I am on the hunt for a cotton khaki (no poly or microfiber or performance) pant that does not need ironing. They don’t have to look perfect but wearable! I have three boys and they own gap, j crew, old navy, lands end etc. The only ones that look respectable are my 8th graders uniform pants - Lands End cotton no iron - and they look like uniform pants! Sending a kid to college in the fall and am wondering - ironed 7 pairs of khakis tonight just so the legs weren’t twisted!
DS and DH have had good luck with khakis from Vineyard Vines (club pants are 100% cotton), Bonobos (not sure any are 100% cotton, some have a small percentage of lycra), Polo, Eddie Bauer, and Tommy Hilfiger. They all look fine with no ironing, most I have ever done is run an iron along the hems.
@Mwfan1921 thanks! A little Lycra is ok - we have some “flex” pants. Just have concerns about sending someone to college with something that is not ok out of the dryer. Great suggestions.
My college son loves the Banana Republic Traveler khakis. I just looked at the site and they are 99 percent cotton. I’ve never had to iron them. I bought them because the reviews were outstanding and that’s all he wears now. They are very casual, however. You couldn’t pair them with a navy blazer or anything like that.
D21 still likes the Lands End No Iron khakis. They are durable and do not wrinkle but as the kids get older, I think they like more brand-name pants. D18 prefers LL Bean Wrinkle Free Double L Chinos. He washes them at college and when he was home on break, they still looked good.
I had good luck with Dockers iron-free. They offer a slim fit that may be more acceptable to young men.
I like the LL Bean Wrinkle Free Double L Chinos. They are a bit heavier than some others I’ve had but they wear very nicely and seem to hold up pretty good.
Expanding on my post above…DS who is in high school likes the Bonobos and Vineyard Vines the best as they offer the slim fit and/or tapered leg that many young men gravitate towards. DH, who has a muscular build, likes the Polo flat fronts the best.
My oldest really likes American Eagle and Banana Republic khakis, but they wrinkle so bad. I hang them up when they come out of the dryer and use wrinkle release spray on them. It works well enough for school.
You could try that until you get some wrinkle-free ones.
My sons also like Bonobos.
I am all ears. My big boy needs new pants, and his Dockers and Nordstrom No-Iron pants are getting old. The new versions of those are very disappointing.
I got him Bonobos, and they went straight into garden work pile after a couple of wears. So disappointed with wrinkles galore. No way I am ironing his pants every day.
Banana Republic has several fits under the category of Chinos with 8% poly and 2% spandex. Might be worth a look. If you sigh up for emails, you will get 40% off reg price coupons from time to time.
Does Dockers still make no-iron khakis?
I bought these for both of my sons and have heard good feedback - also saw them on S2 after he washed them and they looked great - a flattering fit for young guys.
S2 started complaining that the lower leg of the Vineyard Vines khakis is too baggy - wanted me to find something with a narrower lower leg, so I scoured the earth for these:
This brand is also available at Nordstrom. Runs true to size.
Even no iron pants will wrinkle if left to cool down in the dryer. I constantly remind my sons to remove clothes and fold immediately, but who knows how often that happens.
I’ve been wearing styles of the Docker and Nordstrom wrinkle-free khakis for a while. Dockers offers more selection in terms of styles that would appeal more to the younger crowd including some slim-fit, low-rise styles.
I personally would not recommend 100% cotton these days, although that’s what I used to wear a decade ago. Newer fabrics include a bit of lycra for stretch, which is hugely more comfortable if you’re going to be in the pants all day. The fabrics which are least 95% cotton / 5% lycra are still crisp and “heavy”. But I also quite like fabrics like modal which are lighter and smoother - I’ll tend to wear something like that if I’m flying and going straight to a customer meeting because they’re so much more comfortable for the contortions you have to go through in an airplane and at least the pair I had was more wrinkle-resistant than the cotton wrinkle-free styles.
S1, who pays a lot of attention to such things, bought me a pair from Goodthreads and they quickly became my favorite pair of work pants. They are about 1/3 the price of Bonobos. True to size and wash beautifully.
My 9th grader likes the J Crew slim fit non-iron khakis.
Vineyard Vines all the way… but they are almost $100 a pair.
Our kid had dockers and they were fine.
How many pairs of khaki slacks do you think your college kid will need?
Adriano Goldshmied have the best look and feel, imo. They last forever and are almost pure cotton 97% with a 3% elastane. They are expensive, but worth the price They hold their shape and look good, was after wash (or dry cleaning)
I have AG and they have needed ironing since the beginning. They do use nicer fabrics.