Women's Torrentshell 3L Pants vs Men's Antora Rain Pants: which is safer?
Patagonia Women's Torrentshell 3L Pants is our pick: better on PFAS and on the overall hazard picture.
Our pick
Patagonia
Women's Torrentshell 3L Pants
PFAS grade
Poor 45/100
Overall grade
analysis pending
Verdict
pending
Hazard flags
none flagged
Material
Nylon with water-repellent coating water-repellent coating finish
Confidence
72%
The North Face
Men's Antora Rain Pants
PFAS grade
Bad 20/100
Overall grade
Bad 0/100
Verdict
Skip
Hazard flags
⚑ 3
Material
Nylon with water-repellent coating water-repellent finish
Confidence
45%
LikelyPFAS in water-repellent coating finish
PossibleNylon degradation and microfiber shedding
PossibleCoating degradation and leachables
Where these two actually differ
- We flag PFAS in DWR finish, Nylon degradation and microfiber shedding and Coating degradation and leachables on the The North Face and not on the Patagonia.
- The Patagonia is Nylon with DWR durable water repellent finish where the The North Face is Nylon with DWR water-repellent finish, which is most of the difference in these two grades.
- The gap is 25 points, wide enough that this is not a close call, and the Patagonia is the one to buy.
- We are less certain about the The North Face grade, at 45% confidence against 72%, because it discloses less.
Both products run through the same public rubric: materials, coatings, brand disclosure, lab findings, and recalls, plus a beyond-PFAS hazard analysis. Grades are model-based estimates, not lab tests. How grades work →
More rain pants: see the full ranking