Margaret Howell MHL Slide Adjuster Trouser

The slide adjuster is one of those pieces of tailoring hardware that survived because nothing better replaced it. A short strap at each side of the waistband runs through a flat metal buckle, and pulling it takes in the waist by an inch or two without a belt, without belt loops, and without the bunching a belt creates under a jacket. It comes from trousers made to be worn with braces, which is why it turns up on MHL by Margaret Howell, whose signature is a corozo brace button. On a wide-legged trouser it is more than a convenience: a wide leg needs a waistband that sits exactly where it is meant to sit, because everything below depends on where the cloth starts falling from. The cloth is mostly cotton with wool spun in, which is a work-clothing blend rather than a suiting one. The wool adds warmth, some resilience, and a slight fuzz to the surface; the cotton keeps it dry, hard-wearing, and washable.

A wide trouser lives or dies at the waist. The adjuster is why this one hangs correctly instead of almost correctly.

Eighty percent cotton and twenty percent wool, made in Portugal. Relaxed fit, wide leg, slide adjustable waistband. Color: Moss.

Relaxed through the seat and wide from the knee, with the waist set by the adjusters rather than by a belt. Lettered sizing. Set the adjusters once and leave them; the trouser hangs from the waistband and wants that measurement to be stable.

With the MHL Cropped Bomber Jacket or the MHL Flap Pocket Blazer, where a short top over a wide leg is the proportion the line keeps returning to. With the MHL Open Neck T-Shirt worn out in warm weather.

Treat it as wool, not as cotton, and the smaller number is the reason. Twenty percent wool is enough to felt and shrink in a hot wash even though four fifths of the cloth would not mind, and once wool has felted nothing brings it back. Cool water, gentle, dry flat, and no hot dryer. Our general care guidance covers the rest, including the section on garments made of more than one material.

The MHL Painters Trouser is dry cotton gabardine cut on the painter's pattern, and the MHL Wide Leg Jogger is cotton with the waist on elastic. MHL by Margaret Howell is a line of its own rather than a lighter version of the main one, and there is more on the house on the Margaret Howell designer page. Everything we carry from Margaret Howell, main line and MHL alike, is listed together.