Just had something pop up from John Lewis, ' Relaxed Fit Cotton Chinos, Sand ', Reduced to £38.50, 34 & 36 waists, slight single pleat, I tried a pair of these a few months ago when I was in a John Lewis branch just to see what the fit was like, I thought they were a good pair of chinos for the (full) price £55.00 ,

Since starting this thread last year I've added another couple of options.

I might have found something comparable to my beloved Bills M3. - the DuckHead classic fit Gold School chino in khaki.

I'm yet to have these tailored hence using "might" but on first impression they tick a lot of boxes - colour, rise and weight. They're also less than 50% of the costs of Bills.

I went for the big patch version as they reminded me of the style I noticed at John Simons way back when.

'^Should have mentioned the rise on these LE chinos is 11 inches which is just barely adequate'

Yes that's definitely medium rather than short. Passable and what I wore in my early ivy days (LE and Bean). But in my old age I've become fussier. Which is difficult when I don't want to spring for O'Connell's (which to be fair are worth the expense).

I believe Duckheads are 11" too. I bet back in the 80s they were a little higher.

My go to summer chinos are Unqlo bought some years back when they all came with one leg length. A good fit on me, just rolled the hem a couple of times and they were good to go. I also have Bills M2's that I had to get altered by George back then. A very cheap option were two pair of Dockers from Costo at £10 a pair, a decent fit after I had them tapered to 16". I have a pair of the Silverman's khaki drill chinos 36" waist, unworn which I am happy to pass on, if interested message me.

Good to hear from you Chris_H, it's been a while, your posts are appreciated by all I'm sure,

'I much prefer a generous rise. What the Preppy Handbook referred to as the "floating crotch"

See if this works:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/640x480q70/922/5BiZbI.jpg'

A very 80s image, but if you swapped it for a 50s casual campus look you could probably keep the trousers the same.

I found some nice looking chinos but the prices are insane. Blackhorse Lane Ateliers selling at 290GBP. They describe them as medium rise although it looks reasonably high to me. I've paid through the nose plenty of times in my life, but 290 for chinos? No way.

What I have found, that I mentioned earlier, and that looks very intriguing, is Olderbest. Quite a number of different classic chinos and the prices are reasonable. They're Chinese and orders are sent from China, however they claim to pay customs duties for the customer (I think - it's a bit ambiguous). Anyone tried them?

Last edited by Yuca (2024-07-11 06:07:36)

they claim to pay customs duties for the customer - Yuca - I took a look at the website, quite interesting, I did look at the shipping duty/taxes section and they have an arran gement for shipments to the EU but it doesn't mention anything about the UK, as I may have mentioned before there are ways ( legit) that overseas co's can pay UK taxes & duties but basically they'd need to have a sizeable business to the UK to make it worthwhile to set theirselves up with HMCE to do this, I had customers back in the 90's that shipped ladies garments from Canada to the UK that did this,

I had a look at Olderbest. Interesting range. Name a date and a style and they may have it. 1870 ? 1917 ? 1940 ? Herringbone denim?

I am not sure where they get the designs or who buys all the stuff.

I don't like those buckles on the back of jeans or trousers. Some of the stuff looks like proper work clothing for painting and decorating and such like.

Buckle back trousers can play havoc with leather car seats. I certainly wouldn’t be allowed in the Mrs’s TT if I was wearing them!

I have some buckle back trousers as part of a poplin J Press suit.

Although I don't take the jacket off that often I'm a bit self conscious about the buckle.

As the jacket hasn't got the best buttoning stance I don't wear the suit that often.

Buckles on trousers were Chens' favourite at one time. I think he just wanted something to keep himself interested in a style that didn't really inspire him. I've never been a fan but I got some LVC jeans with a buckleback and I'm indifferent to it. Or maybe I even like it. The jeans as a whole are superb, but LVCs are the best imo. (As they should be at those prices.)

Last edited by Yuca (2024-07-18 08:11:30)