When I first learned of the Purple Rain Adventure Skirt, I immediately wanted to try it out. I’d heard a lot of positive feedback about skirts for hiking, especially for big thru-hikes.
This adventure skirt comes from a women-owned business, Purple Rain Adventure Skirts, which was started after the owner Mandy “Purple Rain” Bland thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2014. The prototype began as a pair of used hiking pants, refashioned into a skirt, eventually leading into the product it is today.
Testing the Purple Rain Adventure Skirt!
Though I didn’t have time to take it out for a long backpacking trip, I was stoked to take this skirt out for several hikes. Once temperatures warmed, I took the Adventure Skirt out on a few trails in Golden and Littleton, Colorado.
Purple Rain Adventure Skirt First Impressions
Coming from hiking in shorts and pants, when I tested out the Purple Rain Adventure Skirt, I was impressed to discover how much I enjoyed hiking in a skirt. I hadn’t hiked in one before and found this hiking skirt to be extremely comfortable. Hiking in shorts, I’ve dealt with a lot of chafing and was impressed that I didn’t experience any while using the skirt. The material is lightweight and coated in a DWR finish — which means light rain won’t soak through quite so easily.
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- Secret pockets
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- DWR treated
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- Stretch waistband
Unlike a lot of other hiking pants and shorts, the waistband on the hiking skirt is stretchy, making for a comfortable design that fits well whether you’re utterly trail-starved or stuffed after a large camp breakfast.
The Purple Rain Adventure Skirt doesn’t compress painfully on my stomach, which I have found to be an issue on other hiking bottoms. It made for a good overall fit in every way, and I believe it will fit many different body types since the legs of the skirt also don’t compress. As someone with thicker thighs, I’ve had trouble finding pants that fit well. The skirt was comfortable throughout.
Best Part of the Purple Rain Adventure Skirt
While this hiking skirt has some neat features, my favorite was the dual pockets. Finding pants and shorts with good pockets is rare, even in adventure clothing. The Purple Rain Adventure Skirt has a pocket on both sides with interior separators, bringing the pocket total to four.
Two of these pockets are hidden pockets, which is nice for protecting items like phones. I appreciated that I could fit my large phone and its very bulky case — it usually doesn’t fit into many pockets. The pockets also fit snacks, headlamps, and other items that you might want easily accessible while out on the trail.
See the Purple Rain Adventure Skirt
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- Comfort + no chafe
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- = good trail vibes
What do you think of the Purple Rain Adventure Skirt? Have you tested it yourself? Share your thoughts in a comment below.
Great review for a wonderful product. I have a couple and just ordered a purple one (couldn’t resist the colour). I wore my black one for two weeks of walking the Coastal Path in Cornwall, UK a few years ago. It was super nice to walk in, cool, flattering, easy for the quick pee dash into the bushes and bonus, it looked was presentable enough to pull off walking around towns without looking like I’d just come off the trail.
I ONLY hike in skirts! They’re cooling, easy to pee, less restrictive. I would love one of these… when they make them in a long length. A long skirt protects better from sun and bushes.