REVIEW – Looking to ditch those discount-store khakis or those chinos you’ve been wearing since the 90s? Look no further. Built from stretchy, comfortable, lightweight technical fabric and loaded with handy features, The TEREN Daily Driver Pants might help you level up your pants game. Let’s check them out.
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $119.95
Where to buy: teren.com
What is it?
A quick background note. I reviewed the TEREN Lightweight Traveler Pants just a couple of months back and I was super impressed with them. In the review, I wondered aloud about the TEREN Daily Driver Pants, and lo and behold, the good folks at TEREN offered to send me a pair of their Daily Diver Pants to review as well. And here we are!
The TEREN Daily Driver Pants, as their name implies, are Chino-style casual dress pants for men that are lightweight, quick-drying, stretchy, and include some unique and useful features, all of which make these pants suited for a wide range of occasions and activities, like the office, a night on the town, running errands, travel, hiking, camping, and more.
What’s included?
- TEREN Daily Driver Pants
- Thank you/info card
- TEREN sticker pack
The pants were packaged in a simple and easily-recyclable cardboard box. As I’ve stated in previous reviews, I appreciate it when companies make their packaging simple and recyclable for sustainability and minimized waste.
Tech specs
Fabric – 91% Polyester, 9% Spandex
Color options – Charcoal, Khaki (reviewed here), Black, Brown, Navy, Grey
Sizing – Waist sizes 30″ through 40″, Inseam sizes in 30″ through 34″
Weight – 14.2 ounces (154gsm)
Warranty – Lifetime
Design and features
The TEREN Daily Driver Pants are quite loaded with features, so I thought it would be useful to list them here first, then I’ll cover them in more detail in the sections below.
- 6 pockets (3 hidden zippered pockets)
- Dynamic magnet “button” closure
- Hidden internal drawstring
- Silicone grip waistband
- YKK Zippers
- Hidden side zip pockets
- Tanto-style front pockets
- Gusseted seat
- Subtle branding
Fabric properties
The fabric from which the TEREN Daily Driver Pants are manufactured is loaded with features, including the below, which I’ll touch on in more detail in the sections below:
- PFAS-Fre DWR (Dynamic Water Resistance) coating
- 4-way stretch
- Breathable
- Durable
- Sun protection
- Lightweight
- Anti-microbial
- Odor-resistant
- Moisture wicking
- Quick drying
My first impression after removing the TEREN Daily Driver Pants from their shipping bag was that, like the TEREN Lightweight Traveler Pants, the Daily Driver Pants appeared to be very high-quality. The fabric and construction of the pants both have a professional look and feel. They are cut in a modern take on the classic “chino” style of pants but with a more modern, tapered shape as you will see below. In the photo above, you can also see the gusseted seat, which, when combined with stretch capacity of the fabric, provides a quite a bit of extra mobility and freedom of movement. More on this below.
The TEREN Daily Driver Pants have several unique and useful features, a few of which are visible in the photo above. One of the more unique features TEREN includes in their pants is a hidden internal drawstring. It’s essentially a drawstring like you would find in athletic shorts or pants, but it’s been carefully hidden within the pants’ waistband. More on this feature below.
Another feature unique to the TEREN Daily Driver Pants is the “dynamic magnet button” closure that takes the place of a button or a snap like you’d find on most other pants. This magnetic button allows the pants to be opened and closed quickly and even somewhat automagnetically (see what I did there?). More on this feature below as well. Additionally, TEREN notes that these magnets are strong enough that they may stick to the inside of your clothes dryer, which could damage the pants (and anything else you may have in the dryer). This is why TEREN strongly encourages you to hang these pants to dry them after washing instead of drying them in a clothes dryer. Pro Tip: The magnets are strong enough to actually allow you to hang the pants on a metal surface to let them dry out after washing. Potentially a very useful feature for camping, travel, and other situations where you might need to initiate on-the-fly drying.
The TEREN Daily Driver Pants also have another feature that has started to become more common in higher-end pants, a silicone grip waistband. As you can see in the picture above, the unique aspect of this particular silicon grip waistband design is that the “TEREN DESIGNS LLC” company logo (seen in a photo below) is printed inside the waist band in a flexible silicone material, essentially turning them into a grippy silicone pad. The silicone grip waistband helps keep your pants in place as you move, and if you choose to tuck in your shirt for a bit more of a dressed up look, the silicon grip waistband helps to grip your shirt tail and and keep it tucked into the pants.
As mentioned above, the TEREN Daily Driver Pants have been designed in a classic Chino style. This includes back pockets that are essentially hidden within the pants rather than being sewn onto the outside of the pants like jeans style pockets. The Daily Driver Pants also have five belt loops.
The right back pocket has a hidden zipper which is very perfect for storing and securing a wallet, passport, or other small valuable item. In addition, as seen in the photo above, you can see the one and only bit of branding that is visible on exterior of these pants—a subdued TEREN logo that is discretely stitched just above the right rear pocket in the same color as the pants. I’m a big fan of subdued, discreet logos on products, and TEREN has done an excellent job here.
The left rear pocket is open with no zipper. I found this pocket to be handy for sliding my phone into it easily and being able to retrieve it quickly.
As mentioned above, the TEREN Daily Driver Pants include classic vertical Chino-style front pockets but with some modern updates. First, the main front pockets have a “Tanto” shape, which in this case means they have a long opening, with a slightly exaggerated angle toward the bottom. TEREN went with this angled Tanto style pocket to provide a spot for people who are into EDC (Every Day Carry) and who may daily carry a knife, flashlight, or other clip-attached item in the bottom of their pocket. More on this below.
The second updated feature of the TEREN Daily Driver Pants’ front pockets is a semi-hidden zipper pocket located essentially within each main front pocket. I use the term “semi-” hidden because, although the zipper pulls on these pockets are visible if someone is looking for them, they are about as small as they could possibly be and still be fully functional. These discreet zippers make the pockets a great place to store and secure a wallet, passport, or other small valuable items. Speaking of zippers, all zippers on the TEREN Daily Driver Pants are YKK Zippers and so of course are all of very high quality.
The photo above shows the TEREN Lightweight Traveler Pants turned inside out so you better see some of the internal features of the front of the pants, like the internal drawstring waistband. You can also see both sets of front pockets, the slightly shorter ones in the foreground being the zipper front pockets, and the longer ones behind these being the main front pockets. Both sets of front pockets are quite generously sized in both width and especially depth, which provide excellent storage capacity for items.
The photo above shows the internal rear features, including the back pockets, which, like the front pockets, are fairly generously sized for storing and securing items.
Printed on the inside of one of the back pockets is the information shown in the photo above, which lists the Waist x Inseam size of the pants as well as the materials that comprise the fabric. The TEREN Daily Driver Pants are made from a fabric that is a combination of 91% Polyester and 9% Spandex. As with the TEREN Lightweight Traveler Pants, most men’s pants these days that tout a level of stretch have a Spandex percentage in the very low single digits, so this relatively high percentage of Spandex provides the TEREN Daily Driver Pants pants with a very high 4-way stretch capability, and as a result, these are some of the stretchiest casual dress pants I’ve ever worn. Also shown are the cleaning and care instructions. The fabric’s composition of synthetic fibers gives them quick dry properties that allows you to easily give them a hotel or campsite sink wash and hang them up to dry in just a few hours (maybe event quicker in a breeze)–a very handy feature when traveling or camping.
The fabric that the TEREN Daily Driver Pants are made from has an interesting texture. When viewed up close, it is not smooth, but has more of a grid-like appearance and feel with no sheen.
This fabric is also anti-microbial and includes odor resistance, allowing you to wear them more between washes, which can come in handy when you are traveling.
Fit and feel
As mentioned above, I found that the TEREN Daily Driver Pants have a “chino” fit, but in a more modern cut with a bit of a tapered fit that narrows slightly toward the leg opening,
In these first six photos, I wore the TEREN Daily Driver Pants with a pair of dress shoes and a tucked-in golf shirt to give an idea of what the pants can look like when dressed up a bit. I think they do quite well in an outfit like this and in fact I wore this exact outfit into the office a couple of days and really liked the look and feel. [For anyone curious, I’m also wearing my Groove Life Groove Belt, which has been among my regular EDC items since I reviewed them].
I requested 32″ waist x 32″ inseam for my review sample of the TEREN Daily Driver Pants, which is the sizing that I wear in about 95% of the pants I own. Overall, the fit of these pants was acceptable, but I did find the 32″ waist to be larger than all my other 32″ waist pants, and unfortunately this made the waist a bit sloppy, which can be somewhat seen in the above photo.
Another aspect that I should mention with regard to how the TEREN Daily Driver Pants feel is that they somehow feel as though they are heat-wicking. I’m not sure if this is due to the breathability of the fabric, or some other factor, but the lower half of my body just feels cooler when wearing them, as most as if the pants were a heat sink that is drawing heat away from my skin and venting it into my surroundings. While this is a handy cooling feature on hot days, I’m left wondering what this phenomenon might be like in the dead of winter.
The fabric from which the TEREN Daily Driver Pants are made feels very soft and smooth, and that 9% spandex gives a generous stretch during all types of movement.
For the photo above, I wore a pair Chrome Industries Truk sneakers and untucked my shirt tail, and I think the TEREN Daily Driver Pants works great for a more casual look too.
In the above photo, I wore my Dr. Martens 1460 boots in brown leather, and I think they pair well with the TEREN Daily Driver Pants too. So whether you wear them to the office, out for an evening of drinks or dinner, or out on the trail, these pants have a high degree of versatility.
And finally, the photo above is from one of the days that I wore the TEREN Daily Driver Pants to the office, this time paired with a pair of Dr. Martens 939 boots. So whether you are wearing the TEREN Daily Driver Pants on your urban (or suburban) commute and into the office, out for an evening dinner, or even out on the trail and campsite, these pants have a high level of versatility in pairing with a wide range of outfits.
Function and performance
For this final section, let’s check out some of the functional features of the TEREN Daily Driver Pants. First up, in the photo above you can see the left front zipper pocket. As mentioned above, these pockets have fair amount of space for securing small (and especially flat) items, like a thinnish front-pocket wallet, passport, or key. These pockets are supper low-profile and TEREN designed them to blend right into the seam along the side of the pants, so other than spying their tiny YKK Zipper pulls, they are nearly undetectable by would-be pickpockets.
Although you can’t see it well in the above photo (my bad), I’m sliding an Allet ID wallet into the right rear pocket of the TEREN Daily Driver Pants. Like the front pockets, the rear pockets have a generously capacity, so they can easily accommodate a wide range of wallet types and sizes, and the zipperless left rear pocket is a great quick access pocket for your phone.
The “gusseted seat” as TEREN calls it (though more commonly known as a gusseted crotch) is a feature that is becoming more common on all sorts of men’s pants, and I own several pairs from various brands that include this feature. By distributing tension and stress across multiple seams, the gusset minimizes strain on the fabric, reduces chafing, and allows for greater freedom of movement. I have to say that TEREN’s version of this feature is one of the best I’ve worn, because of its generous dimensions, which give additional stretch. In fact, I can do air squats in these pants rather easily.
One of the more unique features of the TEREN Daily Driver Pants is the dynamic magnetic button. TEREN has replaced the button or snap the would typically be found on most pants with a pair of opposing disc-shaped magnets. They hold your pants together (though not as securely as a button or snap), and automatically link back together when putting your pants on, saving you a step (which you can exchange for tying the internal drawstring).
Initially, I thought the dynamic magnetic button feature was a bit gimmicky, thinking, “So they made the traditional button or snap a bit more ‘techy’–kind of neat but what’s the actual point?” However, as with every other feature on the TEREN Daily Driver Pants, this feature has a clever purpose, in this case for comfort. Let’s say you’re at dinner and you’ve just polished off an extra large slab of ribs with sides of cole slaw, baked beans, and potato salad after having devoured the artichoke dip and chips and washing it all down with several pints of Guinness (and maybe a slice of that key lime pie). When your belly starts to expand with the contents of your stomach, the dynamic magnetic button halves can separate for a bit, then automatically re-attach themselves again, and provided that you have tied the internal drawstring, you don’t have to worry about your pants falling down.
As mentioned above, the front pockets of the TEREN Daily Driver Pants feature a Tanto-style shape. This means they have a slight angle near the bottom that is a good spot for a clip-on EDC item, like I’ve done in the photos above and below with the tiny WESN Microblade 2.0 knife.
Is this Tanto pocket feature 100% necessary? No. However, I typically EDC a clip-on knife like the one shown here, but it always sits a bit awkward in classic chinos with traditional pockets, and this angled Tanto shape helps alleviate that a bit. Also, this feature is a nod to the EDC enthusiasts out there from the folks at TEREN.
The TEREN Daily Driver Pants really are lightweight, and they can pack down into a fairly small volume. In the photos above and below, you can see that these pants can be rolled down to take up less space in your gear bag or suitcase. This comes in handy in all sorts of situations, from when you are packing a change of clothes in your gym bag to when you are trying to accomplish that challenging “1-bag travel” for a vacation or work trip.
And at just 14.2 ounces, the TEREN Daily Driver Pants are not only thin, but fairly lightweight, another great feature when you are trying to literally pack light.
Final thoughts
There are a lot of similarities between the TEREN Daily Driver Pants and the TEREN Lightweight Traveler Pants. Generally speaking, both are some of the best pants I’ve ever tried, for multiple reasons. First, the TEREN Daily Driver Pants are are comfortable (maybe even more than the Lightweight Traveler Pants) due to their quite soft, stretchy and breathable fabric, gusseted seat, and athletic cut. Second, their modernized take on the classic Chino style gives them a lot of versatility to wear them in many occasions and for lots of different activities. Third, they are packed with well-considered and useful features, from the internal drawstring, to the three zipper pockets, to the dynamic magnet button and more. They are a bit on the pricey side at $119.95; however, considering that they are so loaded with features, the quality and durability of their fabric, and comparing to similar traveler/tech pants, the TEREN Daily Driver Pants are absolutely worth serious consideration as a versatile, useful addition to your wardrobe. In fact you could do worse than to donate or dump a few pairs of your old, ratty, ill-fitting pants and replace them with a pair of TEREN Daily Driver Pants and a pair of the TEREN Lightweight Traveler Pants.
What I like about the TEREN Daily Driver Pants
- Packed with clever, useful features
- Comfortable
- Versatile style fits with many occasions and activities
What needs to be improved?
- Waist fit may not be true to size
Price: $119.95
Where to buy: teren.com
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by TEREN. TEREN did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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- TEREN Lightweight Traveler Pants review – Versatile style and loaded with features
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