Royal Robbins Spotless Evolution Jogger

Review by Erin Trail

I love a nice jogger pant.  I’ve got a big trip to Spain coming up and I’m on the search for lightweight, easy to pack and travel clothing options.  Royal Robbins, with their foundation in adventure travel wear, seemed like a great fit to build out my travel clothing lineup.

The Royal Robbins Spotless Evolution Jogger is built for travel and adventure. They are made from a Bluesign®-approved recycled blend of 86% polyester and 14% elastane uses the HeiQ Stain Away technology, to help keep your pants looking clean and new. The fabric is also UPF 40+ and is light weight, stretchy, and wrinkle resistant.

The Spotless Evolution Jogger features one rear pocket and two side pockets.  All pockets have zippers and the front pockets are angled for a natural hand entry. The waistband is a nicer elastic that has an element of style. The waistband also includes a string to make them more snug and for a bit of style.  The legs have a 27″ inseam and features cuffs with the same elastic band as the waist.

Detailed Review

I’ve been wearing the Royal Robbins Spotless Evolution Jogger all over the place since receiving them in early March:

• Teaching yoga
• Lifting weights
• Going to and from the gym
• Errands around town
• Camping in the Western Colorado desert

The Royal Robbins Spotless Evolution Joggers are the most lightweight pants in my collection of joggers.  The fabric is super lightweight and breathable.  Because of this, I didn’t enjoy wearing them in colder temperatures. The Spotless Evolution Joggers are best suited for shoulder season temperatures or cool summer mornings or nights.  I also think they’d be great for summer airplane travel when you want something covering your legs but you also want to be able to move and not overheat.

What impresses me the most about the Royal Robbins Spotless Evolution Joggers is how stretchy and comfortable they are. The fabric is super light and the four-way stretch means you have complete freedom of movement.  I wore these one evening for my usual yoga class (that I teach) and weight lifting session (that I do). I usually wear yoga or run tights, but I wanted to see how the Spotless Evolution Joggers performed.  I was very comfortable in them while teaching yoga and was able to move into any pose that I needed to.  What really made an impression, however, was during my strength session.  I had a finisher set where I alternated between 30 seconds of mountain climbers and 30 seconds of jumping jacks.  I had no problems bringing my knee to my elbows during the mountain climbers and didn’t overheat during that session.

I recently wore the Royal Robbins Spotless Evolution Joggers on a camping trip to western Colorado.  It was 50 degrees in Denver when we left, and I knew the mountains along I-70 would be cold before we got to the desert.  The drive takes 4.5 hours and being comfortable while sitting is super important. We got to our campsite in the early evening, got settled and ate dinner. We had some great lighting and scenic views and snapped a few photos for this review.  The pants don’t look like I’d been sitting in a van for nearly 5 hours: no wrinkles and no signs of wear.  They also still felt really comfortable and were the perfect weight for late in day day desert conditions.

Camping in the desert is dirty and dusty, and I was also impressed with how clean my pants looked the entire time. The dust knocked right off! And despite how lightweight and stretchy the fabric is, the pants are also durable.  They held up against scraping up against juniper trees and rocks and general camping life. At 9.7 ounces total weight, they rolled up into my packing cube and took up very little space.

I found moving around in the Spotless Evolution Joggers to be very comfortable.  I didn’t do any hiking, but I did do a bit of walking around the campsite, and moving around during my yoga class.  I think these would be a great option for hikers who don’t want to wear shorts.

The fit of the Royal Robbins Spotless Evolution Joggers is on the slender side, with tapered ankles.  The pockets are nicely sized.  I prefer to keep the front pockets zipped closed, because when open, they gape a bit as I walk.

Closing Thoughts

The Royal Robbins Spotless Evolution Joggers a performance version of jogger pants; performance because of the how they fit and move. They are best suited temperatures over 50 degrees (for me) because of how lightweight they are.  I think these are a fantastic option for both daily wear, more active times where you want your legs covered, and for travel. I was impressed by the flexibility I had while wearing these joggers and how they looked after a workout or a day of travel. These are definitely coming with me on future vanlife adventures and also to my trip to Spain.

Erin Trail