Rick Owens F/W 25 Stefan Cargo

Degradé means graduated, and it is the reason to look twice at this one. A standard wash treats the whole garment to the same process and produces an even result, with the fading concentrated where a factory decided it should be. A graduated finish moves across the garment instead, so the depth of colour shifts from one end of the leg to the other and the trouser reads as an object that has been through something rather than as one that was dyed a colour.

Owens has worked this territory for years, and the Fall/Winter 2025 collection made a good deal of it. The collection is called Concordians, after Concordia sulla Secchia, the town near Modena where the house has produced for roughly two decades, and it is the most autobiographical thing he has shown. That context is worth carrying into a trouser: this is a season about the factory, and a graduated wash is a factory process made visible.

Underneath the finish it is a straightforward cargo jean in pure cotton with five pockets. The construction is not trying to be difficult. The surface is where the work went.

We took this over the plain black version because a graduated finish is not something a mid-market cargo trouser can give you, and because a trouser that already has depth in it needs nothing else in the outfit to be interesting. Cargo trousers are a crowded category and most of them are the same garment in different weights. This one is not.

One hundred percent cotton. Made in Italy, in Darkdust Degrade. Five-pocket cargo construction with a graduated vintage wash. From the Fall/Winter 2025 Concordians collection.

A washed cotton with no elastane in it will soften considerably in the first weeks and then hold. There is no stretch, so buy it to fit rather than to break in. Cargo pockets add visible volume at the thigh, which reads as intentional on this cut and should not be sized away.

With a heavy boot and a plain knit. The graduated colour means the trouser is doing the visual work, so we would keep everything above it flat and dark. It is the piece to wear when you do not want to think about the rest of the outfit.

Wash cool and inside out and hang to dry. A graduated wash is a surface finish and heat and abrasion will even it out over time, which is the one thing you do not want to happen to it, so keep it out of a hot dryer. Our care guidance covers the general principles.

For the cargo cuts beside it, the SS26 Geth Cargo, the Cargo Long, and the Cargobelas Trousers. For the same season's jean, the F/W 25 Geth Jean. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.