Jeans vs Chinos: The verdict
For decades, jeans have been the number one choice of trousers for men, with many of the most recognisable style icons of all time rocking the look at various points.
Indeed, save from some brief fads, jeans have pretty much been the go to item of choice for men when it comes to trousers as such. While shorts will always have their place in the summer, and it’s nice to relax in a pair of jogging bottoms if you’re lounging around the house, it’s hard to imagine wearing anything other than jeans when you’re out and about.
Or at least it used to be.
Over the last couple of years, there has been a huge surge in the popularity of men’s chinos. Indeed, while when they first started becoming more popular it seemed like they were merely a nice alternative to jeans every now and again, they’ve now became so popular that they’re genuinely in danger of ousting jeans as the number one trouser for men.
But are they really a better bet, and are they here for the long term? While they certainly bring their advantages to the table, do chinos really have the staying power and functionality of jeans?
One of the main benefits that chinos provide is their ability to be both casual and semi-formal. While wearing jeans in more formal occasions has, generally, become a bit more acceptable over the last few years, there are still occasions where it’s frowned upon. While this might be true with chinos to an extent, they do offer less of a stigma than jeans in certain formal situations.
Similarly, the wide variety of colours that chinos are available in gives them another edge over jeans. While jeans are available in a wide variety of colours, unless they’re particularly slim fitting (and let’s face it, this isn’t a look for everyone) they can look ridiculous. The fact that chinos can be dyed in various colours and are widely available in a variety of styles makes them easier to incorporate into different outfits than jeans.
And while the key components of jeans are, for the most part, the combination of durability and comfort that they provide men with, it can be argued that chinos offer these exact same benefits.
However, that’s not to say that there isn’t a case for jeans whatsoever. Indeed, while chinos might be the height of fashion just now, there have been all sorts of trends that have came and went over the last few decades that didn’t exactly stand the test of time. Indeed, men’s jeans are just about the only fashion item that have never really went out of fashion – at least not to a large extent – since the concept of it was properly introduced. While it’s one thing to say that chinos offer all the benefits of jeans and are here to take their place, it’s another to see if that’s still a consensus a few years from now.
As such, it’s impossible to give a verdict on whether chinos are better than jeans or vice versa at the moment. Simply put, until chinos have proved themselves to have the staying power of jeans when it comes to staying relevant in men’s fashion, the jury will still be out.
Fiona Roy writes for a digital marketing agency. This article on mens jeans has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
