Men's Chinos (Pants)

Chinos are flat-front trousers cut from cotton twill, a weave whose diagonal ridges show when you hold the leg toward a window. Twill is what separates them from any other cotton pant, since those diagonal ridges let the cloth slide against itself, so the leg drapes and creases less than a plain weave of the same weight. Weights sit between 6.5 and 9 ounces per square yard, heavy enough to hold a leg line and light enough to wear from April through October.

Military tailoring is still visible in the build. Front pockets are cut on a slant at the hip so a hand goes in without breaking the line of the leg, back pockets are welted or flapped and set high, and the seams are often felled, which means the raw edges are folded into one another under two rows of stitching so nothing frays inside. No crease is pressed into a chino, because cotton will not hold a heat-set fold past lunchtime and the leg is designed to hang smooth instead. Around 2 percent elastane stops the fabric pulling across the thigh when you sit, and costs you a knee that bags slightly by evening.

Wool dress trousers take a permanent crease and read as real tailoring, which is the line a chino never crosses. Corduroys use the same cotton in a ribbed pile that catches light and pins the trouser to autumn. Cargo pants share the twill and bolt expanding pockets onto the thigh, giving up any chance of an office. Golf and performance pants copy the silhouette in stretch synthetics that dry in an hour and shine under overhead light. Chinos hold the middle of all of that. Range rather than excellence at either end is the main reason to choose them.

Most men need two pairs before they need a third of anything else, since one navy chino covers a business casual office, a dinner and a flight with no change. Dark navy and olive hide marks and pass in more rooms than tan, which shows every scuff and reads a step more casual. Anyone whose office expects a jacket daily should own wool trousers alongside them, because a chino under tailoring looks slightly undercooked. Real heat is the weak point, given that cotton twill absorbs sweat and takes hours to dry out.

Seam allowance in the seat decides whether a tailor can help you later, which means the spare cloth left inboard of the stitching: a generous one releases the waist an inch or two, and a shaved one locks you into the size you bought. Work the fly and the waist closure three times each in the shop, since a zip that catches when new sidelines the pair while it waits for repair. Read the fiber percentages before the description, because words like premium are free while the fiber line is regulated. Cold water and an inside-out cycle protect the dye, and hanging the pair damp from a clamp hanger by the hem dries the leg flat.