Arc’teryx Veilance Align MX Pant Review

Hi-level

  • Highly durable, slim fitting pants with exceptional carry capacity

  • Paneling offers visual interest

  • Fabric dries quickly but is noisy

Introduction

Since their release in 2018, the Veilance Align MX pants have been a popular staple for Fall/Winter. Soft, durable, highly weather resistant and featuring what is in our opinion stellar yet inconspicuous carry capacity, these pants perfectly capture what the brand is about. We’ve been wearing them for over 5 years: let’s share our long-term insights.

The Align MX are the spiritual successor to the Align pants, which were a slim-fitting cargo pant made from a cotton and nylon blend. The Align MX – with MX indicating use in “mixed weather” – takes cues from the former, with a slightly looser fit and updated cargo pockets at the thighs, swapping out the cotton-blend for a fully synthetic double weave.

This material is called Burly Double Weave, made from nylon, polyester, and elastane. The outer is tightly woven and DWR-proofed (Durable Water Repellent, a chemical compound made to repel water, causing raindrops to bead off instead of soak in), resulting in a highly abrasion- and wind-resistant pant. On the reverse side, the cloth is slightly brushed, providing comfort and absorbing sweat from your legs, aiding in preventing a clammy feeling by maintaining a comfortable microclimate. Add in the stretch properties and you end up with a very comfortable pant protecting you from but the worst the weather can throw at you. We’ve cycled, played, hiked and been all over in these pants and they still look good as new. To give you an idea of the durability of the fabric: it’s what Arc’teryx uses in their Gamma Guide Pant, made for mountaineers.

Construction

The Align MX showcases Arc’teryx’s expertise in construction techniques. The pants are sewn together from several complexly cut panels, creating an articulated fit that’s non-restrictive. A large gusset at the crotch frees up your legs for acrobatic moves like mounting a bicycle. On the inside, as expected, every seam is taped for added comfort and weather resistance. None of the taping has failed on our pairs (we bought different colourways throughout the years) – we’ve heard from people experiencing crotch blowouts, but we’ve been spared from that thus far.

Darts at the knees aid in overall articulation.

Hidden carry capacity

We feel it’s easy to undersell the Align MX if you don’t experience the pocket system – but we’ll give it a try. The next photo features an attempt to sketch the internal pockets.

There are two slash pockets as with most chino and cargo pants, which are amply sized and easily swallow a max sized phone. However, there are no back pockets. In lieu of this, there are two discretely angled cargo pockets on the sides. These are accessed by a large zipper that is installed towards the front upwards instead of to the back, making them easy to operate both while standing as when sitting down. When sitting down, they feel like opening a drawer. Inside the pockets are two smaller pockets which fit an Airpods case, a small case of mints or a card wallet. Small items that are stored in one of these organization pockets stay out of your way and don’t tend to fall out either sitting or standing thanks to their nifty angle. It’s something unnoticeable at first yet we found ourselves missing this feature in other pants – unless you’re an avid Acronym-pant enjoyer but that’s a whole other story.

The pockets are constructed from a resilient and quick-drying nylon weave called Terratex, a staple fabric Arc’teryx uses in for instance their Gamma Quick Dry pants. Veilance uses it a lot as both the main fabric for jackets, pants, and as liner material. An advantage of using synthetic fabrics for pocketing is that it dries equally fast as the rest of the pant, whereas classic cotton garments usually stay wet the longest in these areas after a downpour or laundering them.

We’ve stuffed the pants with wallets, phones, pacifiers, small pieces of paper, coins and really came to appreciate their ease of operation, volume, and internal organization. Everything stays out of your way save for very large items, which fall back to your glutes when sitting down. All of this is done in a smart integrated way: especially with the black colourway a passer-by wouldn’t notice the cargo pockets until you point them out (or if you max out the capacity).

As for everyday use, these pants have really held up well. We wear them while travelling in late Fall and Winter and savor the carrying options, durability and weather resistance bundled in a relatively lightweight package. Knowing that these pants’ DNA is rooted in the mountains they carry over to day hikes easily. The Align MX wet out after harsh downpours but dry very quickly. We wouldn’t recommend them as hiking-only pants though: the construction is intricate and meant for everyday use, there’s practically no double stitching as you’d want in a true hiking pant. The construction of these – and other Veilance pants – rely on single stitching, taped seams and bar tacks.

Burly Double Weave is highly comfortable yet swishy (see Cons) and it regulates body temperature well. During winter we wear them to the office, going both out- and indoors and they rarely feel clammy or very cold. Summer pants however these are not.

The pants are coated with Durable Water Repellant (DWR), which can be revitalised using technical detergent and a medium dry cycle.

How it wears

If you’ve read our other Veilance reviews you know that we appreciate the brutalist paneling and minimalistic styling of the pants: low-key yet beautiful and interesting. In our opinion they work with a variety of shoes, boots and styles. The fit is more on the regular/slim side of today’s trend (time of writing: 2024) but we feel they’re rather timeless (or: boring) since they don’t push to any extremes.

For this review we photographed the FW23 model in the seasonal colour “Shade”, a brown/grey hue that shows off the construction pretty well.

For our pair we went for our TTS 32 and we feel this is the way to go, knowing how low they sit and given the amount of stretch the pants have. The inseam gradually increases when sizing up, but it’s safest to contact Arc’teryx themselves to know the actual inseam of a pair you’re interested in. A skilled tailor can easily hem the pants should that be necessary, but be aware that re-taping any seams is something most tailors won’t be able to do.

Cons

The rise of these pants is fairly low and the zipper is way too short in our opinion. A revision with a longer top block would be most welcome in this regard. The low rise however is comfortable when sitting down – something that might be of hinderance with high rise pants.

It’s noticeable that the Burly Double Weave material is hefty and made for the outdoors: it can get quite noisy. There’s an unmistakable “swishing” sound when walking or brushing the pants which is something you might find annoying, especially in more quiet environments. The benefits and sturdy drape of the fabric however outweigh this. Within the Veilance ecosystem and mindset the material package makes sense: robust as hell and most likely overkill for city use. The seams are more likely to fail before the fabric wears out.

This makes us wonder about any constrictions the Veilance department might have within Arc’teryx. The line was initially conceived as a no-limits-make-the-best-clothes-we-can, so it makes us wonder if they could have gone for an equally durable material that would be less loud. For office use, there are synthetic clothes options with a less harsh sound signature from companies like Outlier.

This however would have an impact on the drape and construction of this particular design. Also, knowing that you’re stealthily wearing a mountaineering pant fits right up our alley.

Verdict

The Align MX are one of our favourite fall/winter pants from Arc’teryx Veilance. Highly durable, weather resistant and offering stealth cargo capacity they are a joy to wear and use in a variety of conditions, even in extreme weather. Add their unique patterning and you’ve got yourself a true classic. Highly recommended, but be aware of their signature synthetic “swish”.

9/10

The Align MX pant was available for €350 at Veilance at the time of writing.

We are currently writing up a review of what is in our opinion one of the best shell jackets Arc’teryx/Veilance makes: The Isogon MX. Made out of the same Burly Double Weave fabric as the Align MX, this softshell has a lot to offer. Be sure to watch this space.