Särmä TST Woolshell Pants

We've played around with many wool-based outdoor and military clothes over the years; the Woolshell suit is a completely rethought design based on experiences and ideas gathered from numerous projects. Functionally these are much like a pair of modern tactical pants. Combining this functionality with high-quality natural wool fabrics makes these a rather unique garment!

Wool? As in old-timey clothes?

Yes! High-quality wool is not at all scratchy and nasty. Wool has some really useful properties:

• Breathes, doesn't feel like plastic
• Won't soil easily, but cleans up nicely
• Is naturally fire retardant
• Forms on its wearer
• Relatively warm even if it gets moist, but won't really soak in water.
• Made in the EU, in Latvia

Good wool frieze is expensive and has some heft to it, that's why it's not nowadays used so much. It's still more than a viable application for temperate and cold-weather clothing articles.

Modern, functional design

• Regular fit
• Elastic adjustable waist
• Zipper fly with button
• 50 mm / 2" belt loops
• Diamond gusset crotch
• Articulated knees
• Reinforced seat, knees, shins and ankles
• Hook-and-loop cuffs
• Four pockets:
• Two slash side pockets
• Two pleated cargo pockets
• Materials:
• Wool frieze: 70/30% recycled wool/recycled polyamide, 400 g/m²(new model)
• Wool frieze: 70/20/10% wool/polyamide/Cashmere, 340 g/m²(old model)
• Reinforcements: 50/50 % cotton/polyester
• Pocket lining: 100 % polyester

The original idea for the Woolshell design began as a simple fantasy - wouldn't it be great to have a wool suit, which could comfortably be worn under gear and shell garments without causing too much excess bulk? Basically, this would be a garment that could alternate between shell and mid-layer functions, with the fantastic properties of wool being the main attraction. This idea matured over the years and eventually ended up as an update for our legacy wool jackets and pants, tying these together with the current Särmä TST clothing system designs.

Besides the wool and its naturally fantastic properties the other big thing about the Woolshell Pants is the design. The overall construction is aimed at minimizing the bulk of the wool fabric used, therefore certain areas such as the crotch gusset, ankles, and waist are made with double layers of CO/PES instead of any wool. By limiting excess wool-on-wool details, the result is a little bit more lightweight and sleek. The low-profile reinforcements and intricately pleated cargo pockets help keep the overall profile low without sacrificing any functionality.

Model Update 2022

We trimmed the cut to be smoother (size recommendations remain the same), switched to a thicker and stronger wool frieze, and the reinforcements of the Gray ones are blacker than ever. The Green Woolshells are all new, the M05 variants are old. The Gray pants may be either depending on size, the old ones are marked "Retiring Version".

The older Gray ones have ink-colored reinforcements, the new ones are black.

Sizing and fit

Sized according to recommended user height and waist circumference. The cut is a regular fit and accommodates Level 2 long johns underneath. The waist is adjustable with a strong elastic webbing piece with hook-and-loop fasteners on the sides. This webbing piece can also be completely removed if not needed.

Materials

High-quality European wool frieze

The latest ones are heavier and stronger consisting of 70% wool and 30% polyamide, 400 g/m². Polyamide increases durability.

Reinforcements

50% polyester, 50% cotton, ripstop reinforced. Receptive to fabric wax, by the way!

Wash and care

As these are made of wool, they don't need to be washed very often - the best way to keep wool clothing clean is to simply brush off any dirt and if necessary wipe it with a wet cloth. If you must, we recommend dry cleaning. Machine washing at 30-40° degrees Celsius (86-104° F) with a wool cycle is also OK but don’t use a tumble dryer. Hang to dry. When drying, stretch the garment a bit to open up the fibers again. Use of wool care products recommended!