The best wool flannel trousers for men
Huge in the 1950s and '60s, flannel trousers make a welcome return to the menswear canon
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Until fairly recently, a sartorially-minded gent in pursuit of a pair of flannel trousers had two diametrically-opposed search areas in which to conduct his hunt: amid the swatch books of a storied Savile Row tailor, or among the clothes rails of his local charity shop. While there was a time when every politician and plutocrat understood the soft-power of an even softer flannel suit – the material was so symbolic of white-collar toil in post-war America that it was appropriated for the title of Gregory Peck’s 1956 film The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit – its popularity in the corporate world tanked during the deregulated ’80s and ’90s as greed, and shiny worsted suits, became good – and omnipresent.
Well, it seems the sartorial tides have turned, with everyone from David Beckham to Daniel Craig, Remi Malek to Harris Dickinson, and A$AP Rocky to Justin Bieber having recently rediscovered, and reinterpreted, the wear-with-anything potential of the fuzzy woollen fabric. Proof, if proof were needed, that the previously maligned material is now back in the menswear mainstream is the fact that you can now find flannel trousers on the racks of both Marks & Spencer and John Lewis – and there’s no greater witness to a trend reaching critical mass than that.
Besnard
Kit Blake
What is flannel?
Flannel is a soft, medium-weight fabric, traditionally made from wool but, today, more commonly made by blending wool with cotton, cashmere, silk, or synthetic fibres, like polyester and elastane. Flannel is characterised by its brushed, fuzzy or napped surface, which provides it with a spongy, tactile texture. Being napped, rather than silky, it absorbs light, instead of reflecting it, which results in a warm, rich depth of colour. Being soft and fluffy, flannel is warmer than worsted wools and cottons, and therefore usually more popular in the winter. Troops wore flannel suits during World War One, before the material was embraced by civilian clothes designers in the decades that followed.
How is flannel made?
Flannel is thought to trace its origins back to the mills of 17th-century Wales. Although the material can be made from worsted yarn – the sleek, shiny, longer-fibre stuff that goes into making business suits – flannel is typically woven from wool and spun from shorter, more open fibres. More important to the look and feel of flannel is what happens to the material once it’s been woven. It gets beaten in wooden drums, or gone over with a metal brush, to break its fibres and create that signature fuzzy finish.
Ralph Lauren
Anglo-Italian
How to wear flannel
It’s difficult to believe now, in the age of moisture-wicking performance fabrics, but from the turn of the 20th century up until the 1970s, cricket pitches across pastoral England were fielded by players wearing flannel trousers. In 1904, a white variant of the fabric was conceived by Fox Brothers & Co – still one of the world’s leading clothmakers – which would be adopted by cricketers and tennis players for more than half a century. Today, flannel trousers can be dressed up or down, worn as a suit, or separates. Virgin wool or wool-cashmere blends tend to look and feel the most premium. Just be wary if pairing woollen wool trousers with a worsted wool jacket – fluffy fabric seldom couples well with the silkier stuff.
Besnard
Anglo-Italian
The flannel trousers below provide a plethora of ways of jumping on the loose-weave, furry-finished tailored trouser trend at different budget points along the bandwagon, from Brunello Cucinelli’s premium pleated numbers, to John Lewis’ price-bashing wide-legged players. And, if all else fails, never underestimate your local Oxfam.
Charcoal
Massimo Dutti wool flannel trousers
CANALI Straight-Leg Wool Suit Trousers
Ralph Lauren Knit Flannel Suit Trousers
Suit Supply Wide Leg Tapered Suit Trousers
Reiss Naples Wool-Blend Flannel Trousers
Thom Sweeney Flannel Single Pleat Trousers
Ede & Ravenscroft Tyler Flannel Trousers
Zara HERRINGBONE TEXTURED FLANNEL TROUSERS
Grey
Marks & Spencer Pure Wool Flannel Suit Trousers
John Lewis Straight Flannel Trousers
Mr Marvis Flannel Storms Trousers
Boss performance flannel trousers
BRUNELLO CUCINELLI Pleated Virgin Wool Trousers
Kit Blake Grant Wool Flannel Trousers
Next Grey Slim Fit Flannel Suit Trousers
Albert Clothing Flannel Jazz Pants
Navy
DRIES VAN NOTEN Straight-Leg Wool Trousers
STUDIO NICHOLSON + Aaron Levien Selby Wool Trousers
Moss Navy Flannel Trousers
Paul Smith Overdyed Flannel Trousers
NN07 Bill tapered-leg wool-blend trousers
SLOWEAR Wool-blend trousers
Balibaris Wool Thomas trousers
Velasca Antagnod Double-pleated trousers
Brown
John Lewis Straight Flannel Trousers
Kit Blake Aleks Wool Flannel Trousers
Besnard Single Pleat Flannel Trousers
House of Bruar Merino Wool Flannel Trousers
SUNSPEL Boil Pleated Straight-Leg Wool Trousers
ENTIRE STUDIOS Slim-leg wool trousers
Walker Slater Shetland Wool Edward Trousers
Edit Suits Reda Merlot Flannel Trousers
