Men's Sleep Pants (Pajamas & Robes)

Only half the set is on offer. Sleep pants arrive as a single garment with an elastic waist, a drawcord, a straight or lightly tapered leg and an inseam usually cut at 30 to 32 inches. Nothing in the pattern assumes a matching top. They sell in plaids, solids and jersey stripes meant to go with a plain tee.

Two waist systems run this category and the good pairs use both. Inside a folded casing, covered elastic 1 to 1.5 inches wide does the holding. A flat woven drawcord threaded through the same channel does the adjusting. A round cord under 4 millimeters across presses a line into your stomach when you lie on your front. This is the most common complaint about a pair that otherwise fits. Rise counts for more than in daytime trousers, because a low rise slides down as you lie on your side. 11 to 13 inches from crotch seam to waistband keeps a pair where you left it.

Pockets separate the serious pairs from the cheap ones, since two side seam pockets sewn 6 inches deep hold a phone and a pair without any sends you back upstairs for it. Look at Men's Joggers if you want a cuffed ankle and a heavier knit, given that a jogger is built to be seen in daylight. The Woven Pajama Set adds the matching top. Loungewear Set bottoms weigh roughly twice as much and are made for the hours you are awake.

Men who sleep in a tee or in nothing above the waist buy these and skip the rest of the aisle. Warm rooms suit them, as does any household where you might have to answer a door. Summer favors a woven plaid near 4 ounces per square yard and winter a flannel or jersey pair. Getting length wrong is the real risk, because a hem that puddles on the floor gets stood on in the dark. That is how people fall on stairs at night.

Run a tape from your crotch to 1 inch above the floor barefoot and buy that inseam, since sleepwear seldom offers leg options and a 32 inch leg on a short man drags. Pull the drawcord fully out at one side and look for a bar tack, a dense block of stitching at the opening that stops the cord disappearing into the casing. Knot the cord loosely before every wash for the same reason, and dry low so the elastic keeps its grip past the first year.