Part 5 of The Wolf vs Goat Guide to Menswear
I fit a lot of trousers, and one of the most common problems I see is also one of the easiest to spot: the pants are simply too tight.
For a long time, menswear pushed this idea that a closer fit was automatically a better fit. Thighs got slimmer, rises got lower, leg openings got smaller, and eventually a lot of guys ended up wearing pants that were fighting their bodies.
That's not what I'm looking for when I fit a pair of trousers.
I'm looking at the whole picture. I want the waist to sit correctly, the seat to be clean, enough room through the thigh and crotch to move comfortably, and a leg that hangs the way the pattern was designed to hang.
More than anything, I'm looking for proportion.
Trends change. Proportion is what makes the trouser work.
Rise Changes the Proportions of the Trouser
There's been a lot of discussion lately about high-rise versus mid-rise versus low-rise trousers. I don't think those distinctions are meaningless. Different rises exist for a reason.
Where the trouser sits on your body changes your proportions. It changes how long your legs appear in relation to your torso, and it changes how the rest of the trouser needs to be designed.
What I don't believe is that everyone suddenly needs a high-rise trouser because higher rises are currently popular.
A higher rise can look great on one person or with one silhouette. A lower rise can work better for something else. We develop the rise as part of the pattern, so it has to make sense with the seat, thigh, leg shape and the overall look we're trying to achieve.
That's really how I think about most trouser measurements. You can't isolate one number and decide whether it's good or bad without looking at everything around it.
The Waist Should Hold the Trouser Up
This part doesn't need to be complicated.
The waistband should be snug enough to keep the trousers where they're supposed to sit without being so tight that you're uncomfortable or the fabric starts pulling.
If you need to cinch a belt hard just to keep your trousers up, the waist is probably too loose. If the waistband is digging into you and you're seeing tension across the front of the trouser, it's probably too tight.
There's a comfortable middle ground.
You also want to wear the trouser where it was designed to be worn. If we've patterned a trouser to sit higher on the body and you size up so you can push it down onto your hips, you're changing the way the entire pattern interacts with your body.
Turn Around and Look at the Seat
I spend a lot of time looking at the back of trousers during fittings.
We're checking the seat, obviously, but we're also looking at how the pockets are sitting, the distance between them, whether the fabric is pulling, and whether there's too much material collapsing underneath the seat.
If it's too tight, you'll see tension. If it's too loose, you'll often see excess cloth.
What we're trying to find is enough room for the body without having a bunch of unnecessary fabric hanging around it.
This is also where people get into trouble by automatically reaching for a smaller size because they think tighter looks cleaner. Sometimes it does the exact opposite.
The Crotch Should Be Clean
There are plenty of signs that something isn't right through the crotch: pulling, whiskering, bunching, excess fabric, or simply feeling restricted when you move or sit.
And there should be enough room in the front. Nobody needs that area of the trouser vacuum-sealed to the body.
A clean drape is the goal.
This is one reason we don't evaluate a fit sample by standing perfectly still and staring at it. We sit in it. We walk around. We bend over. We put our hands in the pockets.
If the trouser only looks good while you're standing at attention, it doesn't fit very well.
Give Your Thighs Some Room
This is probably where my personal bias shows the most.
I don't like trousers that are unnecessarily tight through the thigh.
That doesn't mean every trouser needs to be wide. We make different silhouettes, and a slimmer trouser should obviously have a slimmer thigh than a fuller-cut trouser.
What I'm looking for in either case is clean drape.
If you have larger thighs, the pattern needs enough room to accommodate them. If you have slimmer legs, you don't necessarily need all that additional volume. The silhouette still needs to make sense.
Sit down when you're trying trousers on. If the inner thigh immediately becomes tight and starts pulling, pay attention to that. You're going to spend a lot more time sitting, walking and moving in your trousers than you are posing in front of a mirror.
Drape Tells You a Lot
When I say I'm looking for a "clean line," I'm not saying the trousers need to be perfectly straight or that every wrinkle means you have a fit problem.
Fabric moves. Bodies move. Clothing wrinkles.
I'm looking at how the trouser hangs overall from the front, side and back. Is something pulling the leg off course? Is the cloth twisting? Is there obvious tension somewhere that shouldn't be there? Does the silhouette look balanced?
The fabric plays a role here too.
Flannel isn't going to behave exactly like a high-twist worsted. Linen isn't going to behave like either one. Different fabrics have different weights, structures and characteristics, which is one of the reasons we think about the cloth and the pattern together when developing a trouser.
You can't talk about drape without talking about fabric.
Don't Overthink the Crease
If the trouser is supposed to have a crease, I want it pressed cleanly.
We talked about this in the previous article. Our crease is established during the final pressing, and getting that press right is an important part of finishing the trouser.
I wouldn't use the crease by itself as some kind of diagnostic tool for fit, though. There are too many other things happening in a pair of trousers.
Look at the whole garment.
Your Break Is Your Business
People have very strong opinions about trouser break.
I don't.
If you want no break, wear no break. If you prefer a little break, great. If you like more break, that's fine too.
Your shoes matter. The leg opening matters. The fabric matters. Most of all, the look you're trying to achieve matters.
This is one of the reasons our trousers are shipped with unfinished hems. We aren't going to decide the final length for you.
Take them to your tailor, put on the shoes you're actually going to wear with them, and decide where you want the trouser to finish.
That's a personal style decision, not something I'm interested in turning into a rule.
The Same Goes for Leg Opening
There's no magic hem measurement that makes a trouser correct.
We certainly think about hem opening when we're developing a pattern. It has to work with the knee, thigh, rise, length and overall silhouette we're trying to create.
But that's a design decision for that particular trouser.
A wider leg opening might look fantastic with one pattern and completely wrong with another. The same goes for a narrow opening.
Footwear changes the equation as well. A trouser has to interact with whatever is happening underneath it.
This goes back to proportion. A measurement can only really be judged in relation to the rest of the garment.
Try Your Trousers On Like You're Actually Going to Wear Them
One thing I wish more people would do is move around when they're trying on clothes.
Don't just look at yourself in the mirror.
Sit down.
Walk around.
Put your hands in your pockets.
Bend over.
See what happens to the trouser.
You might discover that something that looked great while you were standing still becomes uncomfortable as soon as you sit. The waistband starts digging in. The thighs pull. The crotch becomes restrictive.
Those things matter.
We're making clothing for people to live in.
Expect to Visit a Tailor
Our trousers are designed with tailoring in mind.
Waist, seat and hem adjustments are all things we expect customers may have done depending on their individual bodies and preferences. That's especially true of the hem, which we intentionally leave unfinished.
Ready-to-wear trousers have to be produced to a size chart. People don't.
Two guys can buy the same tagged size and have completely different proportions. One might need a waist adjustment. Another might need some work through the seat. They're almost certainly not going to have exactly the same preferred inseam and break.
That's not unusual. It's one of the reasons good tailors exist.
There is obviously a limit. Alterations aren't a substitute for buying the right size or choosing a pattern that works for your body. But relatively small adjustments can take a trouser that already fits well and make it fit much better.
Proportion Trumps Trend
If you're trying on a pair of trousers and wondering whether they fit, don't start with whatever measurement the internet is currently obsessed with.
Look at yourself.
Does the rise make sense on your body? Is the waistband comfortable and secure? Is the seat clean? Do you have enough room through the crotch and thigh? Does the leg hang cleanly? Can you sit down comfortably?
Then look at the silhouette.
Does it make sense as a whole?
And do you actually like it?
Menswear has plenty of rules, and some of them exist for good reasons. But I don't think getting dressed should become an exercise in checking boxes.
I would much rather see someone wearing a pair of trousers with proportions that work for his body and personal style than wearing the "correct" rise, break or leg opening because that's what he's been told is fashionable.
That's how we approach fit when we're developing our patterns at Wolf vs Goat.
We're not chasing one measurement.
We're trying to get the whole trouser right.
What We're Exploring Next
Next in The Wolf vs Goat Guide to Menswear, we're going inside the trouser.
We'll look at waistbands, the split back, pockets, belt loops, crotch reinforcement, heel guards, buttons, zippers and some of the other details that don't get much attention when people talk about quality.
None of them will make a great pair of trousers by themselves.
Taken together, however, they tell you quite a bit about how the trousers were made.