Denim Trousers 101: What They Are, Our Favorites, and How to Wear Them”

When jeans are too casual for the office.

When wearing a sport coat with jeans feels too ’90s.

When you aren’t sure about wearing loafers with jeans.

When you need to bring just one pair of pants on a trip that can do it all — and won’t get wrinkly in your suitcase.

The denim trouser.

Also called denim chinos, even though chino refers to the chino cloth that chinos are made from and jeans are not. Perhaps we can settle on jeanos as a name?

Ever since I got my first pair two years ago, I’ve been obsessed with how many problems denim trousers solve and with the fact that nobody seems to be discussing them. I really shouldn’t be spending so much time on this article given that nobody is searching Google for information about denim trousers.

But it’s my website so I’m writing it anyway, and I even made the video below with two special guests: Peter from Peter’s Prism, a channel about menswear through the lens of design and history, and Alejandro Jomar, who works as a tailor during the day and has a YouTube channel about denim on the side.

Let’s explore what I’ve come to believe… are the ultimate trousers.

Jeans vs Denim Trousers vs Chinos

What are we talking about here?

Jeans are made of denim and chinos are made of chino cloth — both fabrics are a kind of cotton twill but they differ in several ways: denim tends to be thicker, more rigid, and made with a combination of blue and white yarns.

But there are more differences!

5-Pocket Design

• Jeans fit closer to the body and have a lower rise than chinos

“You usually call the jean pocket design ‘the 5-pocket design,’ even though chinos often have five pockets as well,” says Lennaert Nijgh, founder of Benzak Denim Developers, who I visited to discuss the topic of jeans versus chinos last year. “It’s easy to put your hands in the pockets of chinos because they’re more on the side of the leg, they’re usually larger, and the pockets are less flush against the thigh.”

With denim trousers, the only thing you’re keeping from jeans is the denim.

Plenty of pants that aren’t jeans, like Flint and Tinder’s 365 pants, are made with what’s come to be known as the five-pocket design. Five-pocket pants also have back pockets sewn on top of the butt and they also have a shorter rise than most trousers

With denim trousers, the only thing you’re keeping from jeans is the denim.

Contrast Stitching & Rivets

These two elements are big reasons why jeans telegraph durability: rivets at stress points combined with conspicuous contrast stitching make you think about the jean as something utilitarian, made to endure stress and abrasion.

When you do away with them and just use the denim fabric on regular trousers, you’ve got a new and exciting way to wear pants.

I realized how weird that sentence is as I was writing it, but it’s true: I don’t think most people understand that jeans are denim + rivets + contrast stitching + five-pocket design.

With denim trousers, you’re extracting just one of those elements and putting it in brand new territory.

Will Denim Trousers Fade Like Jeans?

They aren’t sold anymore but the first denim trousers I ever got were from Benzak Denim Developers in Amsterdam (Peter’s wearing them above), and what I liked about them the most was that they were designed to not fade. Meaning they’d retain their dressiness for longer.

But I might have been worrying about my jeanos fading for nothing, because the difference between the two garments makes a meaningful difference in regards to how they wear.

“Denim trousers won’t fade like denim jeans,” says Alejandro. “Jeans fit much more close to the body, which is a huge factor in why they fade. Most of the fading you get in jeans isn’t actually the fabric, it’s the cut — the silhouette.

“I think that it’s going to be very hard to get high contrast fading or distressing on them. There are different categories of wear, and denim trousers are going to more so patina than distress.”

From France to the U.S. Navy: Brief History

“Denim jeans are a very American thing, although their origin is France — the word denim is short for de Nîmes or from Nîmes, a town in France that probably invented the fabric,” says Peter.

Jeans are indeed American, patented in the United States by Levi Strauss in the 19th century. Denim was being worn all over the place before that. Denim trousers aren’t a new thing, they’re older than jeans themselves.

“In the first World War, the US Navy introduced what they called deck work pants, which were made of denim,” says Peter. “Interestingly, they were still issuing a form of denim trouser in the 1940s, more than 60 years after the invention of jeans.”

The Outfits: How to Wear Denim Trousers

We’ve all been wearing denim trousers a ton, and to be honest, all three of us quickly fell into a basic template of denim trousers, loafers, a tucked-in button-down shirt, and a good smart casual jacket like a tweed blazer or moleskin chore coat.

Denim Trousers, Dressed Down

• Since they’re a smarter and more deliberate alternative to jeans, try to make your casual outfits a little more elevated than your most dressed down looks

“When you’re styling denim trousers to lean more casual, just drop each piece of your look down a notch in terms of dressiness,” says Peter. “Instead of a typical button down shirt, consider a camp collar short sleeve. Instead of derby shoes, try suede loafers or even minimalist sneakers.”

My take: denim trousers are a smarter alternative to jeans, so don’t wear your denim trousers with a hoodie and t-shirt — you can just wear jeans for that.

You can wear denim trousers casually, but I’d stick to collared shirts (flannel’s fine!) over an old tee.

Denim Trousers, Dressed Up

• Wear them with a sport coat, tie, oxford cloth button down, and loafers or derbies

“I think chinos are always fine in the office, but jeans are definitely not always fine in the office,” says Peter. “So what I love about the denim trouser is that while it does toe the line between jeans and trousers, to me it leans dressier, a little more refined. Which is very nice, because no one else in the office is going to be wearing denim trousers.”

When styling denim trousers for the office, just stick to the business casual template of tweed sport coat, Oxford cloth button down shirt, a tie, and loafers or derbies. The choice of shirt is important because if you pair your denim trousers with something super dressy, like a broadcloth, it’ll be too incongruous with the denim.

The Oxford cloth shirt is marginally more casual than a lot of professional shirts, so to make sure your outfit is unambiguously office appropriate: wear that tie and don’t cuff your denim.

Denim Trousers, Dressed French

• Wear them with a chambray shirt and a chore coat for a smart take on workwear

The history and geography of denim is complicated to say the least, but as Peter explained above, denim trousers are part of the rich history of French workwear — which might explain why they feel so right when worn with two other staples of this style: the chambray shirt and the chore coat.

All of these garments are incredibly hardwearing but look very smart when put together. It’s an outfit that can take you absolutely anywhere.

Our Favorite Denim Trousers

At the time of writing, a lot of the denim trousers we’ve worn over the years aren’t sold anymore, but I’ll include some of them here just so you can get an idea of the different ways brands approach this kind of trouser.

Orslow Two Tuck Denim Wide Trousers (~$280)

Alejandro and I have been talking about denim trousers for over a year, and in the first e-mail he sent me on the topic, these were at the top.

These might be the best denim trousers for summer. While denim isn’t the most breathable fabric in the world (tough fabric = tight weave), Orslow’s trousers have a roomy fit for airflow and, most importantly, the denim is just 8 ounces per square yard — some 30 percent lighter than your average mall brand.

You’ll just have to Google them to see if anyone’s selling them right now, but I see these at Withered Fig and Stuf-f.

Studio Nicholson (~$350)

Last year I spoke to menswear writer Dan Hakimi about smart casual dress codes and when we inevitably came around to the question of jeans, he brought up Studio Nicholson’s denim trousers.

There are plenty of brands that like reproductions of early 20th century denim trousers but Studio Nicholson has become the place to go for more fashion forward options. They’re not all offered all of the time but I’ve seen the Puch, Bridges, Pyad, and Bill pants on their site — the Puch seems to be their hero product.

Bronson Mfg (~$110 – $150)

Bronson is a true enigma in the world of vintage menswear: most of their garments are reproduced from archival patterns and made with the kind of polyester-free fabrics that guys in this space love — yet everything they sell is crazy inexpensive, even if you take into account that they’re made in China.

But they’re the best one-stop shop for guys interested in the denim trousers of old, offering multiple U.S. Navy models that include patch-pocket pants from 1917 and dungarees from 1945.

Fottners Two Tuck Wide Indigo Jeans (~$125)

The perfect denim trouser for guys who really want to see how dressy denim can get.

“Because of the lack of slub and nep in these jeans, it comes across as engineered specifically for denim trousers — it’s not a five-pocket standard jean,” says Alejandro. “There are no real angles here, but when it comes to the cuts of the details, it’s very straight.”

Supernova One Wash Selvedge Jeans ($235)

As the coolest denimhead I know, Alejandro’s jeanos are from a small Japanese brand and very hard to find stateside (he recommends NYC’s Free Agency). Many denim trousers are “simply” chinos made of denim, but Supernova’s design is exactly half jean, half chino.

“These are made with hidden back pocket rivets and sewn with a flat felled inseam, which is basically the strongest seam that you can get when it comes to denim,” he says. “So these are a dress pant style with a bit more of the vintage nerd details that you would know and love from a pair of regular selvedge denim jeans.”

Todd Snyder Relaxed Creased Denim Chino in Indigo ($198)

Peter originally bought these denim trousers but we decided to swap: now I wear these Todd Snyders and he wears my Benzaks.

I prefer pleats on my trousers, but I’m a sucker for the modern-roomy fits of Todd Snyder and the denim is a great balance of crisp and hairy that keeps these minimalist, non-selvedge pants from feeling too generic.

They stopped selling them but you might find something you like on Todd Snyder’s Denim Shop — at the time of writing, the Relaxed Barrel Jean is a more casual but pretty similar option.

J Crew: Classic double-pleated indigo-dyed denim pant ($140)

They might not be the most cutting edge brand out there, but when I realized how great their “Classic” fit is for my thick thighs, I quickly became a fan of J. Crew.

With two pleats, a front coin pocket, and made in a certified Fair Trade facility with “at least 30 percent” regenerative cotton, it’s a solid buy at a solid price.

Wrapping Up

Peter had the best final line in the YouTube video we made about this topic, so I’m going to put it at the end of this article too:

A very practical garment.
– Peter Noah