Update coming soon

I've been out of town the past few days and haven't had a chance to write something else up; I'm working on a new post that should be coming in the next day or two.

Chinos in the Southern US

Chinos weren't terribly popular in the Southern US until the 1940s. Before WWII, most men wore suits to work and college campuses all required a jacket and tie. It was during the war where many vets were introduced to khaki chinos, dyed varying shades of tan or green to blend into the terrain.

This image, from the Life archives (Pulled by ACL), shows members of the Navy in the Pacific Theater.

When the war ended, veterans streamed back into the US, taking their chinos with them. The GI Bill bought a huge influx of recent veterans to universities across the country, but particularly to land grant schools in the south where many of the new freshman came from farming or tobacco families who would have been unable to afford a college tuition without GI Bill assistance. Local universities across the south exploded with growth and this new blood began a number of changes in colleges across the nation, with one of the most notable being the influx of the chino. By the late 50s, campuses across the US that once required suit and tie to be worn for class now simply stated "no jeans." Chinos and wool dress pants slowly became the staple for young men across the country and campus clothiers, catering to the young men back from the war, modified the military chino into more modern styles, taking on the slim cuts of the 50s and eventually even the bell-bottoms of the 70s.

While all this was going on O’Bryan Brothers Manufacturing Company, a small textile plant based in Nasheville, Tennessee had started producing clothing made from heavy canvas that they referred to as 'duck'. They tried to trademark the name, but the US Government felt 'duck' was too general, and so they registered 'Duck Head' instead. They made overalls and work jackets for a number of years, but it wasn't until the 1978 that they blew up across the south and solidified khakis in the Southern wardrobe.

Vintage Duck Head's from the 1980s, from The College Trad.

In the south, there are some activities that are cherished that other parts of the country may not hold in as high esteem. Fishing and hunting in particular are past times across every race, class, and social standing. It is normal for most young men to have a fishing rod or a shotgun in the trunk for days when the outdoors calls and school or work can wait. This idea that any day could turn into a fishing trip or a boat ride is evident throughout a number of elements in the southern wardrobe. Croakies are worn because they all have, at one point, lost a pair of sunglasses off the boat after a few too many beers. Sperry's, at least until their recent resurgence, were worn because any day could end with an afternoon ride on the water. And chinos, particularly Duck Head's, were worn because a little emblem of a duck had extra meaning to those who wore it. A southern man wearing Duck Head's said to the world "Yes, I may be wearing chinos, but I'd rather be duck hunting." This sportsman connotation to the brand helped ignite it during the preppy boom of the 80s, and solidified Duck Head's place as the classic chino maker in the South.

There are other reasons chinos are a staple in the southern wardrobe. The heat in the South makes chinos an obvious choice over jeans. Chinos and seersucker are staples because the heat and humidity, especially during the summer, is almost impossible to stand while wearing denim.

Another reason every Southern man owns a few pairs of chinos is that Southerners traditionally dress up for events, whether it is a seersucker suit at a summer wedding or it's coat and tie at an SEC tailgate (I'll go into more detail about these and other southern clothing traditions in another post). While most people don't want to always dress to the nines, chinos have taken precedence in the south over jeans because they can be dressed up or down depending on the situation and company. Chinos and an OCBD can be casual, with the sleeves rolled up and the top two buttons open, or they can be quite formal and worn with a jacket and tie. It is this versatility which attracts a lot of southerners to chinos; they can walk from the boat into church and no one would be able to know the difference, and it often happens.

Obviously chinos are not specifically a southern trend, but they are definitely prevalent all across the south and are one of the many pieces of the southern wardrobe that makes it unique.