Are Drawstring Pants the Ideal Men’s Back-to-Work Trousers? When They’re This Spiffy, Yes.

Mr. Zottolo is element of a wave of in-the-know males who are pulling on trousers that say “smart” from ankle to pocket but confess “sweatpants” sotto voce at the waistline. Elasticated, drawstring-furnished waistbands ended up at the time reserved for gymwear and swim trunks. Now, nonetheless, you can uncover them cinching everything from chinos to corduroy slacks to official go well with trousers from Brooks Brothers and ultrawide, capital-F-style trousers from luxurious brand names like Loewe. 

These sneaky hybrid designs—sometimes known as “Easy Pants”—are forgiving on publish-WFH paunches but don’t seem slovenly. That tends to make them great for adult men unwilling to abandon lockdown-period consolation as they re-enter a environment of place of work meetings and IRL Hinge dates. 

Fasih Awan, 28, an engineer at San Francisco fintech corporation Block, made use of to dress in fits to work but now depends on wide-legged, box-pleated drawstring variations from New York tailoring brand Stòffa and Australia’s Informale. “Now that the office environment is a lot less occupied and I’m only there a pair of times a week, a match feels like as well a great deal,” he stated. He thinks drawstring variations, when sharply slice, can “elevate a casual outfit” to work-proper heights and even skew official-ish if paired with a nice sweater.

Brooks Brothers inventive director Michael Bastian agrees that drawstring trousers are an attractive function option for guys who “don’t have to put on a fit every single day.” But they current particular styling challenges, reported Greg Lellouche, proprietor of on the net retailer No Gentleman Walks By itself. “You have to feel about the intersection with the shirt at the waistline,” he reported, introducing that trousers whose drawstring is hidden on the inside—like Mr. Zottolo’s Camoshitas—are simpler to work with. Noticeable drawstrings are also much for many workplaces, he claimed, contacting the sight of aglets or knots dangling beneath a shirt hem “one action much too considerably for business informal.”

Most authorities we spoke to advocate a shirt-out glimpse, but if you’re tempted to tuck, Paul Witt, owner of Wittmore, a menswear brand and store in Los Angeles and Malibu, Calif., suggests donning a luxe linen T-shirt and dressy sneakers or loafers. For the business and social gatherings necessitating clever-ish attire, Mr. Bastian of Brooks Brothers prompt donning drawstring trousers in a dressy gray suiting fabric and pairing them with a cashmere crew-neck sweater. But, he cautioned, the pants’ means to transcend their lowly roots as pajamas has its boundaries. “I wouldn’t at any time endorse sporting drawstring pants with a shirt and tie,” he said. “That appears to be stupid.”

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