Chinos are the ultimate wardrobe workhorse. Throw on a pair with an Oxford shirt and dress shoes, and you’re ready to spend the day toggling between Microsoft Outlook and Teams notifications. But if standard chinos keep you on the straight and narrow, what about a pair that’s faded, frayed, and a little rough around the edges?
Faded chinos are the sartorial equivalent of a Summer Friday: off-duty, off the clock, and not answering emails until Monday. Think of them as the khaki equivalent of distressed denim: the more thrashed, the better. A few years ago, former J.Crew designer Frank Muytjens posted a photo of his beat-to-hell chinos, pants that started life in the office, faded with age, and eventually earned a second career in the garden. That’s the spirit of faded chinos.
Wear them with a polo that looks like it spent a little too much time in the sun, plus flip-flops for a heartthrobby ex-lacrosse-player charm. Or pair them with canvas sneakers and a denim jacket for a touch of old-Hollywood cool. From Ivy League royalty and mall-brand glory days to Japanese masters of distressing, there’s no shortage of faded and frayed chinos. Here are 10 pairs worth keeping an eye on if you’re looking to loosen up your style.
J.Press
Washed Canvas Cape Cod Pant
The brand is ubiquitous on Ivy League campuses and weekend beaches like Belmar and, of course, along Cape Cod—hence the name. J.Press has garment-dyed these chinos in a hefty cotton canvas that will break in beautifully and get softer with every wash. One more thing worth mentioning: these come unhemmed. Wash them first, then have them hemmed to avoid any surprise shrinkage. Do that, and you’ll end up with the sweet little inseam you’ve always dreamed of.
Polo Ralph Lauren
The Big Patchwork Chino
Before RRL, there was Polo Country. The line has a small capsule collection available on its site right now, and these chinos are part of it. Polo Country’s baggier ’90s-era chinos have returned in a hardy fabric, complete with patchwork detailing and paint splatters that look earned, not accidental. As I’ve said before, treat your chinos the way you treat your denim. These are proof that patchwork and Sashiko-style repairs don’t have to be exclusive to blue jeans.
Save Khaki
The Weekend Chino
A postal blue pair, because you’ll be delivering fits in these. Faded, baggy, and made in the USA, Save Khaki makes some of the best chinos in the game. I mean, they literally have “khaki” in the brand name—it’d be weird if they weren’t good at making them.
A.Presse
Straight-Leg Cotton Twill Trousers
A.PRESSE’s painstaking attention to vintage and military reproductions and top-tier styling is what sets the brand apart. Their take on faded chinos draws inspiration from French workwear, rendered here in a very French, very Bill Cunningham-esque shade of blue.
Cherry Los Angeles
Wide-Leg Cotton Twill Chinos
A slight sandpaper fade gives these chinos a SoCal ease. Cherry proves it with an Americana mashup that combines a classic chino silhouette, flap back pockets borrowed from military fatigues, and a suede patch usually reserved for jeans.
Auralee
Pleated Paint-Splattered Cotton-Twill Chinos
Auralee’s paint-splattered chinos show exactly what the brand does best: taking a menswear classic and turning it slightly sideways with pleats, a Gurkha-style waistband, and soft Egyptian cotton. Now all you need is a pair of soft-boy shoes to complete the fit.
Pigment dyeing followed by garment dyeing creates a color that’s unique out of the box, then slowly evolves into something entirely its own as the dyes fade and wear. Corridor doubles up on both techniques in a sturdy cotton twill that ages beautifully. Once you see how good the colors look, you’ll start convincing yourself that owning just one is a lack of commitment.
J.Crew
Straight Pigment-dyed Chino Pant
Pulled from their own ’90s catalog, J.Crew brings back its broken-in, pigment-dyed chinos in colors that look like you left them drying in the sand after a long beach day. The only thing better than the nostalgia hit these deliver is the price tag.
Khakis freaked these by using a slub-textured cotton usually found in rugged workwear pants, then adding pleats, a coin pocket, and perfectly executed distressing. They look like something you scored from your great-uncle’s secret menswear archive in the attic.
Let these be your silent petition to bring back Gap’s classic khaki campaigns. They’re baggy, soft, and have a bit of stretch, so they won’t cling to your thighs when the heat kicks in.
