First Time Out With Rains Cargo Pants
Here's how these waterproof pants held up in a soggy berry patch.
Kate from a few years ago—when I first saw these Rains Cargo Pants in a shop—didn’t need waterproof pants. Where would I go where I needed those? I was a full-time copywriter who sat at a desk for 40-hours a week and indulged in things like acrylic nails and ssense sale hauls. I went outside when it was temperate and sunny, and I stayed inside when it was rainy.
I rattled off all this in my head to talk me out of buying the pants for their color—an overcast baby blue that looked like the shiny stuff the figures on Lazer Guided Melodies are made of. The pants had a matching jacket and even though I walked away from that outfit I never forgot that color.
Kate from today—who is paid to garden in drizzles, downpours, and drenched outdoor spaces—does need waterproof pants (and probably a matching jacket). When I couldn’t find that seasons-old set in stores or online, I kicked myself for not being more impulsive a few years back. When a friend showed up to a photoshoot wearing the Sonic Blue Waterproof Jacket, her biking-in-the-rain staple, I gasped. She just said, “Poshmark.”
I haven’t (yet) been able to track down the jacket in that color in my size. But a few weeks ago after a particularly soggy gardening session, I bought a never-worn pair of the Sonic Blue Cargo Rain Pants <3 I was stoked. And I had an immediate reason to see how they held up: It had rained just before a u-pick berry date with my boyfriend, Chris.
Here’s what I think of them after my first time out:
Rains Cargo Rain Pants Wide in Sonic Blue
Order details
From: Poshmark
Price: $60-75; I paid $70
Size: Medium
First-try rating out of five
Look: 🤎•🤎•🤎•🤎•🤎
Fit: 🤎•🤎
Performance: 🤎•🤎•🤎
Quality: 🤎•🤎•🤎
How do they look?
I don’t think I need to tell you that I freaking love the color. It’s 1:1 from the product pictures to real life. They’re so high-shine that they basically glow, even on a cloudy day. I really like that you can see the purple undertones shimmering in certain light—like this close-up Chris took on the car ride home.
If that sounds like a lot, the pants are super easy to tone down even if you didn’t kneel in dirt hunting for late-season strawberries. A few shades of brown and a black baseball cap did the trick, though one day I will max them out with the matching jacket … and my Ottolinger black velvet crop tank and black kitten mules … at a bar sipping cloudy wine instead of gardening in them!? Pants can go OOO, too.
How’s the fit?
My typical pants size is a US 4 or 6, which puts me in the center of the Small-Medium divide. Both sizes were surprisingly easy to find on Poshmark, and I ordered the Medium to be sure I could layer them over stiffer, thicker canvas pants during the fall and winter. And I will be able to. The Medium is roomy—I don’t feel restricted when I’m crouching, which is the gardening position I’m in 85% of the time.
With the drawstring waist snugly cinched, they fit comfortably above my hips. But the extra fabric balloons out in the front and in back, as you would expect. It is a bummer for the fit to be off, especially after all this anticipation.
How do they perform?
While the berry bushes I picked were wet to the touch, it wasn’t wet enough outside to get a sense of how they’d hold up in rain. According to the manufacturer, it delivers “waterproof protection from light rain.” I did notice droplets of water pooling on top of my pants while I grazed the ground for strawberries, which made me happy.
I used the hidden pull cords to seal the cuff around my ankles—a big deal when you’re walking through a dusty field or stomping in puddles. Four welded pockets feel especially handy. I imagine I’d put my Niwaki hand pruners in one of the hip pockets and use the cargo pockets for my phone or sunglasses.
Like all of the waterproof pants I’ve worn, they struggle with breathability. It was super humid at the berry patch and I started to feel like the sauna switched on about 30 minutes into casual picking.
How’s the quality?
These pants feel substantial. There’s a reassuring weight to them like they’re made to be a protective layer. They’re heavier and thicker than my waterproof North Face shell pants, but they’re not heavy or thick.
The material is a little grippy to the touch (it doesn’t feel shiny) and it’s surprisingly durable so far. It didn’t show any signs of wear after direct contact with rough, dry soil—no scratches or discoloration. Plus the remnants of the day were easily washed off in the delicate cycle.
One thing that didn’t wash off was the funk of the material. It had a fish sauce-y odor straight out of the original packaging that is, as you might have guessed, severely off putting. Outdoors, this was—thankfully—unnoticeable.
My friend who owns the matching jacket said she had the same smelly experience with her Sonic Blue Rains gear, but reassured me that the smell does fade away. Maybe after a second wear and wash?
So was it a good first time out?
Yes. These pants deliver on the look I’m after, are comfortable to move in, and feel robust enough to handle outdoor work.
But before I decide if they’re keepers (I want them to be so badly!) I’ll need to test out:
a) How they perform in real-life rain.
I get why my friend wears these for rainy-day bike commutes when you’re out in the elements for no more than ~20 ish minutes. If they can last for 4 hours in wet conditions, then they are exactly what I’m after.
b) How they fit over thicker base layers.
If they pass the summer showers test, then I’ll see if the extra room of the Medium is just what need over bulkier bottoms in the fall.