In this review, I will be taking a look at a slew of items from the popular e-commerce brand, Birddogs.
I’ve been familiar with Birddogs for several years and can say their attempts at marketing certainly create memorable ads.
While some could say their advertising is a bit “fratty”, I think the brand speaks authentically to their target audience.
Given my decade-plus experience in the menswear industry, I prefer such an approach as opposed to the over-glossy slick ads that emphasize brand identity instead of quality.
Birddogs is one of many direct-to-consumer brands (DTC) that started in recent times.
Shopping Online
With a quick scan over the website, it’s easy to notice they don’t make a lot of styles — and that’s a good thing. Just like restaurants, I’d prefer to see a menu with a few high-quality items instead of a bottomless pit of low-grade fast fashion.
When I started picking items to review, I found the menu to be easy to navigate and the clever names they put on each color were entertaining.
Variations of professional athlete names along with puns and other plays on words abounded. This light-hearted approach is something that I really think engages the consumer and helps them remember the brand in a non-serious, playful way.
As I added things to my shopping cart, the real branding became apparent as you can order any of their pants or shorts with or without a liner. This is probably the biggest decision one has to consider before pulling the trigger on the shopping cart.
I wanted to give an overarching view of the brand so I picked a little bit of everything!
The Shorts
While Birddogs offers shorts with inseams lengths of 6”, 7” and 8” inches long, I opted for 6” across the board since I am merely 5’7” and would encourage any Modest Man to adhere to the principle of “skies out, thighs out.”
As much as I would like to attribute my ever-increasing waistline to powerlifting contents, the reality is excess calories stick to you like glue in your 30s, hence I selected size medium across the board.
I will admit, work life for me has been stressful over the past few months so I’ve fluctuated between 160lbs and 185lbs, with most of that additional weight being in the seat and thighs.
While I’ve blown out the seat of six pairs of custom wool pants this year, I can say Birddogs has come in clutch in the evenings and weekends. The stretch fabric doesn’t look baggy coming out of the package but can accommodate a lot of size change without making your thighs look and feel like they are overstuffed sausage casings!
The four shorts I chose were:
- Uncle Bucks (khaki)
- Deer Hunters (camo)
- Blue Babes (sky blue)
- Shark King (navy)
I chose all of them with the built-in liner.
To the untrained eye, each short kind of felt the same but after checking the tags, there is a reason they separated them out by category.
The khakis Uncle Buck is mostly nylon based with spandex.
The gym shorts, Deer Hunter in camo are mostly polyester with some spandex.
The Oxford shorts, Blue Babes is 95% cotton and 5% spandex.
This pair has been renamed Fart Garfunkels but it is the same color.
Lastly, the Bathing Suit, Shark Kings in navy are 95% nylon and 5% elastane.
The liner of each short is 88% polyester and 12% spandex except for the swimming trunk which is 60%PP and 40% poly and certainly has a mesh look and feel to it.
I would say the shorts are pretty interchangeable across the board. I used the khakis to work out in, wore the swim trunk out on the town one night, chilled in a hot tub with the oxford, and used the camo gym shorts for lounging at home.
One thing I like most is that they are cool/breathable and extremely comfortable. The days of dry stiff and non-stretching cotton are over. When it comes to travel, they pack away easily and barely get wrinkly.
I am also pretty picky when it comes to ease of laundering. If you buy shorts without the liners, you’ll have to wash them more often as they’ll be in contact with your nether regions.
My shorts, having liners, wash and dry great and have shown zero deterioration compared to some other tech fabrics I have experienced in the past.
The Pants
I picked three pairs of pants for this review:
Jeff Pesos, Stretch Khakis
Sadam Humanes, Sweat Pants in charcoal heather
Larry Burds, Jogger in olive
I decided to do with no liner with the Jeff Pesos and Sadam Humanes because I wanted to try something different.
Of the three models of pants, only the Stretch Khakis come in standard English sizes that include a waist and inseam. The Joggers and Sweatpants are sized in the same fashion as the shorts.
The latter two also have different construction which includes a ‘semi moon’ styled gusset at the seat of the pant. There is no doubt this will prolong the life of the pant and accommodate those customers with bigger bottoms.
The jogger and sweat pant also come with a drawstring where as the stretch khakis come with traditional belt loops.
I’ve been wearing the Jeff Pesos stretch khakis every single week for over six months now and can say I like the fit as well as the leg length.
The only negative aspect of these pants is that they wrinkle easily and don’t steam well but after five minutes on tumble in the dryer follow by a few hard shakes and they are good to go.
I’m not sure if these pants will replace every chino on the market but in the modern work world, I think these will pass off as professional without giving the boss a double take.
I bike nearly ¾ of a mile to the gym here in DC and I wore the Sadam Humanes, Sweat Pants as a commuter pant nearly five days a week over my workout shorts.
I can say they kept me warm and they were also breathable and they are great to lounge in around the house.
The outseam of these guys was about 40” which is a big long for a short guy but I made them work. These are best left for guys about 5’9” and taller.
Lastly, I reviewed the Larry Burds and it was honestly the only piece I really didn’t enjoy.
It’s the only product in the lineup that’s 100% polyester. For a jogger, it was a little too plastic feeling for me.
The fit, pocket scheme and design are nearly identical to the sweat pant but I had the outseam coming in at 41” which is just far too long.
This color is no longer available on the website but they have other staples in charcoal, navy, and khaki. Unless you really want to pay to relocate the ankle finish, I’d just recommend getting the sweatpants instead.
Conclusion
It’s important to note that I owned these items for over six months before fleshing out this review. I didn’t merely receive the box, try on the clothes, make an opinion, and write the article. I’ve worn these guys through three seasons and traveled across the country for work and play multiple times.
Historically, as a man of modest height, I’ve often opted for JCrew and JCrew Factory for my shorts given the proportions but they are all cotton based, don’t wash or travel well without massive wrinkles that practically take a full ironing to get out.
In comes Birddogs to replace those basics. There are some days when I just want to roll out of bed, grab something and look good without putting in a lot of effort. Birddogs make it easy.
One little detail that I love is the (near) hidden zipper hip pockets they put on everything.
It’s easy for things to fall out these days and most of us don’t carry big thick leather wallets as men did generations ago. It’s nice to have a secure zipper pocket for change, IDs, cash, or anything else you don’t want to lose.
All in all, I give the company a highly favorable review. I plan to wear all of my shorts as well as a few of the pants regularly going forward.
My only recommendation to the company would be to have just a few more seasonal or fashionable pieces available. Instead of being a ‘one and done’ customer, I think loyal Birddogs fans would purchase more over time if such items were created.
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