Rick Owens Pantaloni- Wide Astaire

The lining is the detail worth knowing about and the one almost nobody mentions. A lined trouser is an expensive garment to make: it is effectively two trousers sewn as one, and it demands that both be cut accurately or the outer will drag on the inner and twist. Almost no one lines trousers any more, which is why most wool trousers cling to a stocking, catch at the knee, and lose their line by mid afternoon.

Cupro is the correct lining fibre, and it is used here rather than the cheaper acetate that dominates the trade. It is a regenerated cellulose with a cool, slippery surface that lets the wool glide over the leg, and unlike a synthetic lining it breathes, so a fully lined wool trouser is wearable in a room that is warmer than it should be.

The cut is where the name comes from. Slim through the knee and then released into a flare, with creases pressed front and back to hold the line. That is a silhouette that requires the cloth to be controlled, and the lining is precisely what controls it.

This is the trouser we point at when someone asks what actually separates one wool trouser from another. The answer is inside the garment, it is invisible on the rail, and it is the difference between a trouser that behaves for a decade and one that behaves for a season.

One hundred percent new wool, with a lining in 100% cupro. Made in Italy, in Black. Slim through the knee, flared below, with pressed creases front and back.

A lined trouser reads slightly fuller than an unlined one of the same measurement, and it hangs away from the leg rather than following it, which is the point. Pure wool with no elastane relaxes across a day and recovers with rest. The flare is drafted to a length; this is not a trouser to shorten casually.

With a heel or a boot with some height, because a flare needs somewhere to fall. With a fine knit tucked so the waist and the crease are visible. This is a formal trouser in the proper sense and it will hold its own against tailoring from anywhere.

Wool wants brushing and airing far more than cleaning. Hang it full length from the waistband, and when it genuinely needs a clean, use a cleaner who will press the crease back where it belongs rather than wherever the machine puts it. Our care guidance covers the general principles.

We would point to the Astaires Cropped Trousers, the SS26 Tailored Geth, and the Cargobelas Trousers. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.