Friday, December 18, 1992 - North Shore News ~ 47

Tilley makes bigger pants

with the gardener In mind

I HAVE never been overly
concerned about the latest
fashions for the fastidious
gardener.

The limit of my regard for
clothing has not been much other
than to try to remember to get out
of my party duds before I start
mucking about in the garden.

And even this is done far too
infrequently to suit my more
responsible wife. As far as she is
concerned, if it were left up to
Me, yesterday’s expensive suede
jacket would be next week's
workwear.

A rather cheap shot even if it is
right on the money.

I was therefore taken a little
aback with the receipt of a request
to review the latest in garden gear
from the marketing folks at Tilley
Endurables.

I thought this was the sort of
garb that five-star generals wore
as they stormed into the desert,
not meant for us lowly non-coms
to wage war on weeds. ,

Those 6f you who know me
well will know me well enough to
conclude that my initial surprise
was quickly overcome by thoughts
of freebies.

Why not give the stuff a look?
It certainly couldn't hurt.

I promptly received a pair of
“*higger pants’? and a prototype of
their reworked ‘Shady T’’ hat
with the acknowledged under-
standing that they would have to
take the good (if any) with the
bad (if any).

I have had them six months
now and | can report a bit of one
and lot of the other.

First, let me agree with the
claim that is fundamental to their
line: endurable they most certainly
are. This from a man who can
render the toughest pair of jeans

Tobiasson

OVER THE GARDEN GATE

back into their constituent materi-
al, raw cotton, in less than a
week.

This does not mean, however,
that they are indestructible. Stick
a pair of secateurs in the handy-
dandy little pocket that looks as
though it were made for the job,
tam down on the handles and you
will put a hole through the fabric,
if not your leg. Even be ruined
with misuse.

Most of the Tilley Endurables
line is made of their Adven-
tureCloth which, as the little tag
inside declares, is ‘‘FOR
STRENGTH 65% POLYESTER
— FOR COMFORT 35% COT-
TON.”

As such, the bigger pant was
made with the typical gardener’s
needs in mind. They.are long on
durability and comfortable enough
for lounging around the pooped
deck when the job is done.

They come equipped with the
usual Tilley array of pockets
within pockets and gadget hoiders,
but the real bonus with these

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‘feature-rich’? pants are the
built-in knee pads. :

Just the thing for us poor old
sods whose knees no longer take
kindly to crawling for hours in the
cold, wet pursuit of weeds.

These removable foam pads are
meant to be stuffed into the
pocket-like receptacles supplied at
the knee, no easy task, especially
if arthritis is a problem. This is
where we could have used some
velcro.

1 am not a big fan of velcro and
this was one of my first real nega-
lives regarding these otherwise ex-
cepiionally useful articles of
clothing.

Instead of buttons, they have
elected to use velcro to keep your
pants up and on.

As anyone knows, after a year
of heavy use and laundering,
velcro simply fails to do the job; I
shudder to think about the conse-
quences.

Unlike the svelte Alex Tilley, I
am one of those large, white
mammals (something like a
beluga) that needs all the for-
tification available at the waist-
band to keep from offending the
neighbors.

The bad news is the prototye
Shady T hat did not make the
grade. The good news is, Tilley
Endurables Inc. seems to take its
products seriously enough to test
them rigorously and, if not entire- ,

isfied, fraid t
Pcatistied, are not afraid to £0 | ousce LLOYD checks out a tree at his Christmas tree stand

back to the drawing board.
The recent opening of their on Mount Seymour Parkway near the Second Narrows Bridge
tumn-o'

North Vancouver outlet at
Pemberton and Marine will give
you the opportunity to review
their products first-hand.

NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

“THE STAFF AT
DYKHOF NURSERIES

Large selection
of fresh
Poinsettias

BC

TREE

Look for this sign when you
buy your Christmas tree.
Support your local B.C.
Christmas tree grower.

Live Christmas Trees
Snow flocking available.

DYKHOF NURSERIES
460 Mountain Highway
North Vancouver

985-1914