Nicholas Daley Cargo Pants

Waxed cotton was developed for sailcloth and then for motorcycling, and it is one of the few textiles that improves under abuse. Cotton is woven, then impregnated with a paraffin or blended wax that fills the spaces between the yarns, so water runs off rather than through while the cloth still breathes. What it does not do is stay uniform. The wax migrates away from the points of friction and pools in the folds, so a waxed garment lightens at the knee, the seat, and the pocket edges and darkens along every crease. Within a year it carries a record of the body inside it.

Daley uses waxed cotton constantly, usually as a contrast panel against something soft. This is one of the few pieces where it is the whole garment, and the cut is deliberately quiet in response: elasticated at the waist, slanted at the hip pockets, drawn in at the hem with a cord. No check, no contrast, nothing but the cloth and what it will become.

Why we selected it

We wanted one piece from this house made entirely of the material he uses as punctuation everywhere else, and this is it. It also belongs to the same idea as raw denim, which is that a garment can be better in year five than in week one.

Waxed cotton is the material Nicholas Daley returns to more than any other, and it connects the Scottish milling tradition he works within to the workwear patterns he cuts.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton, waxed. Elasticated waist, drawcord hem, slanted hip pockets, relaxed through the leg.

Fit notes

Relaxed and full, gathered at the waist and drawn in at the ankle, so the trouser holds its volume in the middle of the leg. Waxed cotton is stiff when new and softens considerably with wearing, moulding to the knee and hip over a few months. It will not relax across a day the way linen does. It relaxes across a season.

Styling

With the Waffle Rollneck in chocolate and a boot in cold weather. Under the Oversized Rain Coat, which is the same cloth and reads as intended. Waxed cotton against knitwear is the pairing that flatters it most.

Care

Never machine wash, tumble dry, or dry clean waxed cotton. All three remove the wax and the garment stops being what you bought. Brush off dirt when dry, sponge marks with cold water and no detergent, and hang to dry away from heat. Re-wax when the cloth looks dry and stops beading water, which is usually every year or two depending on wear. This is the exception to almost everything else in our fabric care guidance.

Related pieces

The Oversized Rain Coat is waxed cotton as outerwear and the Utility Waistcoat in khaki is waxed cotton as a layer. The Cargo Pant in summer tartan is the same trouser in linen. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.