All Outdoor Review – 5.11 Defender Flex Jeans “1 Year Review

A little over a year ago I was sent my first pair of Defender Flex jeans by 5.11. I could remember for a number of years hearing really positive things about these jeans from Mr. James Reeves himself. At the time I was pretty skeptical, as how good could a pair of jeans be from a company that doesn’t primarily make jeans? Fast forward one year later and I can definitively say that these are some of my favorite jeans I have ever worn.

5.11 Coverage on AllOutdoor

The 5.11® Defender Flex Jeans were provided by 5.11 for this review and while I am allowed to keep the product indefinitely, this will not change my opinion on this product or any of 5.11’s current or past offerings. I have had this pair of Jeans for over a year now and have worn them A LOT.

Specs – 5.11 Defender Flex Jeans

Size: 28″ – 44″
Length: 30″ – 36″
Colors: 3 – Medium Wash Indigo | Stone Wash Indigo | Dark Wash Indigo
Country of Origin: Bangladesh
MSRP: $85

Sizing and Fit – 5.11 Defender Flex Jeans

Right off the bat I found that these jeans fit me really well. I tend to wear a 32 – 30 sized pant so that’s what I went with when I ordered my pair of defender flexes. I have an athletic build and I am about 5‘9“, 165 lbs for reference. One thing that is always tricky with me for jeans is finding ones that fit my thighs just right. Being a runner, I have larger than normal thighs for my size, which makes pants shopping a bit of a nightmare. This also made me never ever want to wear skinny jeans as how tight are those things going to be.

I’m happy to report that the Defender Flexes in the regular cut are very comfortable even if you have bigger legs. The jenes are made up of a 76% cotton and 24% polyester with a Lycra® T400 Tough Max™ mechanical stretch denim,10-oz. What this means is that these jeans have just enough stretching to them to be very comfortable no matter what physical position you find yourself in. I hate it when some pants have flex in them and it’s basically like you’re wearing a pair of sweatpants. Thankfully, that’s not the case with the Defender Flexes. These jeans still feel really good to wear and they still feel mostly like jeans, but, have all of the benefits of having some breathability and movement to the fabric.

Quality – 5.11 Defender Flex Jeans

Overall, the quality of these jeans is fantastic. With double needle construction in high stress areas like the back corner of your pockets. This means that you won’t have as much pocket clip wear from your knives on your pants. The belt loops are placed in such a way to promote conceal carry use. They were separated enough in the front, making appendix carry very easy.

There are rivets reinforcements at the hand pockets and the coin pocket to make sure that these jeans will last. The button top fly is locked with a YKK type zipper. Internally the hand pockets have this interesting black camo that they are made out of. This doesn’t really offer any kind of advantage but I just think it’s a cool addition to the pants. I also really appreciate that. These are marketed as tactical pants, but they look very casual. I find most the time when I’m wearing jeans. The last thing I want to be is tactical, so I really appreciate this.

Pockets – 5.11 Defender Flex Jeans

There are seven pockets in total on these jeans. You have your traditional two front-hand pockets. The left side of the hand pocket has a small coin pocket. The back of the pant has your traditional dual back pocket set up, you would find on most pairs of jeans. But this is where things get a little bit different. above the backhand pocket off to the sides are dual magazine pockets. These are designed to specifically hold A.R. 15 pattern magazines and while that’s a nice little feature to have I find they also work great as foam pockets. This is one of my favorite features on these pants as I hate, putting my iPhone in my front pocket or in my back pocket and being able to put it in a more comfortable part of my pants is a huge win in my opinion.

Durability – 5.11 Defender Flex Jeans

In the year that I’ve owned this pair of defender flex jeans, I have worn the shit out of them. One of the first big trips I took them on was to Iceland for a couple of days and then to Germany and these were my primary jeans for that trip. After that, these jeans were taken to Utah, then to Las Vegas, then to Florida, and then to Texas. While these certainly aren’t travel oriented jeans, I found that they fit that role very well. I haven’t been very kind to these jeans, but you wouldn’t know that from looking at them. There are a few scuffs and scrapes but overall they look almost like they’re brand new, which is pretty impressive. Clearly, these are pants that will last.

Likes

Priced Right
Very Comfortable
Great Durability
Pocket Layout

Dislikes

Not great for hot weather

Wrap up – 5.11 Defender Flex Jeans

In the end I think if you’re looking for a tactically oriented pair of jeans that has a few more pockets than your traditional pairs, these are the ones to go for. They’re priced pretty reasonably and 5.11 often has 20 to 30% off sales to include these jeans. Since getting my first pair, I have purchased a few more over the past year because I really think these are some high-quality pants.

Patrik Orcutt

Patrik Orcutt is currently a writer for AllOutdoor who has chosen not to write a short bio at this time.