My Go-To Weekend Pant (Besides Jeans)

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As a kid growing up, my dad would always be sharply dressed for work. He would always say that he liked to dress well so that if any important visitors came through, the family who owned the business he worked for could always count on my dad to show them around looking the part to make a good impression. In the after-hours at home, he was not the type to change into a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt, but would maybe change out of his wool dress slacks and into a pair of chinos.

My brother and I would go nuts, then, when he would on occasion put on a pair of jeans—because it meant we were about to do something fun. In particular there was this one time he put on a pair of jeans and we watched Alien, and forever after that it became a saying he would use in our house: “maybe I should put on my jeans and we can watch Alien!”

Today for many people, jeans are the go-to casual pant. Lots of people wear them every single day, sometimes the same pair day after day. The advent of stretch denim has made them far more wearable in slimmer cuts, and lighter weight denim makes it more bearable in the summer.

For me, denim (in particular white denim) felt like it had become a crutch, and while my daily office wear is similar in spirit to my dad’s of 30 years ago, it’s objectively less dressy. He wore wool dress trousers, I wear things like chinos many days, and many of my colleagues even wear jeans without issue. But without going into something like athleisure, what are the other options for casual pants besides jeans?

For the past several months, the answer for me has been fatigue pants. They’re obviously not a new trend, though 3-4 years ago they started creeping into the fashion consciousness again (I first saw them on a girl we know who was a teenager at the time and made a mental note because she looked so stylish), so today everybody is wearing them. I’m wary of trends because when you embrace a trend and stick to it too long, it dates you (and my goal is to build a trend-proof wardrobe), but with something like fatigue pants I think if they fit your way of dressing otherwise and you find a fit that works for you personally you have nothing to worry about.

The pair I got and recommend the most are from Proper Cloth (where you can get 10% off your first order with my code MUSINGS10), in a military-esque green herringbone cotton that’s got a small bit of stretch to them. They’re ideal for me because the fabric weight isn’t so heavy that they’re too hot to wear in warm weather. Denim can be so suffocating, but these don’t feel that way at all. Design-wise, herringbone fabric was commonly used in actual military-issue fatigue pants, so they have a bit of a feeling of authenticity even though they’re stretch fabric custom made to my measurements.

Proper Cloth doesn’t sell that color anymore, only a khaki herringbone which is also a super useful color that’ll wear easily. I designed mine with a high rise (about 12 inches) and a straight leg (about a 17-inch leg opening). The real deal military fatigues will fit much looser of course, which is a whole look you can go for if you’d like, but I didn’t go too far afield from my normal sense of fit for pants.

Ready to Wear Options

Drake’s (you know they’re going to get the details absolutely perfect to make you feel better about the eye-watering price)

OrSlow (they have both a wide fit, linked, and a slim fit; check the measurements to find the right size for you)

Imogene + Willie (these are my favorite ready-to-wear ones; I+W is a local Nashville denim shop that has just the perfect style IMO, as they’ve expanded into other product categories). They sell this style in other colors, and a style for women too. 

Bronson Mfg Co (these guys make repro military goods at a great price. Fit will be much more like vintage/surplus however)

Lee (I love the canvas fabric on these, though they also include an additional detail in the form of two lower-right-side pockets, just something to be aware of)

Fatigues Army Navy (standard surplus store so who knows what the quality or fabric will be like)

Natalino has pairs left in size 36 in five colors: army green | dark khaki | navy | sage green | khaki

How to style them

They’re easy to style because mentally they more or less exist in the same space as denim. Rarely I’ll style them carefully with sportcoats—they’ll go well with very rustic tweeds in the winter, and I’m wearing them with a dark navy DB blazer above with other pieces that match in formality (washed chambray workshirt and chukka boots). But primarily I’m wearing them with oxford shirts with sleeves rolled up, chambray shirts, polos polos (particularly long-sleeved ones like the one I recently recommended; in fact in the video on that post I’m wearing these pants with that polo).

I like how Imogene + Willie styles them in their product photos for more ideas.

For shoes, I’ve found my Wallabees work well, my desert boots work well, my sleeker suede chukkas work well, my tan suede jodhpurs work well, my dark brown suede chelseas work well. Basically, boots! I see them styled a lot with Chucks, too, which goes more to that Vietnam-era vibe lots of folks go for.

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Shop my clothing from this post and every other post on the Shop My Closet page. If you’re just getting into tailored menswear and want a single helpful guide to building a trend-proof wardrobe, buy my eBook. It doesn’t cost that much and covers wardrobe essentials for any guy who wants to look cool, feel cool and make a good impression. Formatted for your phone or computer/iPad so it’s not annoying to read, and it’s full of pretty pictures, not just boring prose. Buy it here.