A cotton twill trouser originally worn as military uniform and later adopted as the foundational garment of American casual style—a pair of pants that occupies the middle ground between the formality of dress trousers and the casualness of jeans.
Chino fabric is a cotton twill with a distinctive diagonal weave, similar to but lighter than the fabric used for military khakis. The name chino comes from the Spanish for Chinese, as the fabric was originally produced in China for the Philippine market, where it was purchased by the US military after the Spanish-American War.
Chinos were standardized as part of the US Army uniform in the early twentieth century, and returning soldiers brought them into civilian life. By the 1950s, chinos had become the default trousers of the American student, worn by the Ivy League undergraduates who would become the architects of mid-century American culture.
In the decades since, chinos have become a global uniform of business-casual dressing. They are the trousers that are neither formal enough for a suit nor casual enough for jeans. Chinos occupy the entire space between dressed and undressed, a garment whose very neutrality has made it indispensable. The chino is fashion’s middle ground—unambitious, unobjectionable, and, for that reason, essential.
