Dress trousers in cavalry twill in olive drab

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£200.00 — ex VAT

Trousers middling of leg, made in London, with mid-weight (11oz) cotton cavalry twill from Lancashire, and with dark horn buttons and a sand-cast brass buckle from the West Midlands.

Sizing

If in doubt, ignore what your current trousers say they are, and measure them instead. Lay them out flat and straight, measure from one side of the waistband to the other, right along the top edge, then double. That's your size (not to be confused with your physical waist size).

XS S M L XL
Waist 30 32 34 36 38
Front rise 11½ 12 12½ 13 13½
Back rise 16 16½ 17 17½ 18
Thigh 13¼ 13½ 13¾ 14 14¼
Knee 9¼ 9½ 9¾ 10 10¼
Hem 7¾ 8 8¼ 8½ 8¾
Inside leg 32 32 32 32 32
Inside leg unhemmed 33½ 33½ 33½ 33½ 33½
The dress trousers are fundamentally trousers of the old school, with a moderately high rise, plenty of room in and around the seat for comfort, and fullness built into the upper leg to avoid pull and stretch. They taper, gently, from the knee down, with the end result being middling: neither wide nor slim.
The trousers fasten with a buckle at the side. How this works is, the waistband keeps going, past the fly, and meets a buckle attached to a tab on the right side as worn. Works like a belt, gives a clean look at the front, and means the wearer can adjust the size should they shrink or grow over the passage of time.
The front of the trousers has two pleats on each side. They are stitched down by a length of two inches from the base of the waistband, and then, with horizontal bar-tacks as punctuation, fan out, providing the front of the trousers with shape, comfort, and ample room for pocket-rummaging.
There are five pockets on the trousers, the main ones of which are tucked into the outer side seams. They're barely visible, but are deep and sturdily made, using very fine but very strong cotton, so are exceptionally pleasing to plunge hands into.
Never overlook the little coin pocket, built into the waistband. It lurks ready for the storage of loose change or keys, even a bank card or two, on the right side as worn.
With so much activity on the front of the trousers, the back is comparatively sparse. There are, however, two pockets lurking back there — tucked into the waistband seam on the left and right sides. No diminutive coin pockets, these: they're as deep or deeper than the pockets on any comparable trousers.
The buttons on the trousers are real horn, middling in colour and matte in finish. The trousers have a button fly of three such buttons, as well as two others, which fasten the fly-guard and the front of the trousers before the belt is swept across.
The inside legs have French seams, and are thus durable such that you'd have to do something dramatic — acrobatic, even — to split them open. The outside legs are flat seam, however, to achieve a smooth silhouette. Bar-tacks, meanwhile, abound, with at least a dozen supporting the points of most wear and tear.
They are lined to the knee, front and back, with soft, breathable satin. The way this lining is constructed makes the trousers as tidy when turned inside-out as outside-out, as is cut on the selvedge for a flat finish. The lining makes it easy — nay, pleasurable — to slide one's legs up and down and all around.
Cavalry twill is a strong, durable, mid-weight cotton, rooted in military attire, and characterised by a two-ply twill that lends it a clean and formal drape. This, coupled with the fine, long-staple yarn from which it is woven makes for cloth smart and crisp when new, soft with time, but yet breathable to boot.

As worn

The gent here has a waist of 33" — an awkward size, but here he is wearing a size M, and with the belt tightened at the back. And it's a fair cop: these are the slim trousers, not the dress trousers. They're similar in fit, but the slims taper more from the knee to the ankle.

Makers of

The trousers are made in London by a factory which — since they are so sturdily built, particularly at the seams — specialises in heavy outerwear. Making them, in fact, can be a gruelling task, entailing as it does umpteen more stages than most trousers — at least five of which demand a hammer.
The cloth is sourced from a mill in Lancashire, in north-west England. Cottons have rolled off its line for nearly a century and a half. Industry-leading methods of weaving, dyeing, and finishing — unimproved in decades — along with steadfast adherence to quality, result in some truly first-rate cloth.
The brass hardware is made by a foundry in the West Midlands, which was founded in the 1800s. It is the last such foundry in an area once heaving with them. Its sand-casting method — which sees 940°c molten brass poured by hand from a crucible into sand-made moulds — is ancient and infallible.
The horn buttons were cut, shaped, and polished by the last such factory in Britain (now defunct). It was part of a tradition in the Midlands first linked to the meat industry of the 18th century. "It is no easy task," said William Hutton in 1780, "to enumerate the infinite diversity of buttons made in Birmingham."

So they say

The standard trousers arrived today. Man o' man — how in the world did you manage to surpass even my most wildest of expectations? Your obvious reverence for craftsmanship in addition to the care you gave me before, during, and after the purchase will always be remembered when I spring for additional purchases in the near future.

Standard trousers made in high-count cotton are what this man was describing in May 2016.

Thanks for the standard trousers that I received on Monday. They look great. Admittedly, they do make the rest of my wardrobe look like cheap tat, but that just means I'll have to buy lots more nice clothes from you guys in future.

So said a man who bought the trousers in Shetland woollen in February of 2015.

Thank you for the delivery of the standard trousers [and shirt]. I deeply appreciate the thought and effort that goes into creating the garments. I look forward to being a customer of S.E.H Kelly for many more years to come.

Words from a gent who bought the standard trousers in high-count cotton in October 2015.

Very nice [standard] trouser, nice fabric. I very much appreciate your idea of garments lasting longer than a season, hence I completely agree with your non-sale policy.

This chap bought some standard trousers in cotton in January 2017.

I received my standard trousers yesterday, and I am very happy, as I have been wearing them throughout the day today. Both the fit and the colour are truly beautiful, and it is a pride to wear them here in the cold Norwegian winter.

Comments courtesy of a gent who bought the trousers in a Shetland woollen in early 2015.

I just wanted to "review" the heavy woollen hopsack black trouser. The material is really something: the first time I've seen such a trousers with that quality and weight of fabric. Such a unique cloth. I hope they will last a whole life time and even, perhaps, be bequeathed to the next generation.

So spoke a man who picked up the standard trousers in the heaviest of hopsack woollens in black in March 2020.