Garment · Casual
Chinos
Chinos are cotton twill trousers that came from military uniform, and a good pair is cut like tailored trousers rather than like jeans.
Chinos are trousers in cotton twill, descended from military uniform. The name comes from the cloth having been sourced from China for the American and British armies; khaki is the colour, from the Urdu word for dust. A good pair is cut like tailored trousers, not like jeans.
The distinction that matters
A chino cut like a trouser (proper rise, cleanly finished waistband, a leg that hangs) works with a jacket. A chino cut like a jean, with a low rise and a tight seat, does not, and no amount of cloth quality fixes it.
This is the single decision when buying them, and it is invisible in a photograph. Look at the rise and the waistband.
Cloth and colour
A cotton twill around 8 to 10 ounces holds a shape and hangs; anything much lighter behaves like a pyjama. Some elastane is not a compromise in a trouser worn all day, but above about three per cent the cloth stops recovering and the knees bag.
Stone, olive and navy cover almost everything. Stone is the traditional colour and the most useful, and it is the one that shows most clearly whether the trouser was cut properly.
How they should be finished
The details that separate a good pair from a cheap one are the same as in tailored trousers: a proper waistband with a curtain, side pockets that lie flat, a clean fly, and a hem finished by turning rather than overlocking. A pair with belt loops set for a low rise will never sit at the waist however it is altered.
At a glance
How it is made
All techniques →
Picture credits 2
- Khaki chinos over a chair: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
- The inside of a bespoke trouser waistband: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art