Helikon-Tex is a Polish company established in Poland (duh) in 1983, starting out as a military surplus-retailer. In the late 90s, the company saw an opportunity in the market for them to design and develop their own military and paramilitary lines of clothing and gear. The company has not looked back since and we’ve already covered some of their offerings in detail on here before.
Today we are looking at Helikon-Tex’s UTP Ripstop pants, which was actually one of their first pieces of tactical gear that they designed and produced. The UTP Ripstop pants are the result of years of research and development along with consultation from military personnel. Since then these pants have been used by various military services, private contractors and law enforcement with much delight.
Features
- Elastic waistband with velcro fastener
- 50 mm wide belt loops
- Two key loops, D-ring or karabiner compatible
- Classic jeans ‘neck’ shape prevents riding down
- Two internal low profile pockets
- Two classical front pockets with strengthened edges for gear clips
- Two wide back pockets
- Two slim back pockets – depth-adjustable
- Two thigh cargo pockets with YKK® reverse
- Two front velcro-closed flapped pockets for smart phone or AR magazine
- Low Profile Insert Pads compatible
- Cuffs with cord channels
- YKK® zippered fly
The Helikon-Tex UTP Ripstop pants are made from 60% cotton, 37% polyester, and 3% elastane (spandex) blend which is a 4 way stretch material that brings the pant weight to 624 grams. This material is great because it’s a good balance of elasticity and durability resulting in a light weight pant that seems to do it all. These pants are tear-resistant and built to withstand heavy use as per Polish military specs (Helikon-Tex originally designed them for the Polish military).
The Helikon-Tex UTP Ripstop pants are available in large variety of colors and patterns including adaptive green, ash grey, black, coyote, jungle green, khaki, mud brown, navy blue, olive drab, olive green, shadow grey, taiga green, crimson sky/ash grey, and US woodland. They also come in sizs ranging from small to XXL waist sizes, and they are designed to be true to size pants. Be advised, they will shrink a little bit, less than an eight of an inch.
The pocket setup for the UTP Ripstop pants is excellent with all the pockets you need in the right spots. The front 8” x 6” pockets are angled for easy access yet they keep the contents from failing out the sides while sitting or moving knees forward. Further to the thighs you have two pockets that can easily fit AR mags. The only downside is any thigh rigs or drop holsters will make this pocket useless. Then there are the mag pouches/pockets along the belt line are very hand for range days or tucking in your EDC knife or multi-tool. The front pockets are nicely hidden and will protect anything you put in them. There is a pocket divider which can also hold an AR magazine and the pocket next to it can easily securely hold a passport or wallet. There are triple belt looks at the back to put extra support where they need to be and will accommodate any belt that is 2” wide. The belt loops are properly spaced to allow for gear and holsters to be mounted without issues.
Now on to the good stuff. These fit great, they look awesome and I found them very comfortable to wear. I found the pants to breathable and comfortable even in hot weather which is nice. Even when running around for training or are the range, I didn’t find myself overheating. Which actually brings me to another point, they never got uncomfortable, nor did they feel like they were in the way or preventing me from doing what I wanted to do.
Finally, there is the price point. You can regularly score these for $70-90 online without issue. This is not bad at all when consider that other tactical pants of similar features and build quality are coming in the price range of $130-150. Now don’t expect these to be perfect, you will get some imperfections on things like stitching or a lose thread here and there. But none of these will affect the performance or durability of the Helikon-Tex UTP Ripstop pants and again keep the price point you paid for them in mind if you find these. Overall, these are great pants that will work for casual use and duty use if needed and I would have not problem recommending them. 8/10.
Smooth