UKH

I have an old pair of Mountain Equipment Ibex pants where all of the stitching has failed on the crotch leaving a hole a couple of inches wide. I don't mind this as the pants are about 7 years old, however the stitching in the same place on a much newer pair of ME Frontier pants has just started to fail, which I am quite annoyed about as they're only 1/2 years old and haven't been worn much.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Is this likely something they'll repair?

In reply to Alpenglow:

Show off

In reply to Alpenglow:  Ask them or return them to the shop you bought them

In reply to Alpenglow:

Had the same thing and sewed them myself.

In reply to Alpenglow:

A couple of things to think about.

Are the pants sized correctly? Meaning the crotch is where it is supposed to be (if not, there is obviously more wear on even normal movement).

Doing lots of highsteps? (see above)

Biking on 'em? (again moving around on the saddle is often wearing out pants in that region...)


That being said, return them, but think about the things above.

Biking pants are designed to cope with saddle rubbing, Climbing troos have the diamond crotch design to facilitate highsteps etc. And correct fitting pants just are fine for their intended use, ill fitting stuff is much more prone to breaking... and ill fitting gear on non-intended use, well breaks even faster.

In reply to Alpenglow:

This has also happened twice to me now with ME and I think the mechanism is related to the trousers slipping down when wet/ wearing gaiters. As HeMa said, fitting is important. Big thighs-small(ish) waist means I have to wear a belt to keep them at the right height as even dropping a few cm means the crotch gets loaded every step. However as I usually find a pair on the sale rail for £20-30 and they last around 2000miles of walking I'm happy to get the needle and thread out from time to time.

In reply to Alpenglow:

It's the most common place for stitching to fail on any trousers, it's not uncommon.

I was once at work and at about 08:30 and I dropped my security pass, for whatever ill thought out reason I decided to drop into an ATG squat to pickup the pass and I heard the unmistakeable sound of tearing suit trouser stitching. It was ripped more than a couple of inches! it was almost like some carry-on film/pantomime sized trouser rip. being summer I had no jacket and had to run with one hand in front one hand behind to the only shop in the area that sold trousers which was an expensive suit shop. They insisted the only pair that they sold separately was a £200 Hugo Boss pair, I think they were taking advantage but I could do nothing about it at that time of the morning at work without functional trousers.

If you only have a 2 inch gap, stitch it yourself. Failing that go to your nearest dry cleaners with them, they should get them repaired for you at low cost.

In reply to Alpenglow:

I have Comici, Beta and some older ME pants (>10yrs) and none have them have gone at the crotch. However, as you can tell, ME fits me very well so I've not had any crotch issues.

The only "pant" that I've had a crotch failure is a pair of Backcountry Guide Pants from Patagucci. I repaired them with some delightful pink cotton which was all I had and they have held up fine ever since.

I agree with a previous poster, if the crotch sits too low, this is where they will split. My most common failure is holes in the arse due to too much sitting around bouldering/belaying at the top of gritstone crags.

In reply to galpinos:

Atleast you're climbing... my reasons for the holes in ze arse are just from sitting... mainly being so out of shape, that I can't even reach the climbing venue of the day, before I need to take a break or five.

In reply to HeMa:

My work shirts always split at the elbows. My reason is that my forearms are massive*, my wife;'s reasoning it what do so little work I spend all day resting my elbows on the desk on Teams calls.....

*unfortunately not true 

In reply to Alpenglow:

I've had several pairs of Ibex pants and they've all eventually given way around the crotch or arse.  They've all had several years' use and I've just accepted that eventually they will wear out, although otherwise they are very robust.  Seams are obviously going to be a point of weakness, especially if you wear them for climbing and scrambling where they'll get stretched.   Once it's gone it can be sewn up, but the nature of the fabric means its then likely to fail again.

In reply to Moacs:

Well done. The OP has a serious trouser issue and you jump in with schoolboy humour. To the OP: if this happens in a social situation have you tried facing the wall and shuffling towards the nearest door?