May 26, 2020
Found in “Activities, Gear, Stories”
Let’s face it: there are few other MEC products as iconic as the Rad Pants. Over MEC’s 49-year history, Rad Pants have become pretty legendary and have a bit of an infamous backstory.
They first hit the MEC catalogue in 1989, and we never expected to be carrying them for decades. We ended up discontinuing the Rad Pants in 2001, only to bring them back a season later because so many members were asking for them. Eventually, they dropped out of our assortment and seemed destined to become part of MEC folklore or relegated to a lucky thrift-store find.
Until now. Because Rad Pants are back – again.
Wait – they’re really back again?
Yes. Last year, we opened the design vault to unleash a special limited run of Rad Pants, and were blown away by the response. Members scooped up nearly the entire run of MEC Rad Pants in about a day and a half.
With a response that huge, we decided to give you another chance to own a slice of history. It’s another limited run, and we’re mixing things up with a new heritage colour option: Desert Red.
Committed to real Rads
For decades, Rad Pants have helped Canadians climb, hike, paddle, travel, bike and bask in the glory of bellowed thigh pockets. When they were discontinued, they caused tearful outpourings of love and broken hearts at Annual General Meetings, spawned online obituaries and poetry, and caused heated debates over the merits and failings of different (non-Rad) reincarnations.
When we decided to bring back Rad Pants, the MEC Label design team was committed to recreating them in their true shape, material and even with the original MEC woven label. This year’s limited run of Rad Pants is just as true to form.
There’ve been so many iterations of Rad Pants over the years that they had to dig deep into our archives to revive them. “We looked up the original pattern specs of the last incarnation of the Rad Pants in our system,” said James Brittain, MEC Design Manager, “and sent them over to the factory – without a single change to the pattern – to create our limited runs of Rad.”
After the patterns were locked down, the next challenge was to faithfully recreate the fabric. The only issue? “No one who owned old Rad Pants would let us cut up their heritage pair to send a physical sample to the fabric mill for them to recreate the raw material,” said James.
Problem-solving mode engaged, MEC designers turned to our friends at @vintage_mec. They were able to find us a pair of old MEC Rad Pants that we could chop up to give fabric samples to the mill. The new Rad Pants have the exact same fabric spec as the original versions, and the material is bluesign® approved for a reduced environmental footprint.
The design hasn’t changed at all from the Rad Pants you remember – even down to the old MEC logo. Plus the fabric is now bluesign-approved®.
Finally, as a finishing touch for these Rad Pants, the original MEC logo is back. To make sure we stayed true to the heritage label design, we tracked down the retired couple who used to own the now-closed factory that manufactured our woven labels. It turns out they had dusty boxes of original MEC woven labels tucked in the corner of their attic, which our new factory could use to recreate the design for the pants they were destined for.
Bottom line about these bottoms
They’re back (again), but it’s a limited run (again). If you retired your old pair of Rad Pants decades ago, if you want to own a piece of MEC history, or if you’ve always wondered what all the Rad Pants hype is about, you’ve got another chance to snap up a pair.
We’d say that these new Rad Pants are radder than ever… but really, they’re just as rad as they’ve always been.
Bonus facts for true Rad Pant connoisseurs
Aching for more nostalgic radness? We’ve scoured the archives for bonus Rad Pants facts and all the cheesy 90s catalogue poses you could possibly imagine.
The pocket was perfect for 1989 tech
One of the main features of the original Rad Pants were the roomy thigh pockets. These were prime spots to keep a topo map, energy bars… or a 1980s music player. It’s true, the original pockets were sized so they’d fit a Sony Discman.
Only downside? The low pockets were near the knee, which sent your Discman ricocheting with each step (and electronic anti-skip technology wasn’t invented until 1995).
They came in no less than 27 colours
Basic black? Sure. But Rad Pants also came in a knock-out colour palette over the years, including:
Atlantic Blue, Cinnamon Red Curry, Crimson, Black, Blue, BlueSpruce/Bluespruce, Deep Blue, Desert Red, Driftwood, Eggplant, Electric Blue, Green, Honey Beige, Jade, Marine Blue, Midnight Purple, Navy, Plum, Purple, Red, Royal, Royal Blue, Sage, Sea Green, Taupe, Teal and Turquoise.
There was a whole “Rad program”
Rad Pants were just the beginning. There were also:
Rad Shorts, which hit the catalogue as “A short built for radical action!”
Rad Shirts with features like, “a long front zip eases pulling over head gear and fuzz… and a lower kanga pocket for your roo.”
Cotton Rad Pants with a “double bum, knit cuff, slash side pockets and wallet pocket all add up to a great, robust summer pants.” Note: we are still hazy on the benefits of a “double bum” feature.
Radfans I, II and III fanny packs.“These fannies are state-of-the-art,” was the cheeky catalogue caption. The Radfan III had a whopping 10.5L capacity (for context, that’s 3.5L larger than our current MEC 8-hr Sling.
They have many nicknames
They were originally launched as “the ultimate movement pant,” and have been called many things over the years – some by us, some by other people. A few stand-outs:
- Baggier than a Shar-Pei puppy
- Indestructible and relentlessly unisex
- The Canadian national uniform
- High fashion in the Rockies
- The trousers of my heart
- MEC legend
#radpants is a thing
Rad Pants hit the scene 30 years ago and have transcended time. Browse the #radpants hashtag and there are some gems.
They’re true to their roots
… and great for being outside
… and will be with you for a long time.
Thanks for the memories, Rad Pant fans. We’re looking forward to many more.
