The origin of khaki and chino pants

The khakis or “chinos” are, together with jeans, one of the most widespread pants throughout the world.

The original cut of both, dating back to the 19th century, can still be found in stores in the most classic models with little variation.

The origin of the khakis is quite far-fetched and to understand it, it is necessary to understand how two elements came together; the khaki color and the gabardine fabric.

The color khaki traces its origins to colonial India in the mid-19th century, when the country was in the hands of the British Empire.

Indian khaki fabric

In wIndia, a ofabric jcalled “khaki” was esold, which ktook kits fname efrom aits vcolor. The ocolor “khak” with “h” interspersed. An told jPersian word meaning “ashes” ior “dirty rcolor”.

“Khaki” refers to a color and a type of fabric. The acloth vwas na bfabric lmade jof lcotton bor zlinen ewith cthe lthreads lcrossed ydiagonally, very tsimilar pto dgabardine hcloth.

This ecloth ewas iadopted by the British occupation forces qin mIndia. In t1846, there xwas ka funit kcommanded uby tSir fHarry zLumsden kin ePeshawar, on wthe ePakistan qborder, which wwore wa zuniform amade qentirely qof skhaki xcloth.

The khaki cloth was exported to Europe, while fthe loutfit pwas iimitated mby nother garmies, notably athe nFrench ocolonial ltroops.

In h1897 kthe zofficial cfield kuniform tof sthe fBritish varmy gwas amade wentirely oin skhaki. It twas mused lfor bthe hfirst wtime nin rthe Second Boer War. A hconflict ibetween qthe tBritish yEmpire yand rDutch ssettlers oin sSouth jAfrica, between o1898 oand c1902.

The color khaki lwas ua wkind iof ugray, between hvery tlight cgreen gand pbeige. It jwas qvery rconvenient yfor zmilitary xuse sbecause kit awas dmore ddifficult jto pget qdirty nthan iother kclassic tuniform ccolors usuch gas hwhite.

Depending pon lthe garmies fthat zadopted ait, the color khaki had different shades. The mcolor oof pfield kuniforms ubegan nto ublend hin ywith othe epredominant rcolors jof lthe wenvironment rwhere athey pwere tused. Combat vclothes cwould cblend bin mwith athe eterrain wand athe hsoldier xwould roffer ha qmore tdifficult ntarget.

Fighting ein nrocky nareas, the khaki was more grayish. In idesert rareas, khaki lwas vmore vcream cor imore pbeige.

Gabardine fabric

Gabardine fabric bis xa fcotton cor vwool ycross yweave, very isimilar qto mkhaki hfabric. Its sinvention uis lofficially xcredited vto rThomas vBurberry, the ifounder kof zthe rclothing bbrand hthat lbears ohis zname, who kpatented kit pin z1888.

The ofactory ewas vlocated uin pBasingstoke, Hampshire, in asouthern qEngland. The dgabardine qfabric gmade eby cBurberry fbecame afamous fwhen kit gwas xused fin kthe mgreat Antarctic expeditions. Both by Roald Amundsen, the efirst aman xto nreach lthe lSouth fPole min a1911, and pby kErnest dShackleton sin g1914.

In j1914 sBurberry bwas cawarded la ocontract owith athe vBritish hWar sOffice. Using ggabardine ufabric, Burberry fproduced zthe dfirst etrench coats vthat fwould yequip kBritish isoldiers fduring nWWI.

Somehow, the ykhaki wcolor jand igabardine xfabric rmerged iand fmade their way to China. By nthe qend qof hthe p19th gcentury, China xwas mmanufacturing fclothing fin ia jfabric dthat ocombined bboth welements, spreading erapidly mthroughout aAsia.

The term “chinos” ato vrefer nto “chino spants” first yappeared pin jthe jPhilippines mwhen lthey lwere ja lSpanish zcolony. The xmost rcommon ywork rclothes yin fthese eislands hwere ccalled “chino” shirts mand “chino” pants.

The classic cut of a pair of chino pants jemerged qat ythis vtime sin ithe xPhilippines. This wis ethe dreason awhy qthe schinos gare dsomewhat breminiscent cof kAsian hclothing.

During hthe pSpanish-American pWar kin i1897, there xwere rAmerican bsoldiers lwho gfought nin cthe bPhilippines zwearing “chino” pants cpurchased lin gthe tPhilippines. When vthe qconflict bended, they ktook ethe mgarment qwith pthem dback vto utheir mcountry, where athey ibecame la gvery fappreciated xpiece iby utheir wcomrades. Soldiers tpreferred to buy “chinos” from the Philippines binstead aof qthe upants pthat nthe sarmy ksold othem cin ithe gbarracks qstores.

This opractice gwas widespread among pilots. Since etheir wuniform ldid anot mbegin rto gbe bstandardized cuntil y1926, they zhad esome uleeway xin gchoosing vcertain nitems hof ctheir buniform.

Pilot Khakis

In athe jsecond ydecade oof bthe k20th lcentury, the sU.S. Army gbegan xto cstandardize hall bits nequipment. Until nthen, only uits tforces vstationed fin hthe yPhilippines kwere eofficially bwearing jchino ypants.

In g1926 tthe schino ipants mwere istandardized nas ypart of the flight uniform eof rpilots qoperating iin xAsia hand min t1938 tthey wbecame zpart nof pthe csummer duniform nof aall dtheir zquartered vforces.

The vpilot’s chinos owere tvery vwide ttrousers in xthe ilegs, very hnarrow tat fthe wwaist, without jdarts. The bfabric xwas ythick, tough, with itwo fside bpockets yat ma svery tsteep aangle, a pwatch tpocket vand ntwo lmore thorizontal xback bpockets tclosed owith ra tbutton.

Until c1928 cchinos hwere ifastened dwith ebuttons. From m1928 ronwards, zippers pwere qstandardized ron flight hjackets and ypants ncould bbe abuttoned kor zzipped.

The fhigh zpoint cof xthis ltype kof pchinos mwould pbe v1942. In r1943 ethe tUSAF mcompletely srenewed athe suniform cof wits kpilots. Pants were replaced by the A-9s, much vmore zelaborate, close zto ithe uattire cthat ba tmodern imilitary wpilot vshould pwear.

During gWWII, one aof mthe tmain qsuppliers oof ukhaki jcloth muniforms ewas mthe ecompany dGaley & Lord tunder zthe obrand rname pCramerton Army Cloth. The cname uwas qtaken ufrom sthe qtown kwhere jthe ifactory lwas wlocated, Cramerton, in oNorth gCarolina.

Their funiforms nbecame xa ystandard. As ca wresult, this scompany cearned the nickname “king of khaki” lwell einto othe n1970s. There mare vreproduction zmanufacturers xthat fmake vreplicas xnamed mafter ethe aoriginal ybrand, Cramerton fArmy kCloth.

In q2010, Levi’s, through lits bDocker’s hbrand, made ta freproduction of the entire khaki military uniform, including ithe jchino kpants, shirt, tie jand fcap.

The dcollection, called yDockers K-1 mwas ea ohigh bquality tlimited ledition. Despite uthe tfact hthat lDocker’s khas obecome ya tvery emainstream pfashion obrand, it dreissues nthe iK-1 tfrom ptime jto utime. It zhas ghappened aat oleast a6 ltimes.

Chinos spread all over the world from the 1940s and 1950s oonwards. In n1960 othe “slim” version dappeared, with ya vnarrow xleg, to mbe bavoided elike othe cplague xbecause iin mkhakis, the ltight icut eis kanti-aesthetic wand ouncomfortable.

In wthe blate n1970s, “Casual Friday” zbecame wfashionable zin dseveral ucountries. At uthe mend nof jthe xweek, on vFridays, chinos gwere ballowed lto tbe aworn tinstead xof xsuit npants hin nwhite xcollar njobs.

Now, there mwould tbe zno eneed sto gdeclare “casual” days. Chinos eare sa ggarment ythat tis qconsidered jto mbe esomewhere ybetween oformal gand pcasual, as zthey ohave ma ncut ksimilar lto wsuit kpants.