Between lounging around the house and going to work, my outfits typically have a very drastic contrast. (I assume that this is common among a lot of people.) I might wear a baggy shirt and a pair of sweatpants around the house, for instance, while I wear a button-down shirt and a nice pair of pants to work. And while the second outfit definitely looks better, especially to work, the first outfit is just so comfortable. I wouldn’t say that the clothes I wear to work are necessarily uncomfortable, but some clothes, specifically dress pants and chinos, just don’t have the flexibility for every movement or posture like sweatpants or running shorts do. Bending over to tie a shoe with a pair of well-fitted dress pants on is just a different experience than bending over to tie a shoe with sweatpants on. Sweatpants are made for comfortable movement, while most dress pants are made primarily for appearance. But for some, if not most, jobs, wearing sweatpants and a baggy shirt simply isn’t appropriate and screams unprofessional.

But does this mean we are all stuck wearing stuffy slacks for the rest of our career-driven lives? Not exactly.

I started to wonder about the possibility of comfortable good-looking work attire and came across Betabrand. They are a clothing company based in San Francisco, California that manufactures and creates items based on customer/fan engagement and crowdfunding. They make dress pants that also double as comfortable sweatpants, according to their website. In addition, Betabrand has both a more traditionally masculine and feminine line of their work-comfort combination pants.

So, with a lot of curiosity in mind, I decided to order a pair of the gray dress pant sweatpants and review them based on my experience wearing them throughout a normal day. I will be rating them based on the following categories with a numerical scale from one to 10 where one represents the worst pants ever and 10 represents the best pants ever.

Ordering and Shipping

Ordering these pants was a lot of fun. Betabrand’s website is highly navigable and each item has a lot of photos to go along with it. Their website is simple and clean and has a variety of different clothing items to browse through.

I ordered the pair of pants on a Monday and received them that Thursday. The packaging provided return instructions and a recommendation, which I will explain in the next rating category.

Rating: 10/10

Appearance

These pants are really nice looking. They are sleek and have the belt loops, pockets, zippers, and everything that a typical pair of dress pants would have. To my surprise, the pockets were actually really deep and could hold a lot. When I tried them on, they fit like a regular pair of dress pants but the legs were really long and definitely not the length I ordered. This takes me back to the recommendation that came along with the package. It noted that the legs were longer than what I ordered because they expected the pants to shrink a bit in the wash. It was recommended that the pants be washed first in order to achieve the correct length. After washing the pants, I tried them on again and they were still a bit long, but they were better.

They do succeed in the goal of looking like a regular pair of dress pants...from a distance. The closer you get to the pants, the more they look like sweatpants. The definitely feel like sweatpants too, but it doesn’t take anything away from the pants at all. The only real issue I have with the pants is that the legs are really wide for a person who tends to wear slim and skinny fit pants. I didn’t find the legs to be all that flattering combined with the fact that they were a bit too long.

Rating: 8/10

Comfort & Flexibility

These pants live up to their full legacy of comfort. I could stretch and cross my legs freely in these pants without having to worry about any ripping or tearing in the fabric. In all honestly, you could take a yoga class in these pants. That is how comfortable and flexible they are. When I was in the sun, I did notice how the pants got to be a bit warm for a summer outfit. These pants might be better worn in the fall or winter.

Rating: 9/10

Pricing

Last and definitely least, the price was really high for a normal college student’s budget. I spent nearly $90 for the pants and I honestly feel that the pants were overpriced for what I got, even though I enjoy the concept and the actual pants themselves. I hold this opinion even though I did get free shipping for signing up for their newsletter and 10 percent off since it was my first purchase with Betabrand. In my opinion, these pants should be no more than $50.

Rating: 5/10

Final Thoughts

All in all, Betabrand has a great concept going for them and I wish the company the most success with these products. The dress sweatpants were really comfortable and looked like I was wearing a nice pair of regular dress pants. However, the price was more than what I wanted to spend, the fit wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be, and the pants could be a bit warm for the summer.

Overall, I give these pants a 8/10 rating. I am really interested to see if they come out with a pair of lightweight and slimmer fit style of these pants. Until then, the regular fit will suffice!