I also like the Duluth firehose pants. Their originals wear like cast iron, but feel too much like wearing a burlap sack (itchy and course fabric) for my tastes. I still have my first 2 pairs that I can't wear out, I'm too cheap to throw away, but never really wear them. But the "stretch" version (I think they call it "flex"?) are very comfortable and seem to wear just as well. The weave of the fabric is much tighter on these, so it doesn't feel like you're wearing a burlap sack. I've got several pair of the firehose flex cargo pants that I wore every day at my last job for years. I did buy one pair of their regular (not cargo) pants in the same firehose flex fabric, and they are very nice pants. I wear them when I need (or want) to be dressed a little nicer. I also like that they make the front pocket pouches out of the same material that the pants are made out of, and not the thin "tissue paper" fabric that most everyone else makes their pockets out of. I used to carry an amazing amount of keys in my pockets for my previous work, and any other pants I tried, I was always getting stabbed in the legs with the giant wad of keys I was carrying.
Mrs Slim recently bought me a few pairs of Levi's "Signature Gold" (that's all they say on the tag), and they are garbage. Not work jeans quality at all. Paper thin denim and feel like they're chasing the bottom of the Walmart market. In her defense, she ordered them online because she knew I needed jeans, and these were "cheap" at ~30 bucks. I'm sure I'll have them worn out by the end of the mowing season.
