There are a lot of confusing things in menswear. Can you wear blue and black together? What is the difference between a blazer and a sport coat? What is the difference between a suit and a tuxedo? What is the business casual dress code? All these questions are often asked by men who are uninformed or new to the world of men’s fashion. However, one question or confusion men deal with is the difference between chinos and khakis.
What makes a chino a chino? What makes a khaki a khaki? While these two terms are often used interchangeably to describe a pair of pants that isn’t denim but isn’t dress pants, there are huge differences between the two, and here is the guide to help you navigate the confusion.
What are khakis?
Like many of our favorite menswear items over the years, khakis can be traced back to their military origins. Trench coats found their way into menswear thanks to their use in WWII trenches. The peacoat blew up thanks to its love of the sea, as Navy seamen wore them on their ships. And watches have been a soldier’s best friend since the early 1900s. Khaki, however, can be traced further back than all of them with the British Army’s occupation of India.
At the time of the British Army’s occupation in the mid-19th Century, their uniform consisted of white trousers and a bright red wool coat: a horrible idea for the 100-degree-plus Indian summers. Officer Sir Harry Burnett Lumsden, looking to rectify the dreadful heat, told them to swap the red coats for their white cotton pajamas and dye them with mud and a plant native to Punjab, marazi, to camouflage them.
The resulting fabric, which is the same as the one we see today, is beige, lightweight, and much airier. Khakis are made with heavier and looser cotton, with a baggier fit and fuller cut.
What are chinos?
You may think that chinos are far from khakis, but there is a reason they are used interchangeably. The similarities are more numerous than the differences. The most significant similarity they have is also the first, their origins. Like their cousin, the khaki chinos can be traced back to a military beginning. The army was located in the hot and humid Philippines during the Spanish-American War. They turned to lighter cotton, just like the British. The differences began with the cut and the pockets.
Chinos (called that as an alternative to China, where they were manufactured) now have the same slim cut as jeans and sport smaller pockets. They look and feel closer to jeans (slimmer fit with smaller pockets) than to khakis, which seem closer to dress pants than denim. The other significant difference is that chinos come in a multitude of colors, making them more versatile and full of personality.
How to wear them
If you pay attention to trends, you will know that chinos have been the go-to between the two styles of pants for the last decade or so. Khakis have primarily been seen as old-fashioned, something your father and/or grandfather would wear. While that may have been the case in the 00s and 10s, the times they are a changin. The old styles are beginning to steam back into the forefront of our style lexicon. There are some very specific ways to wear khaki pants that will make you look both up-to-date and stylish, as well as a throwback expert. Here are some tips for the khaki pants:
- Wear them with a t-shirt and a leather jacket for a mid-20th-century feel. In the days of the post-WWII style changes, many men looked manly and rebellious when they paired khaki pants with a plain white tee and a flight jacket or a moto jacket.
- Go the preppy route with a sweater and loafers. On the other side of that mid-20th-century spectrum is the Ivy League preppy look that consists of khaki pants and a cardigan. Or you can forgo the cardigan and tie a sweater around your shoulders.
Here are some more tips for looking fantastic in chinos, the men’s staple.
- Wear these pants the same way you wear jeans. Pairing them with a casual outfit like a sweater, tee, and sneakers will elevate your casual look.
- If you want the chinos to be slightly more elevated and closer to dress pants, pair them with dress shoes, Chelsea boots, and a blazer or sports coat.
- Finally, embrace the multitude of chinos colors by wearing more colors than you would khakis. Pro-tip: let the colors speak for themselves by pairing them with subtle, solid colors.
