Davis v. Smitty v. Honigs pant battle royal

[NEAOA]

Even if you order up in size in the new GD polywools, and say you lose some weight and they become a little big in the pant, you can always have them taken up some to fit better.  The new GD polywools have held up great this college season and also doing some high school ball.  I would recommend them to those looking to purchase a good quality polywool pant.

[umpstu]

13 hours ago, Mr Ump said:

I noticed they are 'lighter" and 'thinner' than the original Honig's. And the creases seem to fall out from the ones I have noticed others wearing. I think the material is different as well as the dye color. 

Honigs ahd told me the last ones were in fact heavier. I know mine have had an issue with pilling and I have had to take care of them too much.  Very interested to hear your feedback on the Gerry Davis slacks.

[Big_Mac14]

I bought the Feichheimer by GD plate pants to replace my old Honigs PW's that finally wore out on me. I also bought a new pair of Honigs PW's as well. I like how the GD pants feel and as others have noted, the new Honigs pants are made from a noticeably lighter material than the original Honigs PW's. 

 

In in my personal opinion, I would rank the Fechheimer by GD pants above the new Honigs PW's, but the original Honig's PW's trump both.

[Mr Ump]

On May 24, 2016 at 6:37 PM, Big_Mac14 said:

I bought the Feichheimer by GD plate pants to replace my old Honigs PW's that finally wore out on me. I also bought a new pair of Honigs PW's as well. I like how the GD pants feel and as others have noted, the new Honigs pants are made from a noticeably lighter material than the original Honigs PW's. 

 

In in my personal opinion, I would rank the Fechheimer by GD pants above the new Honigs PW's, but the original Honig's PW's trump both.

I have been using the Feicheimer by GD my last 3-4 plates and they are an excellent pant. Liked them so much I ordered the base pant and am awaiting for them to arrive. Fit and quaity was comparable to the old Honigs PW. Order with confidence.

[kylejt]

23 hours ago, Mr Ump said:

I have been using the Feicheimer by GD my last 3-4 plates and they are an excellent pant. Liked them so much I ordered the base pant and am awaiting for them to arrive. Fit and quaity was comparable to the old Honigs PW. Order with confidence.

Thank you for that review, and all the ones above that compare them to the old standards.

[taa71458]

So have we decided Feichiemer by GD is the best?

[Samwhich169]

I just got my GD Polywools in the mail yesterday. I was very impressed with the overall quality of these pants. I have worn them all, Smitty, Honigs, Ump-Attire(which i miss) and now GD. I like having the expandable waist band and it is much more concealed than the Honigs Ultimates. The only regret I have is that I did not order them sooner because now the base pants show that they are out of stock until much later. My dad ordered the new Smitty Polywool pants and they look great too. They are not as thick as the GD and they don't have the sweet expandable waist band in them. I had an old pair of the Smitty Polywools when they first came out and they were absolutely awful pants.

[MidAmUmp]

I'm sold on the GD Poly's. The only negatives (and they are small) is belt loop placement - not exactly where *I think* they should be and they don't have a reinforced seat & knees like the Honigs. Otherwise, they are the best on the market right now. And you can thank Hunter Wendelstedt and Brent Rice for getting them made. They wanted to provide full uniforms for their students and told GD they wanted poly-wool pants.

Again I would note, several on here say they run small. If you have ever been measured by a taylor, order your regular size. If you trust your waist size to Dockers on the shelf at Kohls...probably better go up a size. I took everyone's word and ordered a larger size and I'm swimming in my pants. I'll have to get a smaller size next order.

[Welpe]

The plate pants aren't reinforced? That's a pretty big negative in my opinion.

[MidAmUmp]

14 hours ago, Welpe said:

The plate pants aren't reinforced? That's a pretty big negative in my opinion.

Honestly, the fabric is thick enough that you don't notice it. They are very good quality. 

[kylejt]

Not having double knees is a shame, too. But that's probably because hardly anyone works from a knee anymore.

 

[taa71458]

What field pants do they wear in the majors. I like the slimmer pant leg opening in those. 

[indianaumpire15]

4 hours ago, taa71458 said:

What field pants do they wear in the majors. I like the slimmer pant leg opening in those. 

They get theirs tailored.  I just had my tailor slightly taper mine.  They are perfect now.

[Welpe]

Honestly, the fabric is thick enough that you don't notice it. They are very good quality. 

I'm mostly worried about crotchular blowout but that is good to know at least. Thanks for the review.

[Varsity07]

I have the Smitty Poly Wools, I only Dry - Clean them. Has anyone else had the fabric "bead" up on them?

[MidAmUmp]

4 hours ago, Welpe said:

I'm mostly worried about crotchular blowout but that is good to know at least. Thanks for the review.

They are very roomy in that area

[Welpe]

I have the Smitty Poly Wools, I only Dry - Clean them. Has anyone else had the fabric "bead" up on them?

That's not too unusual for wool blend garments. A fabric shaver should do the trick.

[MadMax]

Because I'm an athletic guy, with an athletic frame, I heavily favored flat-front pants. My first-ever umpire pants were Dalco heather-greys. I then got the Honig's Ultimates in charcoal, and combo-cut. These gave adequate room for a personal protector, but started to show the... not-so-desirable saggy look while out in the field. As I cut my teeth umpiring in 15-games-per-weekend tournaments, with 15 minute change-overs, combos were a necessity.

I then tried Smitty pants (I don't remember if they were the polywools or not), but hated everything about them. The Expanding waistband was way too complex, and caused the pleat-paunch to be even more accentuated, especially when going in the ready position or HOK. Needless to say, they were promptly returned, and I made do with the Honig's combos. Through this site, I was directed towards Boombah flat fronts, in charcoal and combo-cut. They were perfect... until...

I attended Cooperstown Dreams Park. While the staff there does a remarkable job of laundering all your clothes – for free – this is not a place for tailored pants or expensive jackets. Without knowing the details of the process involved the use of industrial dryers and a heat press recycled from a Conshohocken steel mill, my perfect pants (2 pairs) did two tours through the laundry service, and shrunk. After finding out the process, any time I submitted my pants I had to deliberatively write "NO HEAT NO PRESS" all over the work order.

Returning from CDP, the seamstress I consult managed to redo the seams and hems and put the pants back to approximately where they were. They lasted for another year until I once again returned to CDP and used the laundry service. While this time, explicit postings of "NO HEAT" didn't shrink the pants any further, the detergent they used started a catalytic reaction for when exposed to sunlight, the pants started to fade and turn... purple.

Oh no... I'm that guy!

I muddled through August and into September, wherein I attended the CBUA Showcase in Iowa. In fact, Jason ( @MidAmUmp) actually called me out on my pants and prompted me to get some "real ones". But, with funds lacking and baseball succumbing to the Wisconsin Winter, I had to put off getting new pants until next (this) year. With my Honigs loaned out to a junior umpire who had suffered a catastrophic seam failure, this spring started with the Boombahs limping along, fading to the point where it looked like I had sickly pairs of heather greys. Something radical was needed. I didn't want to invest in polywools just yet because of my concerns of doing tournament baseball in Wisconsin and the punishment that extolls upon our uniforms. So, I ruminated a plan... to (re)dye my pants.

Rit debuted a new formula of dye to apply to polyester! I bought an entire bottle of Charcoal Black and, using an old copper boiling pot, set to it. I boiled the water, added the dye, stirred like a Shakespearean witch (MacBeth), set it to simmer, and then immersed both pairs of pants...

Thirty minutes later, I extracted them, wrung them out and hung them to drip dry over the utility sink. Returning to them 13 hours later (I had to go to work, which sucks), I was astounded – the color was perfect! A nice, uniform, deep charcoal devoid of any splotchiness or clouding. I stuck 'em on, and... oh no. Ohhhhh nooooo. They had shrunk again.

One in particular are no longer wearable (by me, anyway), having shriveled from 36x34 to a palsy 33/34x30... if that. The others just barely survived at 34x33, and I had to use these for a couple of MABL/MSBL games around here, until I finally had to swallow my pride and engineering spirit and purchase actual polywools.

With Honig's over in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I considered getting pants from them, able to try them on and pick them up on my way through to CDP this year. But, as you fellow umpires reported, the Honig's quality has changed and the pants are not as robust as they once were. Then, I had to face the reality that I very likely will not be at CDP this year, so to try out Honigs, I'd have to do the whole shipping and returning headache.

Gerry Davis is located, though, in my backyard (well, big backyard... Appleton is a 2 hour drive from Milwaukee), and based on the feedback several of you have shared – especially @MidAmUmp, @Big_Mac14, @NEAOA, and the Godfather of Style @Mr Ump – I made the drive on a lazy Thursday and tried on a few pairs. I tried out the 36's and 38's. I've been a 34x34 in slacks since I was a high school athlete (okay, I admit, when I was 33, I had a "pudgy year" and my weight swelled up to 235... ironically, this is when I started taking umpiring seriously, motivating me to be more active and that weight started coming off), and am always apprehensive about how new slacks fit. The 36's fit very very well; the 38's were much too generous. The expanding waistband is extremely subtle and sells you on the fit.  The material feels refined and sophisticated. The pleating is done right, not haphazardly, and doesn't create that pudge-paunch I and others dread. I purchased one pair of Plate pants and one pair of Base pants.

My seamstress did them proper justice, and hemmed them exactly where they need to be. My first games with them were this past Saturday in a sweltering 94° Showcase doubleheader, and lemme tell ya... I just have this to say about the pants...

Why didn't I get these sooner?!?!?

I have adequate roominess in them, especially for the personal protector in the plate pants, and they don't feel like chaps. For being wool, they feel remarkably light and the polyester didn't leave me feeling clammy. They didn't snag or pinch on my shinguards. While the plate pants impressed me, the base pants boggled my mind... I had worn combos since I started, and my bodyframe can make combos look good out in the field. I will never, ever be able to wear "skinny" jeans though, despite modern fashion trends all pushing that way (do guys not have shoulders any more?? Good grief!), but the base pants, while noticeably narrower of leg, fit perfectly, allow full range of motion, don't hinder going into the HOK ready stance (which more amateur umpires should be going to in the field), and certainly don't billow in a breeze (which plate and some combo pants do when worn as base pants, which make some guys look like clown... pants).

The Gerry Davis by Fechheimer Polywool Pants, my top-rated pick for umpire apparel. Thanks for reading, yes I know I'm long-winded when it comes to explanations, I could (and should) work for J. Peterman Catalog.

 

[Mr Ump]

2 hours ago, MadMax said:

Because I'm an athletic guy, with an athletic frame, I heavily favored flat-front pants. My first-ever umpire pants were Dalco heather-greys. I then got the Honig's Ultimates in charcoal, and combo-cut. These gave adequate room for a personal protector, but started to show the... not-so-desirable saggy look while out in the field. As I cut my teeth umpiring in 15-games-per-weekend tournaments, with 15 minute change-overs, combos were a necessity.

I then tried Smitty pants (I don't remember if they were the polywools or not), but hated everything about them. The Expanding waistband was way too complex, and caused the pleat-paunch to be even more accentuated, especially when going in the ready position or HOK. Needless to say, they were promptly returned, and I made do with the Honig's combos. Through this site, I was directed towards Boombah flat fronts, in charcoal and combo-cut. They were perfect... until...

I attended Cooperstown Dreams Park. While the staff there does a remarkable job of laundering all your clothes – for free – this is not a place for tailored pants or expensive jackets. Without knowing the details of the process involved the use of industrial dryers and a heat press recycled from a Conshohocken steel mill, my perfect pants (2 pairs) did two tours through the laundry service, and shrunk. After finding out the process, any time I submitted my pants I had to deliberatively write "NO HEAT NO PRESS" all over the work order.

Returning from CDP, the seamstress I consult managed to redo the seams and hems and put the pants back to approximately where they were. They lasted for another year until I once again returned to CDP and used the laundry service. While this time, explicit postings of "NO HEAT" didn't shrink the pants any further, the detergent they used started a catalytic reaction for when exposed to sunlight, the pants started to fade and turn... purple.

Oh no... I'm that guy!

I muddled through August and into September, wherein I attended the CBUA Showcase in Iowa. In fact, Jason ( @MidAmUmp) actually called me out on my pants and prompted me to get some "real ones". But, with funds lacking and baseball succumbing to the Wisconsin Winter, I had to put off getting new pants until next (this) year. With my Honigs loaned out to a junior umpire who had suffered a catastrophic seam failure, this spring started with the Boombahs limping along, fading to the point where it looked like I had sickly pairs of heather greys. Something radical was needed. I didn't want to invest in polywools just yet because of my concerns of doing tournament baseball in Wisconsin and the punishment that extolls upon our uniforms. So, I ruminated a plan... to (re)dye my pants.

Rit debuted a new formula of dye to apply to polyester! I bought an entire bottle of Charcoal Black and, using an old copper boiling pot, set to it. I boiled the water, added the dye, stirred like a Shakespearean witch (MacBeth), set it to simmer, and then immersed both pairs of pants...

Thirty minutes later, I extracted them, wrung them out and hung them to drip dry over the utility sink. Returning to them 13 hours later (I had to go to work, which sucks), I was astounded – the color was perfect! A nice, uniform, deep charcoal devoid of any splotchiness or clouding. I stuck 'em on, and... oh no. Ohhhhh nooooo. They had shrunk again.

One in particular are no longer wearable (by me, anyway), having shriveled from 36x34 to a palsy 33/34x30... if that. The others just barely survived at 34x33, and I had to use these for a couple of MABL/MSBL games around here, until I finally had to swallow my pride and engineering spirit and purchase actual polywools.

With Honig's over in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I considered getting pants from them, able to try them on and pick them up on my way through to CDP this year. But, as you fellow umpires reported, the Honig's quality has changed and the pants are not as robust as they once were. Then, I had to face the reality that I very likely will not be at CDP this year, so to try out Honigs, I'd have to do the whole shipping and returning headache.

Gerry Davis is located, though, in my backyard (well, big backyard... Appleton is a 2 hour drive from Milwaukee), and based on the feedback several of you have shared – especially @MidAmUmp, @Big_Mac14, @NEAOA, and the Godfather of Style @Mr Ump – I made the drive on a lazy Thursday and tried on a few pairs. I tried out the 36's and 38's. I've been a 34x34 in slacks since I was a high school athlete (okay, I admit, when I was 33, I had a "pudgy year" and my weight swelled up to 235... ironically, this is when I started taking umpiring seriously, motivating me to be more active and that weight started coming off), and am always apprehensive about how new slacks fit. The 36's fit very very well; the 38's were much too generous. The expanding waistband is extremely subtle and sells you on the fit.  The material feels refined and sophisticated. The pleating is done right, not haphazardly, and doesn't create that pudge-paunch I and others dread. I purchased one pair of Plate pants and one pair of Base pants.

My seamstress did them proper justice, and hemmed them exactly where they need to be. My first games with them were this past Saturday in a sweltering 94° Showcase doubleheader, and lemme tell ya... I just have this to say about the pants...

Why didn't I get these sooner?!?!?

I have adequate roominess in them, especially for the personal protector in the plate pants, and they don't feel like chaps. For being wool, they feel remarkably light and the polyester didn't leave me feeling clammy. They didn't snag or pinch on my shinguards. While the plate pants impressed me, the base pants boggled my mind... I had worn combos since I started, and my bodyframe can make combos look good out in the field. I will never, ever be able to wear "skinny" jeans though, despite modern fashion trends all pushing that way (do guys not have shoulders any more?? Good grief!), but the base pants, while noticeably narrower of leg, fit perfectly, allow full range of motion, don't hinder going into the HOK ready stance (which more amateur umpires should be going to in the field), and certainly don't billow in a breeze (which plate and some combo pants do when worn as base pants, which make some guys look like clown... pants).

The Gerry Davis by Fechheimer Polywool Pants, my top-rated pick for umpire apparel. Thanks for reading, yes I know I'm long-winded when it comes to explanations, I could (and should) work for J. Peterman Catalog.

 

I told you they were nice. Glad they worked for you. In the end it's only a few more dollars to fly first class.

[ChrisUrbz]

Do the GD Ploywools run true to size?

[BT_Blue]

2 hours ago, ChrisUrbz said:

Do the GD Ploywools run true to size?

Takes some reading and searching. But in this thread you would find the answer.

But I'll help anyways. Word around the camp fire last year, was that the pants ran a tad small.

[Mr Ump]

On October 28, 2016 at 10:19 PM, ChrisUrbz said:

Do the GD Ploywools run true to size?

Mine did. 38

[BT_Blue]

I am between sizes. So the pair I ordered I went with the larger size.

[catsbackr]

OK, yall talked me into it.  I order both plate and base in my regular size.  I hope they fit.

[BT_Blue]

Bought a pair of each the next size up for me. So far like them. Will get them hemmed next year.