Black pants, a comparison
 

My crew decided to go with the Davis pants in June. Tonight was the first night we were able to wear them. Coincidentally, I was able to hold and look at a pair of the Smitty pants at the same time.

The Davis pants, while more expensive, are an order of magnitude better than the Smitty pants. I was really disappointed in the Smitty pants, as they felt like a cheap-o black version of knickers without the elastic around the bottom of the pants. The white stripe is strangely inset into the sides of the pants with some strange black stitching holding the stripe "panel" in place. The material is cheap and wrinkles very easily.

The Davis pants, however look, fit, and feel better, IMO. They are a higher quality material and feel quite a bit like Davis baseball pants, although the polyester seems a bit more stretchy, although not as much as knickers. They also have hidden waist adjusters.

I am a big fan of Smitty shirts for basketball and football. It's all I wear anymore. The Smitty pants were a huge disappointment.

I don't buy anything but Smitty. Haven't worn the black pants yet. In fact, have to get them hemmed and it was 94 F here today. But I like the feel of them. You also have to buy them one waist size up. Haven't seen the Daivs pants.

I guess it will be a "to each their own" comparison. Makes me want to check out the Honig's, too. So far, though, I'm happy with the purchase.

It's silly, but we've been told we can't wear the pants with short sleeves, although they'll allow crews to wear those hideous "officiating coats" that we'd never buy.

So I guess we'll wear long sleeves on nights when we probably would've chosen short sleeves, if only to wear the pants. Quite frankly, my days of enjoying knickers and football socks is probably over. Besides, white after labor day is gauche. :D

Rich,

I have never seen the Smitty version, but I have seen the GD version and own two pair of the Honigs pants. I think the Honigs looked better than any version I have seen at this time. They feel like they are a weather resistant material and they do not soak thru like most pair of pants would. I have said this before; we used the Honigs pants about the last 5 or 6 weeks of the season which included the playoffs. Almost every game it rained at some point. I even when couple of weeks and did not even need to wash them as they were not wet after the games (we were on turf) or they did not stain when we were on grass one of those games. I loved them and cannot imagine the Smitty being any better. But then again I have not seen them so they might be better or just as good. But if you want something to keep you dry and not very cold, Honigs is the way to go. But maybe I am bias.

Peace

I have a pair of Davis and a pair of Honig's. The Honig's are currently being hemmed.

While in NC we've been told Honig's is the only "approved pant", I ordered Davis to have on hand as I anticipated supply problems long ago with so many states going to the black.

The Honig's have a heftier feel to the material and the weatherproofing is noticible. Davis pants have sliders in the waist, which allows some variation in waist sizing.

There is one other brand I want to try. I posted a link on the boards a few months ago but I've forgotten who the mfr. was, maybe Cliff Keen. Seems like they were well north of $60 but really played up their water resistance.

I know the Davis pants are not weather-proof, it says so on the website. When my crew talked about last season (we were not allowed to wear these last season), we remembered that although we worked in some terrible rain, normally it's your top that gets soaked through, not your knickers. You get mud splashing up, etc., but I don't remember getting in the locker room at halftime and having my knickers stuck to me.

I wonder how the Honig's pants are on the nights where it's just a little cool outside, like last night when it was probably about 57 degrees. The Davis pants were perfect -- I wonder if weatherproofing would have made those pants too hot to wear on a night like last night. And my intention is to wear these pants every time I think I could tolerate a long sleeved shirt. If we could wear these with short sleeves, I'd never wear knickers again.

I could see me ordering a pair of the Honig's pants at some point for those rainy, cold nights, though. Maybe next year. I'm not biased in any way -- I was just surprised how much higher quality I thought the Davis pants were over the Smitty pants. Of course, I tried a pair of their baseball pants, too, and hated them. Their shirts are superb.

Honig's has had a huge issue with the snaps this year. I had to send two pairs back because the snaps broke the first time I opened them. They're going so far as to send repair machines to local shops and dealers so they can replace broken snaps.

Otherwise, the Honig pant is great. I haven't tried the Davis or Smitty's.

Our crew wears one or the other, (GD & Smitty/Adams). I actually went ahead and bought the GD's after I already had the Smitty's.

I agree that the Davis brand is far and away better. The fabric is thicker and less prone to wrinkles or tears, the adjustable waistline is great for really cold days when you may need a base layer below them and/or if a guy would lose a few pounds.

Varsity debut tonight of the pants. So comfortable. Wouldn't have normally worn long sleeves tonight, but them's the rules, so we did. A bit warm in the first half, perfect in the second half.

Watching the highlights, I saw short sleeves with knickers, short sleeves with white shorts, short sleeves with black shorts, and long sleeves with black pants.

The Smitty pants are supposed to be a water resistant fabric. They are definitely not as heavy as the Honigs.

I looked at Davis. There are three different styles. Which ones are you talking about, Rich?

The $50 pairs.

Gerry Davis Sports: 2010 Davis Black Football Pants

Comfy. Really no warmer than knickers, IMO.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but just a quick note on a pet peeve of mine: you aren't "biased" by stating an opinion, even if that opinion doesn't take into account all facts (i.e. you used only one of many products and say that one product is very good). Bias means you either have a duty to be objective (as an official, say) and aren't or it means your opinions are offered for a motive unrelated to quality (say, you profit from the sale of something).

Sorry, back to football.

You'd make a fine lawyer. :D

You got that right.

Peace

What do you wear under the pants? I normally wear McDavid compression tights under my knickers.
My crew bought the GD's. Haven't worn them yet.