Chinos, help!

[Cheshire Symposium]

My boss has had a mid life crisis and wants us all to start wearing chinos, shoes, and a shirt to work. I usually wear a suit (no tie) to work, but know very little about the quality chinos brands out there. I am kindly looking for recommendations of brands that make quality chinos. I have been advised that Simon James Cathcart would be worth a look, but am unfamiliar with the brand. I live in the UK and my budget is £100 - £200.

 

[fiftyforfifty]

Have tried Dockers chinos!!

 

[Cocker]

You could also have a look at Pike Brothers.

 

[Davy Crockett]

You mentioned Simon James Cathcart in your post, if you look on his sale page he has some Astor Pleated chinos on sale at half price, these are really good quality made in England trousers and certainly worth a look!

 

[Bfd70]

https://www.buzzricksons.com/buzz-original-spec-chinos-p-298.html

 

[hk47]

https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/502921?page=mens-chinos

 

[ShanghaiJack]

https://www.billskhakis.com/mens-kh...MIyOOnh7H15AIVgg-RCh3-9QjDEAAYASACEgJ-XPD_BwE

 

[Edward]

SJC I've always been pleased with. If you're looking for something a bit cheaper and don't mind some synthetic, Dickies 874 Original Fit are great (order them online - if you hunt, you can find them much cheaper on the likes of Amazon than on the Dickies site, especially if you buy from the US, where they are still regarded as utilitarian workwear rather than the fashionwear they are seen/marketed as in the UK).

Another option is reproduction WW2 uniforms. I've always found that a great way of getting a cheap pair of period trousers with a similar cut to civilian wear. You just have to watch the ankles - e.g. most of the Axis stuff is out because they liked a lot of buckles and laces down there. US Officers pinks are great. This does limit your colour palette a little, but if you buy the cotton (tropical uniform issue, though for me heavy enough for year-round UK wear) ones, you can always throw them in the machine with some dylon. Wested do a nice Indiana Jones trouser. I had some back in 2008ish which I found just a little low in the waist, but judging from the website photos they look to have improved the pattern now.

Charles Tyrwhitt's 'Weekend Chino' were my go-to office trouser of choice for a few years, but in the end I gave them up because they were just about 2" too low on the waist for me, and the fly-zip really needed to be longer too for peeing comfort. Shame, as they were well made, all cotton and I used to get a good year out of wearing a pair very hard (three times a week or so). The classic cut has a real, mid-century width to it, looked great with a lot of outfits I wore approximating 30s, 40s and early 50s. If I could get a high-waisted version with a longer zip, I'd order a pair in every colour.

Another thought..... if they're going casual enough for a four-pocket jean cut, try looking at a US supplier (they don't do this model in the UK) of the Wrangler 13MWZ Cowboy Cut jean. Unchanged in cut since 1947, not 30s wide denim, but not skinny either.... very similar to the cut of Brando's in The Wild One. They do them in a whole range of colours, from black through tan, forest green, deep brown.... if the jean cut is acceptable, you'll find that in these colours they don't look like "jeans" if you follow me. I have a pair of blue denim ones I imported when I needed a pair of affordable jeans last Spring after not having worn any jeans for a couple of years. They've been worn a lot and worn hard, and are still good. Incredibily comfortable thanks to the high waist.

One more - check out Aero's CC41 trousers, which are available in a hefty cotton drill. Well worth the money.

 

[GHT]

Check out on line clothier, Samuel Windsor. Good quality chinos, two pairs for £60, in standard, slim line, stretch and flat-front. They have some good sale bargains too. https://www.samuel-windsor.co.uk/trousers/chinos

 

[l0fielectronic]

I bought a pair of the Pike Brothers chinos (Engineer trousers) a couple of months ago, liked them so much I picked up another pair.

What I liked about them was that they have a nice vintage cut and are more substantial than brands like Dickies or Dockers.


If you're in the UK lipstickandgearstick.com have a few styles/sizes on sale at the moment.

I did try a pair of Bills Khakis a couple of years ago, myself seeing them recomended on here, but I found them dissapointing quality/cut wise and sold them on.

 

[Benny Holiday]

https://global.rakuten.com/en/search/?tl=551177&k=cat's paw&l-id=search_regular

 

[Edward]

Check out on line clothier, Samuel Windsor. Good quality chinos, two pairs for £60, in standard, slim line, stretch and flat-front. They have some good sale bargains too. https://www.samuel-windsor.co.uk/trousers/chinos

How are thry in the waist? I love their jackets, but the trousers always looked very low on the hips in the photos?

 

[GHT]

How are thry in the waist? I love their jackets, but the trousers always looked very low on the hips in the photos?

Have to admit, I buy one size too big in the waist and one size too big in the length. My missus then uses that extra material to straighten up the taper, create a wider bottom at the trouser leg hem and still have enough material to make a decent turned up cuff. I know that's not much use to anyone who would have to pay for such an alteration, defeats the object really. But their material and quality is excellent value for money.

 

[Edward]

Have to admit, I buy one size too big in the waist and one size too big in the length. My missus then uses that extra material to straiten up the taper, create a wider bottom at the trouser leg hem and still have enough material to make a decent turned up cuff. I know that's not much use to anyone who would have to pay for such an alteration, defeats the object really. But their material and quality is excellent value for money.

Ah! I live in hope the fashion will change on these lower waisted and narrow legged cuts that seem to have been 'in' forever. Low waists seem to have dominated since, what - the later sixties?

Definitely can't fault them on quality. They get a bad rap for their shoes (though for what they charge, a pair of shoes that can take being worn five days a week for a year, as I did in the past, isn't bad at all), but I've only had good experiences with the jackets I've bought from them. Picked up a new tweed from them last month to replace on that got badly mothed in storage; £49 in the sale. I'm even considering spending the money on the full-price matching waistcoat now. If they but copied the cut of a pair of Dickies 874s for the trousers, I'd buy several suits from them.

 

[bn1966]

Pike here too..all my Chinos and Denim now come from them, trad chinos are great, for the office I wear their 'Duck Canvas' hunting trousers in pale kharki

 

[Dreamofgilgamesh]

I've several trousers and chinos from Landsend and they're not too bad. And they don't cost a fortune either. And they're in the UK as well.

https://www.landsend.co.uk/Men/Trousers_Jeans/Chinos/ix-11385