Is there really much of a difference between clothing designed

>>777296
Do you scramble up and down a lot of hills on your jobsite? It seems like your mind is already made up so go ahead and buy those steel toe boots. Take pictures os your feet for us after your first good hike.

Yeah big difference
Workwear is built to last.

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Clothes designed for going out are often designed to be lightweight. Unfortunately it is expensive. My rain jacket is ultralight und ultraexpensive, but I carry it in my backpack most of the time. So I go with my 248g waterproof jacket, instead of the cheaper one I have, that weighs around 1000g. Thats more than half a kilo less weight, on a single piece of gear.
Merino underwear and shirts cost a fortune, but the quality is so much better than regular cotton shirts.

But I am no bushcrafter, I go trekking and sleep in a tent. I don't do ultralight trekking but I enjoy some of the gear. If I had to cut down trees and do other bushcrafting stuff I would buy work wear.

>>777296
Yes, there is a difference.

Workwear is typically designed to be
-durable
-protective from cuts and abrasion
-reasonably comfortable

This means a great deal of cotton or poly cotton blend pants, shirts and jackets, and hard PU rainwear. While these things can stand up well to the rigours of digging pipe trenches in pouring rain or crawling around underneath a house, it adds a great deal of weight and bulk. These cotton based fabrics also perform poorly at retaining warmth when wet and take a long time to dry compared to synthetic or woolen based fabrics, which are more expensive.


/out/wear is typically designed to be
-lightweight and packable
-effective at protecting from extreme weather over extended periods
-comfortable while being highly active

This means a great deal of synthetic fabrics and wool, particularly merino wool. While not necessarily as durable as workwear, outdoors clothing is far better if you are limited by weight or bulk, which would be the case if you were backpacking, hiking or mountaineering (or any of the other activities that fall somewhere in the "carry shit on your back while going places" spectrum). The fact that these fabrics dry much faster and are still reasonably comfortable and warm when wet (usually from sweat) is big too, as is the breathability of outdoors wet wear.

1/2

>>777359
If you want a good balance between durability, price and outdoors suitability, perhaps consider hunting clothing. Often good, warm fleece and good rain jackets can be had for cheaper than hiking oriented gear, and it is usually more durable because (at least in my country, where people actually stalk their game instead of jerking it in a blind for a few hours) it is designed with bushwacking and stalking off-trail in mind.

However, the durability of general hiking gear is not an issue for what most people do /out/. The fragility of modern outdoors gear is vastly overstated, usually by luddite-minded individuals who reminisce about the "good ol' days" when people used gear that was heavier, less comfortable and actually required more maintenance (I'm looking at you oilskins and lanolined wool!) while still being expensive. Yes, ultralight gear will rip easily if you bushwack with it, but that's not the majority of outdoors clothing. I have an inexpensive Goretex jacket, which I've had for over two years. I've taken it /out/ and worn it through bush and trees, used it as an every day jacket under a backpack, and would throw it on to get firewood in winter when it was raining. It doesn't have a single tear in it, and although the DWR is getting to the point where I'll re-treat it before I take it for another trip, it is still waterproof, windproof and breathable. The polyester that the outer shells of membrane jackets are made from actually has a very high denier strength compared to other materials. The same goes for polar fleece. I would like to note that I have seen workwear trending towards the materials that outdoors gear is made from, such as polyester shirts, breathable rain gear and fleece. This in itself should be a good indicator of the advantages of these materials.


2/2

Outdoor gear is meant to be used hard, but taken care of, and not abused.

Workwear is meant to be throughly abused, day in and day out, never cared for, and still keep functioning.

There is definitely some crossover though. I wear my Carhartt work socks for hiking, and some of my work shirts are nice polyblend shirts that are perfect for hiking.

My work boots and hiking boots though are very different. My work boots aren't steel toe, but heavy, and cumbersome. They also can be cleaned in a few seconds even if they're covered in blood or puke. My hiking boots would be stained forever if they were soaked in blood.

>>777296
>clueless rich people

this always seem to be the battle cry of the poor. so if it's so easy to get rich, why aren't you

>>777401

spent all his money on outdoors gear

>>777401

Rich people and hipsters do overpay for things. I'm not sure when blue collar became high fashion, but it sucks for us poor people.

http://www.filson.com/new-arrivals.html

>>777296
Work boots suck shit for hiking, they even suck shit for work. Never found a pair of work boots that didn't feel like utter garbage or come apart quickly. Any job I had where I had to walk all day, I had hiking shoes, and the reason why is because they're designed for walking on hard terrain all damn day.

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>>777296
Those remind me of the DeWalt boots I had. I'm guessing they are made by the same people just looking at the soles.

Assuming they are similar, I have a couple things to say about them:
1) The soles are really slippery the first few times you wear them, they take a minute to soften up but then start to wear pretty fast
2) Steel toes are heavy AF, and will tire you out. Get the composite if you want a protective shoe for some reason.
3) They were comfy but did wear out fairly quick compared to some other shoes.

I have had a bunch of different steel/compostie toe work shoes. Some of them would make decent hiking shoes, but they are made to conform to those ASTM standards so you may be sacraficing weight and comfort just so they can comply with the no-slip, electrical protection, and toe protection rules.

FWIW, had a pair of CAT shoes I grabbed from Sears for $100 and was wearing those before the Pumas I have now, and I liked those a lot. Held up well, weren't too heavy, and were comfy.

>>777362
>hurr durr blinds aren't "real hunting"
I've done plenty of stalking and plenty of "jerking it in a blind". You generally just pick whichever is most effective for the area and game. Stalking isn't some super hardcore handicap mode.

>>779718
Filson has always been somewhat upmarket. If you want cheap stuff get it from Bass Pro.

>>779740
>Bass Pro
>Cheap
Ehh, if you can get some of their clearance stuff, it's ok. Dick's is my favorite for saving money though. I think their margins on apparel are pretty big so you can get stuff like that way lower than retail if you aren't picky or wait got a sale.

And for the work boot thing, Sears is the best major retailer as far as selection. Not sure about hiking stuff.

>>777296
Whats a good boot that looks great but is also functional?