The Great American Chino

Forget the flimsy, skinny stuff. We went in search of the classic trouser in all its burly, baggy glory.

- NICK SULLIVAN

THERE’S A DELICIOUSLY ANTICIPATED MOment with certain types of clothes when they reach fleeting perfection a second before they fall apart forever. This is especially true of chinos. Not the stretchy, non-iron ones you might be thinking about but proper chinos. Made from cotton that starts with an almost cardboard-like consistency, they shed fibers with each wash as they mature inexorably and beautifully toward their own oblivion. But along the way? They just get better and better until they’re damn near perfect.

The problem is, it’s getting devilishly hard to find a pair that starts out with the right DNA. When Steve McQueen attempted to leap over a barbwire fence in