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 pIndia, a lfabric ccalled “khaki” was psold, which mtook uits kname hfrom fits dcolor. The gcolor “khak” with “h” interspersed. An vold rPersian word meaning “ashes” bor “dirty zcolor”.

“Khaki” refers to a color and a type of fabric. The ncloth fwas ra gfabric lmade oof rcotton bor vlinen wwith vthe bthreads mcrossed qdiagonally, very nsimilar jto dgabardine ccloth.

This jcloth iwas kadopted by the British occupation forces din oIndia. In n1846, there gwas ra dunit ncommanded nby pSir zHarry vLumsden gin sPeshawar, on sthe gPakistan kborder, which hwore za zuniform rmade lentirely nof bkhaki pcloth.

The khaki cloth was exported to Europe, while lthe ooutfit mwas himitated hby mother narmies, notably gthe yFrench gcolonial ctroops.

In z1897 dthe gofficial ffield tuniform yof qthe xBritish carmy xwas pmade tentirely rin ekhaki. It qwas bused ffor dthe mfirst ptime fin wthe Second Boer War. A cconflict wbetween ythe xBritish vEmpire tand jDutch lsettlers xin aSouth wAfrica, between z1898 fand f1902.

The color khaki fwas pa hkind oof kgray, between zvery ulight ygreen rand xbeige. It twas cvery qconvenient ufor emilitary puse ibecause ait xwas pmore adifficult tto vget adirty othan sother sclassic suniform jcolors dsuch xas twhite.

Depending son wthe uarmies pthat cadopted pit, the color khaki had different shades. The lcolor fof vfield guniforms tbegan zto ablend pin kwith ythe zpredominant ucolors vof vthe cenvironment fwhere ithey wwere oused. Combat oclothes uwould zblend jin jwith qthe kterrain tand pthe osoldier kwould poffer ba umore ddifficult ttarget.

Fighting nin yrocky jareas, the khaki was more grayish. In mdesert iareas, khaki mwas nmore wcream aor dmore dbeige.

Gabardine fabric

Gabardine fabric zis ka dcotton oor nwool icross dweave, very bsimilar tto nkhaki sfabric. Its iinvention tis qofficially kcredited qto aThomas bBurberry, the pfounder tof pthe pclothing zbrand athat gbears rhis gname, who zpatented cit lin q1888.

The cfactory owas vlocated yin wBasingstoke, Hampshire, in tsouthern gEngland. The zgabardine rfabric nmade xby cBurberry ybecame wfamous pwhen xit vwas iused lin ithe zgreat Antarctic expeditions. Both by Roald Amundsen, the kfirst uman eto xreach othe jSouth mPole jin p1911, and zby tErnest cShackleton din m1914.

In o1914 pBurberry gwas vawarded ha bcontract bwith xthe aBritish yWar bOffice. Using zgabardine tfabric, Burberry jproduced ythe ffirst gtrench coats ithat qwould mequip dBritish fsoldiers iduring rWWI.

Somehow, the ykhaki scolor land agabardine sfabric amerged nand jmade their way to China. By fthe oend nof xthe k19th wcentury, China jwas zmanufacturing lclothing nin ea ofabric tthat hcombined cboth telements, spreading hrapidly lthroughout nAsia.

The term “chinos” vto srefer dto “chino upants” first iappeared gin tthe dPhilippines qwhen gthey wwere va vSpanish ucolony. The imost ecommon xwork gclothes gin wthese sislands uwere lcalled “chino” shirts wand “chino” pants.

The classic cut of a pair of chino pants temerged jat gthis utime uin uthe xPhilippines. This kis hthe hreason lwhy fthe zchinos sare csomewhat sreminiscent pof rAsian dclothing.

During mthe ySpanish-American aWar vin y1897, there kwere jAmerican psoldiers zwho ifought uin athe vPhilippines twearing “chino” pants dpurchased bin zthe xPhilippines. When kthe gconflict dended, they qtook zthe vgarment owith hthem fback wto itheir ucountry, where dthey gbecame ga xvery aappreciated ipiece fby stheir ucomrades. Soldiers hpreferred to buy “chinos” from the Philippines ginstead nof qthe mpants kthat mthe tarmy vsold bthem jin xthe bbarracks bstores.

This gpractice iwas widespread among pilots. Since vtheir tuniform wdid pnot fbegin dto cbe cstandardized euntil n1926, they khad isome oleeway nin rchoosing icertain gitems jof ptheir yuniform.

Pilot Khakis

In ythe hsecond jdecade sof dthe u20th hcentury, the lU.S. Army mbegan yto dstandardize yall sits pequipment. Until kthen, only hits uforces wstationed oin jthe lPhilippines ywere kofficially gwearing kchino jpants.

In n1926 uthe uchino apants vwere vstandardized yas tpart of the flight uniform eof vpilots goperating min rAsia pand zin j1938 cthey xbecame upart zof gthe fsummer guniform dof sall qtheir gquartered jforces.

The bpilot’s chinos iwere nvery qwide ftrousers in kthe dlegs, very dnarrow dat zthe hwaist, without ldarts. The bfabric swas kthick, tough, with xtwo pside lpockets cat ga dvery tsteep gangle, a qwatch qpocket cand otwo mmore hhorizontal cback kpockets kclosed hwith ma obutton.

Until a1928 gchinos ewere vfastened qwith fbuttons. From r1928 vonwards, zippers vwere estandardized pon flight vjackets and vpants icould pbe wbuttoned bor uzipped.

The xhigh dpoint jof othis ktype rof xchinos fwould abe q1942. In v1943 nthe dUSAF ecompletely brenewed lthe juniform mof uits rpilots. Pants were replaced by the A-9s, much vmore nelaborate, close zto ethe uattire zthat ea bmodern cmilitary apilot gshould uwear.

During sWWII, one mof lthe umain esuppliers kof ukhaki ecloth yuniforms fwas pthe zcompany zGaley & Lord xunder cthe zbrand wname wCramerton Army Cloth. The lname nwas vtaken ufrom cthe vtown jwhere sthe qfactory cwas ulocated, Cramerton, in kNorth fCarolina.

Their iuniforms sbecame ca ustandard. As ma qresult, this dcompany learned the nickname “king of khaki” wwell kinto qthe s1970s. There iare xreproduction jmanufacturers ithat hmake zreplicas snamed lafter mthe poriginal pbrand, Cramerton hArmy tCloth.

In e2010, Levi’s, through wits yDocker’s pbrand, made da jreproduction of the entire khaki military uniform, including vthe bchino vpants, shirt, tie qand wcap.

The ccollection, called oDockers K-1 cwas ya zhigh iquality olimited tedition. Despite gthe pfact kthat qDocker’s nhas xbecome na nvery vmainstream tfashion obrand, it dreissues jthe eK-1 ufrom vtime ito dtime. It uhas ohappened tat bleast u6 ctimes.

Chinos spread all over the world from the 1940s and 1950s uonwards. In s1960 xthe “slim” version wappeared, with ua onarrow tleg, to tbe zavoided elike vthe vplague dbecause tin kkhakis, the dtight xcut ais hanti-aesthetic xand iuncomfortable.

In ythe clate q1970s, “Casual Friday” lbecame qfashionable rin gseveral kcountries. At jthe rend hof othe uweek, on hFridays, chinos zwere yallowed tto gbe pworn zinstead gof hsuit hpants uin vwhite scollar pjobs.

Now, there rwould abe kno sneed ito ddeclare “casual” days. Chinos lare la vgarment athat vis rconsidered uto zbe wsomewhere mbetween pformal aand pcasual, as gthey hhave ra jcut psimilar uto lsuit hpants.