• Welcome to The Bushcraft Forum

    You are currently viewing the site as a guest and some content may not be available to you.

    Registration is quick and easy and will give you full access to the site and allow you to ask questions or make comments and join in on the conversation. If you would like to join then please Register

Fjällräven Amsterdam.......

Madriverrob

Extremely Addicted
Messages
3,367
Points
1,740
Age
57
I’m away on my holidays in Amsterdam, managed to call into the Fjällräven store , what an Aladdin’s cave of treasures ......

Shame I missed Ray Mears who was here last Friday .....
40D55271-E1FA-45F3-8D34-F81DB1E6C173.jpeg
7918263F-78F5-48FE-A08B-23F5E16E0389.jpeg
01A519EA-D446-4F47-B18F-5168C20A3F08.jpeg
A2AE6353-47AC-4062-906A-6B1D4E3C6A7A.jpeg
AA350B68-2F0B-41DC-8A66-5BD6E966043E.jpeg
BEA3BAEE-060F-4A63-9691-1DDCFE829F3F.jpeg
 
I've a couple of pairs of trousers and I'll admit they are expensive but they just last forever,got a pair of the lined ones off eBay for 50 quid that was a result.
 
The problem is, that a couple of years ago Fjällräven changed the thread.

99% of the production doesn't come from Sweden any more. This are asian products designed in Sweden, like Decathlon stuff is made everywhere in the world (a lot in Europe too) but designed in France.

There are existing old Swedish products which are in use since decades, and there are chinese products wich are in use since years.

BUT
My brother bought the Fjällräven convertible trousers (zipp off legs) Karl.
(Karl Pro is similar but has a tight fit. If you have muscles like a hiker and think about wearing merino long johns under it the Trousers Karl would be the right choice, available in oliv green too.)

My brother bought two of them and changed them, he was wearing them every day, only for heavy duty use on his farm he uses other working trousers.

AFTER ONLY TWO YEARS OF USE THAT TWO FJÄLLRÄVEN KARL TROUSERS FELL APART. THE TREAT IS SIMPLY TO WEAK TO LAST LONGER THAN 365 DAYS OF USE.
The fabrik is ok, but the connecting thread was in 2017 totally rubbish.
The trousers fell into pieces, and perhaps he used every pair of trousers only 300 days.
Price: 150 €

I tested the Decathlon hunting trousers Steppe 300. I used them every day, washed them in the evening and put them on in the morning. After 365 days of use (I walk around 20km every day) the to light dimensioned zipper at the right leg pocket broke. The colour had changed from dark olive green to middle olive green.
Price: 16 €

Yes, the Fjällräven trousers are nearly ten times more expensive than the Decathlon Trousers.

Conclusio:

The nicer designed convertible Fjällräven Trousers Karl, wich have better designed pockets last exactly as long as the Decathlon Solognac Steppe 300 hunting trousers, which do not offer the option to zipp off the legs and cost about 10% of the Swedish Asia Fox Trousers.

The 150€ Fjällräven trousers fall apart, the 16€ Decathlon trousers get a broken zipper, but do not fall apart after round about the same use.

The Fjällräven Trousers come from somewhere in Asia, the Decathlon trousers come from India.

Decathlon offered very similar convertible trousers, which I didn't buy and try, but my colleges bought the same trousers as shorts and they last since more than two years!

The Decathlon convertible Trousers costed around 40€ including a belt. A FR belt costs another 25€.
Currently Decathlon throws in Germany the convertible Trousers for 25€ out, because they are changing cut or colours for the next season, unffortunately they are offered for that price in Germany only in beige/sand colour. Before they had been available in grey too.

Off course I didn't repair the zipper of my trousers. I simply bought a couple of other Steppe 300 trousers for 16€ each.

From two Steppe 300 broke the main button.
Since I replaced them I hadn't any other problems.

Buttons are often a problem at Decathlon. It is intelligent to take replacement with you, if you should buy this stuff.

Even if the Fjällräven Trousers have better placed pockets, why should I buy this very similar trousers for 150€ instead of 16€ or 40€ or 25€ ???
One comes from China, or whatever, the other from India.

The FJ has 65% Polyester and 35%cotton fabric and will dry a bit faster.
The Decathlon has 35% Polyester and 65% cotton like modern Nato trousers and is a bit more spark resistant, drying very fast on the man too.

Fjällräven owns the more or less independant brands Frilufts (totally rubbish clothing in my opinion, by the way), primus (very good gas kitchen systems and stainless steel pots) and something else I forgot. They bought the largest Trekking shop chaine in Germany, called Globetrotter with incredibly large shops in Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart, München, Köln, Dresden, and several smaller ones like the shop in Bonn. That all is called the "Fenix group", so far I am informed, the boss of this all is the son of the man who founder Fjällräven.

So, that's it .

In one of the Globetrotter shops I was told, Fjälräven would return to the old tread.

May be that the new trousers do not fall apart after 300 days of use how the Trousers from 2017 did it.

But personally I am not so very interested in this Item, to buy it and try it.

The Fjällräven Trousers have far cheaper equivalents in the Decathlon trousers.


That's the Zipp off Leg trousers, here grey, available in sand too. Lowered price, next time will come something similar but a bit different, I guess, which will return to around 40€ .
They have a lot others of course, but not in Polycotton mix.

And this here are the cheap Decathlon hunting trousers I use since a couple of years:


(Somehow the system doesn't let me look at the british side. They think I am German and should read german. That's why you get here prices in US Dollar. If you try it from your connections, you will easily reach the british shop.)

The most interesting Jacket from Fjällräven is in my opinion the "Räven Jacket".

I bought the Equivalent from the Austrian Army:
Jacke zum Kampfanzug KAZ 02
(Polyester cotton Mix, made in Germany by Leo Koehler, who cuts for the Budeswehr too.)

I played 30€ for the new jacket.
Used they are cheaper of course.

16095



Here they sell it. 65%cotton, 35% polyester.

NEW, UNUSED! 30€.

MADE IN Austria or Germany. Original Austrian Army.

I cant see so many differences to the "Räven Jacket", Which costs ten times more and is made in Asia.


I agree: The Fjällräven stuff looks very very good. But did they really change back to the old thread? Does that stuff last for one year or 20 years? If I buy it today, do I get the old bad thread or the new one, so far it really exists???

Do they give 10 years warranty or only one ore two???
They tell me it would last for years, but what my brother bought fell apart after one year.

Do they give decades of warranty or only what they are forced to???

(It would be easy to give 10 years warranty, isn't it? Decathlon does it for several ruck sacks, by the way.)


I AM NOT CONVINCED about the quality of the Asian Mountain Fox.
I am just convinced about, that in the management in Sweden work several foxes. The perhaps best sellers of the outdoor industry sell the "Perhaps best outdoor fabrik". In every colour we can imagine!

On top of the trousers Price you have to add another 20€ for the cutter to shorten the legs, by the way! The legs are to long, far to long.


The cheap Austrian Army stuff and Decathlon Stuff works very well for me.
I will stick with that for the moment!
 
Last edited:
In a moment of madness, I ordered a pair of the G-3000 Trousers a couple of years back.
I have never worn such an ill-fitting and uncomfortable pair of trousers.
Wore them twice after having a seamstress take them up.

Much better out there for much less money 👍
 
Back
Top