Rothco BDU Trousers

I broke down and ordered some new trousers recently. I thought I would try some BDUs. Thought they might work a little better then the denim I have been wearing mostly. I have lost a lot of weight so a lot of the pants I used to have went to Goodwill as they were just too big.

I bought them on 1/17/22 on eBay from seller "armyuniverse". I picked them because they had good prices and a high feedback score. $35 shipped. They arrived in the mail 1/21/12 via priority mail.

They are tagged as made in China, but seem well made. I wanted some heavier weight pants to wear during the winter and thought I would get some cargo pants and these were basically cargo pants easily available in my size. The stitching is solid looking, and I did not notice many tails hanging anywhere. They are made of 35% poly and 65% cotton.

I got them in blue. Didn't want something that looked real military. Just some utility pants. I did not know quite what to expect, never having had a pair before. I don't know if they are true mil-spec or not either, and don't really care much. I don't know that any military service ever wore blue BDUs anyway.

This is the tag that it came with. The little belt like strap with the buckle is for waist size adjustment. They seem to come in a range of sizes in the waist that are like a 4 inch span and these buckles (one on each side) are used to adjust the waist. I left them all the way extended. They seem to work OK at that position, although I may need to tighten them up just a bit.

There are cargo pockets on each leg, with hidden buttons. The front edge of the flaps are sewn down. I think the hidden buttons and front edge of the flap being sewn down is supposed to protect the flaps and buttons.

This is the tag on the inside.

The blousing bands on the legs.

I wore them hiking today (1-22-12). It was not real cold out and I had my fleece long johns on under them. I was quite warm. But it was in the upper 20s. It was kind of windy and the trousers seemed to work pretty well at deflecting the wind. The blousing bands worked pretty well at both holding the hem up off the ground (the pants are a couple inches longer than my leg), but also keep cold air from blowing up my pants leg.

I did not wear my gaiters. I probably should have. The hike in the snow resulted in wet snow getting all over the bottom of the pants legs. I was damp almost up to my knees by the time I got back to the car. Not an ideal situation, but it was not uncomfortably cold. I guess the poly fleece long underwear worked its magic. I never really felt the dampness until I got in the car.

There are some features I am not overjoyed with. I would prefer Velcro instead of buttons for the pocket flaps. It is a little awkward unbuttoning them. Probably will get used to them in time. The slash front pockets do not seem as deep as some pants I have had. I have yet to use either of the cargo pockets. Not real thrilled with the button up fly either. The blousing bands seem to work pretty well, but I am not quite sure how one is supposed to hem them up without cutting off the bands.

I think I would prefer a little higher waist as well. But, overall, they seem pretty well made, and fit OK. Given the built in waist size changing capability, I ought to get a lot of service from them before they just get too big and end up at Goodwill themselves.

ETA 1-23-12
A couple of things. It has occurred to me that it would have been nice if there were belt loops supplied closer together at the front. There is over a foot between belt loops at the front that allows the belt to slide up some. This seems like a common issue with larger pants sizes.

One of the back pocket buttons came off. The thread holding it in place unraveled. It will need to be sewed back on.

UPDATE 2-9-12

Another button came off in the wash so I sewed it back on. Two are other buttons were all but off when I checked. The thread holding the buttons in place was unraveling on all of them. I ended up sewing them all with some heavy tan thread that came with my Harbour Freight sewing awl. Hopefully this will resolve the problem. I suspoct the sewing machine used to put the buttons on was setup wrong, since all the buttons had the same problem.

I don't consider this an acceptable situation, so I probably won't be buying these again, even though I actually really like wearing them as I find them nice and comfy. I contacted the seller to let him know. I doubt there is anything he can do about it, other than complain to the manufacturer. And since I already fixed them, I am not sending them back.