps a alot. Basically you weewee has to come out of your left thigh in order to comfortably take a leak. The fly is also pretty small, they could have added another inch to the zipper. Combine that with the stiff fabric and it's like being in a guillotine. The side zips make it very easy for accessing your firehose.
Warmth: These pants are a shell. Shells are not warm. They do block the wind very well. Layer properly beneath to keep warm. If you get too warm, unzip the whole sides and cool down quickly.
Waterproof: I don't believe Trew supplies a rating, but they are definitely at least 20k/20k. There is no water getting through these pants.
Overall bibs are great, and Trew makes one of the best. Watch the beer farts though, they will waft up right into your jacket. Get on the hype train and get yourself some bibs!
Merchant
Sale Price
Retail Price
evo
$219.99
$499.00
Trew Gear Trewth Primo 3L Bibs Men's 2024 in Yellow size X-Small | Nylon
evo
$274.99
$499.00
Trew Gear Trewth Primo 3L Tall Bibs Men's 2024 in Orange size Small
evo
$274.99
$499.00
Trew Gear Trewth Primo 3L Tall Bibs Men's 2024 Orange size Small
evo
$219.99
$499.00
Trew Gear Trewth Primo 3L Short Bibs Men's 2024 Orange size 2X-Large
evo
$274.99
$499.00
Trew Gear Trewth Primo 3L Tall Bibs Men's 2024 in Blue size X-Small
Skier Bio
6ft
170lbs
Waist 33in
Skiers Leg Length 40in
Size used Large
Weight of product 880 grams
Colour used Black
Days used Over 100 days
Product Materials
Private Reserve 3L
140D nylon shell
Dermizax EV membrane
20D nylon tricot lining
SuperFabric Cuffs
Product Measurements
Inseam 31.5in
Waist 42in
Top of bibs down to bottom of leg 52in
Features
Waterproof Rating 20,000mm
Breathable Rating 20,000mm
Seams Fully Tapped
Pockets. 1 large chest flap style Velcro pocket, two large cargo thigh pockets, 2 side hand pockets with waterproof zips, 1 small zipped chest pocket
2 large ¾ length, 2 way zipped thigh vents 25.5in
2 adjustable Velcro suspenders
Gripper Elastic Gaiters
Limited Lifetime Manufacturer Warranty
Initial Impressions
Sizing and Fit
To get this review going I’ll start with the sizing and fit of these bibs. At 6ft and 170lbs I went for the size large which for me is perfect. They have just the right length In the leg so they cover most of your ski boot but not too much that you end up walking on them. I would say they have a relaxed freeride fit. By this I mean they are not the minimalist alpine touring fit you see but by no means a super baggy style you see people wearing. They fit nicely between the two and look pretty good in my opinion.
The advantage of having this relaxed fit is you are able to layer underneath them without them becoming constrictive. As I write this review I’m able to get them comfortably over a pair of jeans without them being restrictive. The advantage of this is if you feel the cold you can whack a couple of base layers underneath them no problem as they are only a shell and have no built in insulation. Another perk of this fit is you are able to comfortably able to get padded shorts underneath them. I admit they’re not for everyone but after 2 broken coccyx’s I wear them out of fear of not being able to sit down for a month.
As you may have noticed the waist size seems to be pretty large but I haven’t found this to be an issue at all. This is because it allows you to wear a variety of base layers or midlayers underneath them to keep them protected from any snow getting in. I’ve been able to comfortably get a lightweight down jacket underneath them as well as baggy hoodies and have still had full range of motion without feeling like the michelin man. If however you don’t like the excess space, they have loops around the waist for you to slot a belt.
Now for the actual bib part. On me, the top of the bibs at the front comes up to my nipples. At the back it reaches the middle of my back or just beneath my shoulder blades. When paired with a jacked I can’t imagine it being possible for any snow to make it this high up. If it does please let me know where you are skiing! As well as this I could comfortably wear a transceiver over the top of these without it feeling uncomfortable.
Waterproofness and Breathability
Trew claim that these bibs have a waterproof rating of 20,000mm and I would agree with this. Last season I spend entire days skiing in either very wet snow or rain, sometimes all week. During this I had no water make it through and I remained dry all day. I was suitably impressed as my friends I was skiing with began to get soggy before the day had ended which was grim for them. The DWR coating on the bibs did a good job at beading water allowing it to run off rather than saturating the face fabric. The advantage of this is it keeps the bibs breathing well as if the face fabric becomes saturated to breathability of the bibs deteriorates rapidly. Towards the end of the season some water began to soak into the face fabric in places but I am confident that once I wash them to reinvigorate the coating they will be back to the way they were.
Trew also claim that the bibs have a breathability rating of 20,000mm. While this may be the case I found that in warm weather or when exerting myself a lot the bibs did get pretty warm. As these bibs aren’t air permeable and work in the same way that Gore Tex and other waterproof membranes work this is expected though. This is because these fabrics require heat and moisture to build up inside the product before it can diffuse through. However the two huge thigh vents down the outside of each leg meant that if I did get too hot I could just open them up which worked very well in regulating my temperature. By doing this over the whole season I never ended the day with legs wet from sweat or got cold from sweat.
Use
I was able to ski in the Trewth Bibs in pretty much every condition you could imagine from freezing cold blizzards right through to scorching spring conditions. Through all of this not once did they fail me and I was suitably impressed. The people I was living with quickly realised I was in love with these bibs. However like I mentioned above when discussing their breathability I would definitely say Trewth Bibs are more comfortable in colder conditions even though they are just a shell.
For predominantly lift served skiing they are great. They offer great mobility due to their design and are bombproof. However if you’re into your touring then they may not be the best option. This is because firstly they do tend to run warm and they aren’t the lightest pants. The longest hike I did in them was an hour long slog to the top of a peak and I did get hot in them. I’m confident that if I was in a lighter more touring orientated pant then this wouldn’t have been as much as an issue. While I did open up the thigh vents to cool myself down, any wind would go straight through to my legs, which some people may not like. I also managed to fill the leg up with snow once when my foot broke through a bit of crust and went straight down a hole. If the vents were closed this wouldn’t have been an issue. I must say thought that as a person my body temperature seems to resemble a furnace and even when it’s really cold I barely wear any layers. Those of you who feel the cold much more may find that you don’t get as hot in them.
Durability
I’d say that the area where the Trewth Bibs really stand out compared to any other piece of outerwear I’ve owned is their durability. While you may hear outerwear companies saying it a lot, these things really are bullet proof. In short I abused these things last season. From forcing myself through dense brush and trees to falling on ice, rocks and rails after all of that I could only find one, 1cm tear. One tear! Past pants I’ve used look like the bottom of legs have taken a hit from a grenade after only a couple of weeks. This is down to the face fabric they use which is 140D. I’ve never come across anything this high with most outerwear being around 50D. The main trade off of using such a high thread count is the bits are heavier and warmer than other materials.
As well as this face fabric they use something called SuperFabric around the cuffs. Where most companies seem to use some form of Cordura protection this SuperFabric is much tougher. It has almost a plastic feel to it with the texture of a lizards skin and the bibs still look pretty much new other than a bit of dirt. Two really, really big thumbs up Trew!
One thing I should note with these bibs is that from what I can tell from reading around the Internet, Trew seems to offers one of the best warranty’s in the industry. They seem more than willing to repair any damage and will offer you a replacement if they feel any flaws are a result of their manufacturing.
Features
Pockets
These bibs are covered in them! As said at the top of the review you get 6 in total in the form of one large chest flap Velcro pocket, two large cargo thigh pockets, two side hand pockets with waterproof zips and one small zipped chest pocket. I would say the best of the lot of them is the chest flap pocket. I ended up using this the most just because its so large and easy to use, plus I prefer the feeling of storing stuff next to my chest as it feel more natural to me and less likely to damage anything in it in a fall. It’s also very large and I was able to store anything from sandwiches, phone and wallet right up to a couple of cans of beer. If you don’t like the sound of that then you’ll be happy to know the thigh cargo pockets are able to fit skins in them so should be big enough for your lunch if that’s where you want to keep it. The small zipped chest pocket was very useful for storing small valuable items such as keys or emergency money.
Zips
All the zips used on the Trewth bibs are YKK Aquaguard Vislon Zippers. These are water repellent not waterproof but I never had any water get through them despite using them for entire days in torrential rain. After a season of use they are holding up very nicely with all of them still running very smoothly and none splitting which you sometimes get with zips.
Gaiters
You get elasticated grippered gaiters on these pants, which grip very nicely to my ski boots and don’t let any snow get into the top of my boots. They also have lace hooks if you want to use them with walking boots or shoes.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for utterly bombproof, stylish, technical bib pants for resort skiing and small to medium forays into the backcountry I think you’d be hard pushed to find a better piece of kit.
Over the years I have had the opportunity to try a lot of various outerwear, but time and again for a heavy storm day, or a day of bush whacking, I have gone back to my tried and true Trew gear (now in its 4th season). No matter how much abuse I threw at it, the jacket and pants just kept taking it with zero complaint. This year I had got an upgrade to the 2015 version of the Trewth bib, and expect nothing less.
Besides some minor cosmetic changes, very little has changed over the years. Design is no nonsense, which I very much appreciate. The cut has slimmed a bit over the years it seems, but still leaves a ton of room for layering on cold days, without leaving it flapping in the wind on warmer ones. They’ve included a great variety of pockets on the handwarmer and cargo style are all well laid out to be functional. The bibs are such a game changer whenever it snows, and I rarely will go back to anything without. The kangaroo pockets are great as well for stuff you want to keep warm and close to your body. The cuffs are roomy enough to go over boots with ease, and stay in place most of the time, though I find they do need to be adjusted now and then.
Construction is probably the biggest thing Trew has going for them, absolutely bomber! This 20/20K fabric is far tougher than the average light weight stuff you typically see in high end shells. This stuff brushes off tree branches and other scuffs with ease. And while it is slightly thinner that my previous Trew setup, I still expect it to last years of abuse. The cuff guard seems to have shunk a little over the years, but still does a great job protecting from ski hits. The fabric and coatings are as waterproof as you could ever want, and have kept me dry after hours in the freezing rain. The suit also packs relatively small for travel, though does take some space
Image wise, I will admit I miss the bright in your face colour schemes of some of the previous designs, but they have made great use of the slightly more subdued tones. I rock the Navy/Light Blue jacket and pants, which manages to still stand out despite being fairly common. Though the Thumbs Up! logo helps as well.
I fully expect this setup to be my go-to for the next couple years, with zero complaints of the situations I get it into! The previous pair have moved onto another skier who I am sure will continue to get years of use.
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