With Winter fast approaching, I set out to order new snow pants for the kids. Last winter was a bust in Maryland, and we bought snow pants that never even got to taste the sweet freedom of fresh flurries on the ground. So those snow pants sat and waited. And waited. And waited. When all hope was given up, they were put into storage for a year.

Now… The big problem with kids is that they are always growing! So of course, I did not expect the snow pants from last year to fit, but we tried anyways. Sure enough, we could hand down some good quality snow pants to our middle child, but we needed a new pair for our youngest (who is the same size as his sister) and our oldest. Unfortunately, I just could not find a pair in our oldest daughter’s size at our usual spots. So I went to Amazon and started doing some research. Over time, I’ve learned that the cheapest option on Amazon is never that good. You have to find the sweet spot that marries decent quality with affordability. I settled upon the iXtreme Unisex-Children Snowpant and hoped for the best. We at Dad Likes Gear always like to give you our honest opinion. That means sometimes we review things negatively because they don’t quite meet our standards. I don’t want to dedicate a ton of space to this review because quite frankly, they do not deserve it! In any event, let’s get into the specifics:

I definitely DO NOT recommend iXtreme products

Design:

When looking at the snow pants on Amazon, I liked that there were reinforced knees and that there were the usual design features you would expect of snow pants. This includes zippered leg openings to make it easier to get over boots and velcro pockets to stash mittens, hand warmers, etc. One key feature that I overlooked is that the pants do not have any means to tighten them. While the pants are elastic waisted, they do not have velcro cinches to fine tune the fit. The pants do not even have belt loops to help you out! They turned out to be pretty loose on my daughter, but luckily she was able to tuck bulky winter clothes into the pants and managed just fine. This was not a deal breaker in and of itself, but what comes next really gave me the chills.

Durability:

This is where things start to unravel. Literally. My daughter wore these pants TWICE! Once while skiing (nothing crazy, no major falls or clashes with branches and rocks) and once while playing in freshly fallen snow. Sure enough, I was going to dry them in between sessions today when I noticed the fabric was separating. This was not a tear, this was stitching failure after only TWO days of light usage. Unacceptable! Sure, I can stitch them back up, but that reinforced the idea that I will not be purchasing anything else from iXtreme in the future. Better stick with more recognizable names or maybe even Amazon Essentials, since I’ve had luck with them in the past. It looks like their pants adjust at the waist, are about the same price, and will likely stand at least a little bit more abuse!

Stitch failure! After TWO uses. If you want to destroy my SNOW PANTS! Pull my thread as I walk awaaaay.

Rating: 0/5

Due purely to how quickly these started to fall apart, I have to give this a big, stinking zero! No pros, all cons. DO NOT BUY iXtreme snow pants (or any other gear, really). It’s just not worth it.

Have you had a different experience? Do you have a go-to brand for snow pants for kids? Let us know in the comments!