Official blake x RЯL officer chino contest

[StanleyVanBuren]

It looks like "military" is what they are calling the khaki color these days. In any event, these are them:

Men's Chino Pant | Ralph Lauren

Shop the Men's Chino Pant and other classic styles from Ralph Lauren. Free Shipping With an RL Account & Free Returns.

www.ralphlauren.com

 

[StanleyVanBuren]

I should mention, though, that originally I don't recall that these were pre-washed at all. In 2010, buying a pair of these was the equivalent of buying a pair of raw selvedge denim that had to be broken in. Looks like at some point they started pre-washing these, according to the description.

I want to say that I think the rise has increased as well, but I am eye-balling it based on what's probably a size 32 in the listing compared to my size 28 (which could account for the difference).

 

[patrick_b]

Ive owned a rigid pair since 2012 thanks to this thread. They’ve held up admirably. Also tried the newer prewashed versions and tore the crotch on two different pair in the first few months of wear. The old ones were bombproof. New version not so much.


@StanleyVanBuren I love when you post these annual updates. So funny to see this thread pop up like this.

 

[randomkoreandude]

yeah i had a crotch blowout and ended up tossing them . i also remember there was an iteration with a red selvedge line but then that went away

 

[fwedo]

Sometimes, RRL drops a red selvedge line officers. Last time I saw them (and bought ) was in 2015 (Rigid officer, slim fit, Khaki, one back flap pocket, one back button pocket)...there may have been others since, but don't remember...

 

[clee1982]

The original version is not the slimmest though (just more typical straight leg) rather than slim by today’s standard

edit: and I still had the rigid version (and of course now no where near rigid), they took a good beating and still not crouch blow out (think the only crouch blow out I had was some once risine low straight that I worn to death as my exclusive jean)

 

[randomkoreandude]

my issue was trying to keep them clean. i remember dropping food or something on them and then spot cleaning it but then leaving a whitish spot near my thigh lol. was not a good look so ended up retiring them and donating or throwing out or something. plus with the crotch blowout, i never went back to them even after repair

how did you guys keep them clean for 9/10+ years?

 

[clee1982]

Just regular wash, if it’s not prinstine clean so be it, would think RRL stuff looks good with a bit “character”

 

[Michigan Planner]

my issue was trying to keep them clean. i remember dropping food or something on them and then spot cleaning it but then leaving a whitish spot near my thigh lol. was not a good look so ended up retiring them and donating or throwing out or something. plus with the crotch blowout, i never went back to them even after repair

how did you guys keep them clean for 9/10+ years?

I noticed the fabric definitely holds on to grease and dirt better than other chinos but they still look great. I've used a suede brush on mine to get rid of obvious marks from food or other debris and that worked pretty well but after a few years, they were definitely relegated to more casual wear. I did manage to pick up a second pair a few years back that are barely broken in though so I've got a pair that looks a bit more fresh and clean and crisp if I want to wear them to the office.

My original pair did suffer a crotch blowout but I had them repaired by Railcar Fine Goods and they've held up well since then.

 

[clee1982]

yea, I have always kept as casual wear, I got waaay too many CM stuff anyway

 

[StanleyVanBuren]

I was a little neurotic about the care on these for the first couple years. These days I just wash infrequently, but when I do, it's a normal wash and tumble dry to get the waist to shrink back to where it fits. I judge whether they need a wash based on (1) have they gotten dirty; and/or (2) has the waist stretched out enough that I feel like getting it back in shape.

Depending on small variation in rise, I'm a 31-32" inseam guy. Mine are size 28x34 and I wore them cuffed for the first several years. With washing, they've now shrunk in length and stabilized closer to a 32" inseam, so I wear them uncuffed.

Oh, and mine have the red selvedge stripe, for whatever that tell us.

You guys want some travel photos? My wife and I went to East Africa last year.

Here I am with a giraffe in Nairobi:


This is Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania:


And later that same day in Zanzibar:


Swung by Amsterdam on the way back:

 

[fwedo]

my issue was trying to keep them clean.

how did you guys keep them clean for 9/10+ years?

Now, i am a master at removing any kind of stains (even using baby powder for fat stains)...and if it's too hard to remove them (never happened), i plan to sew a sort of "roughly sew repaired patch, in denim or tweed", like RRL sometimes do in expensives distressed and repaired officers.

@StanleyVanBuren : i used to live in Dar for a few years...i also had my RRL officer but only worn them just a few time, on evening events, because of the heat. I can't imagine how you manage to wear LL bean duck boots with this climate !!

 

[StanleyVanBuren]

So we packed super light for that trip, and brought our boots because we were going to be hiking in Lushoto during the rainy season. That turned out to be the right call as it was muddy and raining when we were up there. But packing light meant that whenever we were transiting, we wore our boots so we'd have room in our bags for everything else. That photo was taken on the day we caught the ferry to Zanzibar. It was early May, so we survived the heat in Dar without too much trouble, but I definitely switched them out as soon as we got to our spot in Zanzibar.

What were you doing when you lived over there? We were only in Dar a couple days but it seemed like a rad city and I wished we'd had more time to explore.

 

[randomkoreandude]

Limited-Edition Chino

Ralph Lauren

www.ralphlauren.com

picked these up in 29 and received today. i either got fat or RRL seems to have corrected some of the vanity sizing as they are tighter in the top block.

but these happened to be red line selvedge so will have to be putting some work into these again!!

 

[cyc wid it]

Limited-Edition Chino

Ralph Lauren

www.ralphlauren.com

picked these up in 29 and received today. i either got fat or RRL seems to have corrected some of the vanity sizing as they are tighter in the top block.

but these happened to be red line selvedge so will have to be putting some work into these again!!

Seems like the perfect candidate for a WFH contest... especially for those of us not going back until next year at the earliest.