Meeting #17: How to buy vintage Polo trousers

A Guide to Polo’s preppy, poster-perfect pants

May 17, 2024

This has taken some time to pull together, but this week I am happy to present to the club my guide to the many, confusingly-named, polo pants that existed from the 90s to late 00s. These names were given to the cuts of khakis, cords, and on the rare occasion denim. I have, on a number of occasions, cursed the lack of an online guide to these models when trying to purchase them, sometimes when one wants something that does not yet exist they must make it, so I have set about filling that gap myself.

Before we get too far into this, I’d like to make a couple preemptions, first, whilst I have tried my best to cover every commonly found cut, I cannot reasonably call this a quintessential guide, there are almost certainly cuts which I have neglected to mention here, there are simply a great many different pants and very little literature to pull from. On that note, second, is that unfortunately it was not within my budget to obtain an example of each piece listed here, however, with some careful analysis of measurements and photographs, anecdotes from friends and forum contributors, and some boots-on-the-ground research in vintage shops, I hope I can provide some reasonable insight into cut and sizing.

An Overview

Prior to exploring each pant individually, it would perhaps be pertinent to understand a little more about these pants in general. As aforementioned, they tend to appear in chino, corduroy, or denim as fabrics, though I have also, very rarely, seen flannel wool. They tend though to be casual trousers, separate to Ralph’s more formal suiting. Between the names there are three key variations: leg fit, rise, and pleat-style, plus the addition of turn-ups on some but not others. Due to the nature of the research I have been able to conduct, I will endeavour to explain these differences in relation to one another.

I’ll present them alphabetically, and then provide a roundup of my recommendations in relation to both the tradition of collegiate styles, and my own preference.

As to why one might be interested in these. These tend not to fit precisely like the officer chino which is perceived as somewhat vital to the Ivy tradition. Instead, they tend, unsuprisingly, to communicate something of the 80s and 90s prepdom from whence they came. That which they offer is an interpretation of collegiate leg wear that is not so tied to the absolute of tradition, and instead feels a touch more playful.

Small Favour: If you wouldn’t mind, please share this post, or the club as a whole, with a friend who you think might be interested, it would mean a whole lot.

Andrew

Topline: Wide-leg, High-rise, Forward Pleats

It’s quite helpful that Andrew comes first in our alphabetised list. They are, to many, the quintessential example of the polo pant. With good reason, they feature much of what we tend to find desirable in a pant. They have a rise of around 12-13 inches, and are voluminous through the leg. They also feature forward pleats, which can be elusive on other trousers, and are a nice touch. In my experience, these are fairly easy to come by in larger sizes, but more elusive in smaller ones.

Chatfield

Topline: Straight-leg, Mid-rise, Flat Front

What we begin to see with the Chatfield is the nature of some these pants as being branches which polo hit as they fell out of the tree of voluminous khakis into the swamp of low-rise skinny fits through the 2000s. Of course however, there will certainly be folks for whom these will better fit their preferences, they are more in line with an officer chino in their flat-frontedness, and perhaps more formal in the modern sense with a straight leg.

Ethan

Topline: Wide-leg, Mid/High-rise, Forward Pleats

Pretty easy to describe here, the Ethan is an Andrew with about an inch taken out of the rise, as such my preference would always be to hold out for an Andrew instead.

Gordon

Topline: Wide Taper, High-rise, Flat Front

Gordon is another older model, and can be found bearing the mark of being made in the USA. Wide in the thigh with a subtle taper, these are a nice choice, they also sport the wonderful high rise of the 90s models.

Hammond

Topline: Wide leg, High-rise, Reverse Pleats & Turnups

Hammond is another hall-of-fame model, fitting in the same classic manner as the Andrew, and differing really only through the inversion of the pleats and the addition of stitched turnups. Overall they end up suggesting simply a slightly more adorned expression of the classic look.

Keating

Topline: Relaxed Straight-leg, Mid-High-rise, Flat Front OR Forward Pleats

One of the most mysterious here, very few if any photographs of them on, and generally little reference to them in forum discourses. I’ve also seen listings with and without forward pleats.

Martin

Topline: Tapered, Mid-High-rise, Flat Front with Angled Pockets

Perhaps the greatest departure from the standard form, the Martin pant features angled pockets which place it somewhere between a classic chino and a five pocket construction.

Philip

Topline: Wide-leg, High-rise, Flat Front

Another hall-of-famer, Philip presents again with the classic silhouette, just without pleats, thus making them better suited to the absolute classic Ivy canon. They sit at one end of a sort of spectrum comprised of the Philip, Andrew, and Hammond, of most plain to most complicated. As the most minimal expression of the classic look , they're an obvious choice.

Preston

Topline: Straight-leg, High-rise, Flat Front

Quite a modern look, definitely a lot slimmer than the classic silhouette but not comically so, and still with a pleasantly high rise, which seems a rarity among these pants.

Prospect

Topline: Tapered, Mid-rise, Reverse-Pleat

Prospect is a little tricky to navigate as its a name that’s been re-used, the original Prospect is roomy but with a fairly pronounced taper. It has also been used to refer to a line of skinny-fit five pockets, which we aren’t considering here

Smith

Topline: Relaxed-Straight-leg, Mid-High-rise, Flat Front & Turnups

Just slightly less voluminous than the classics, and with the intriguing combination of no pleats but stitched turnups. Perhaps a nice bridge piece for folks looking to go a little wider in the trouser department, without going all-out-90s.

A Round-up

So to provide an overview, representing the absolute classic look we have the Philip, Andrew, and Hammond, without a doubt the best known options for these pants. These are going to communicate most strongly the 90s Polo advert variation of prep that I referred to earlier, I’d also place the Gordon in that camp too. Moving towards those with a little less room in the leg, options like Smith and Keating present nicely in slightly more rugged looks, fitting more like unshrunk denim. Finally I wanted to give a nod to the Preston, by all prior established preferences I shouldn't like how slim they are cut, but in seeing them styles whilst researching this article, I see in them a very similar cut to those seen in both the Ivy looks of the 60s, and the trouser cuts currently offered by perpetually evergreen house Drake’s.

Notes on Sizing

Given my own experience, I’d be prepared to size up with these in the waist, always use measurements over labeled sizing when buying online, between models sizing is not always consistent. Leg length tends to be more true to the label, though obviously note that the stitched turnups on some of these examples make leg alterations just a little more complicated. These tend to look pretty good with a nice big break in them, so maybe opt for a size longer then you’d tend to.

Closing Thoughts

The results of this deep-dive for myself? I bought a pair of Haggar Khakis from the 90s based on the Hammond for £8 and called it a day, the equestrian emblem isn't the end all, be all, in the world of wide khakis, so if, like myself, you aren't bothered by its presence there's scope to look elsewhere and save some money.

That said, I believe the guide needed to exist, the fact that it didn’t before made my own search for a pair of Polo pants considerably more difficult, thus, if you are embarking on this quest yourself I hope that I’ve been able to help in some capacity.

AOB

Thanks for attending today, keep an eye out for next week’s club chair bulletin, and please do sign up for a membership if you’ve not already. Next meeting we’ll be returning to the new multi-topic format that I’ve been fielding recently, with a look towards dressing for summer, and some thoughts on colour.