For almost five years now, I’ve been trying to develop my perfect casual chino. Initially it started as a way to replicate my old Army chinos, but after the cloth proved unavailable I started down a rabbit hole of Japanese suppliers, working with a manufacturer to try and make a more everyday version of what I saw in the market. 

After a couple of samples that weren’t right we had to give up on that supplier, and there was one final go with an agent in London, working with a different Japanese factory. That was going well until it turned out they didn’t really have the capacity for what we needed. 

It was all very frustrating, and I was very glad I wasn’t running a full brand and dependent on this product in any particular season. But salvation finally came during a shoot in Naples last year, when I started talking to the photographer Lorenzo Sodi about his friends at the Florentine maker East Harbour Surplus. 

We met Fabrizio of East Harbour the following Pitti, and were impressed by what they did. It wasn’t the Japanese purism we’d been used to and had initially pursued, but they made good, hard-wearing staples, reminiscent of some of the Polo chinos Lucas and I had both grown up with. 

So we began working with Fabrizio to design our own model, starting with their Axl as the template and then tweaking it all over the place – changing the rise, altering the waist, swapping the seams, adding a French keeper. We also dyed our own colour and increased the wash, to match a nineties Ralph Lauren pair of Lucas’s.

A year later and they’re finally here – an everyday chino that can dress up for the modern office, but whose natural home is off-duty clothing of trainers and boots, T-shirts and chambray. We’re very pleased with them. 

The style

The Bruce chino is mid-rise, sitting just below the top of the hip bones on me, with a straight leg. It’s comfortable through the seat and hips, designed to be easy but not sloppy. 

The leg opening is 8.7 inches (22.1cm), which feels relaxed and casual (my dress trousers are usually 21cm); my Rubato chinos, to use a reference a lot of readers will know, measure almost 9 inches. 

Everyone will have their own context of course – in their wardrobe and with their own contemporaries – but for me this cut is easy, subtle and almost anonymous, and so very versatile. 

I tend to hem my chinos these days to just touch the top of the shoe, but sometimes fold up the bottom for a more casual or warm-weather option (shown top). This is particularly nice in the summer, with a soft loafer or canvas tennis shoe.

The Bruce chinos come unhemmed, so you can have them whatever length you want. 

The cloth

The cloth is a double-twisted cotton gabardine in a right-hand twill. As we’ve noted before, a right-hand twill is denser and stronger, but it can make them a little stiff so ours are garment washed, which softens them and produces a really nice handle. 

Basically, it has the same look and feel of an old Gap or Polo chino, but is stronger and should last better. 

The other advantage of garment washing is that it takes out all the shrinkage. I’ve washed my pair three times and there was about half a centimetre shrinkage on the length. 

The two colours of cloth were picked for versatility. The beige is the Platonic ideal of beige (for me) – a little faded, a little greyed, not too yellow or brown, the most versatile colour across neutrals and a range of colours. 

The khaki is a dark, greyed olive, which I actually find as versatile as the beige. In the various outfits pictured we’ve shown it with cream and black (on Manish), with pink and navy (on me) and with tobacco (also on me).

Below, I’ve also showed close-ups of the cloth with Color 8 cordovan and with black horse-bit shoes, to illustrate more of these combinations. 

Both chino colours were very deliberate choices and probably one of the best aspects of them. 

The design details

Chinos vary in what seams they have on the inside and outside of the legs. We’ve gone for a flat-felled seam on the outside, but a plain seam on the inside. This makes them a little more casual as the flat-felled seam is bulkier, and it makes the inseam easier to alter if you want to taper the legs. 

The side pockets are deep and comfortable; the back pockets plain and open – again, emphasising the practicality rather than dressiness. We also specified a coin pocket that was slightly lower and shallower than most, to make it easier to use. (I keep my house key there.)

There’s a zip fly (I always prefer a zip) in a good strong brass; the button is a complimentary corozo; and the inside of the waistband is finished in a soft fabric akin to a washed canvas. 

Permanent Style products never feel quite like a collection, because that’s not how they come about. If there were lots of chinos like this out there, but nothing replicating US Army WW2 styles, we’d probably be trying to make the latter. 

Our chinos are not trying to elevate casual clothing into something elegant – as for me those from Rubato, The Anthology or Anatomica are – but rather to make something really well styled that you can wear at the weekend and bash the crap out of. If you wear chinos a lot, there’s room in your wardrobe for both. But if you wear them more for one purpose or the other, I’d say pick depending on which suits your lifestyle more.

Oh yeah, and the name. East Harbour uses men’s names for its models, as do some old Polo ones. We wanted to replicate that, and the ‘Axl’ model reminded me of Axl Rose from Guns ‘n’ Roses – my favourite was always Iron Maiden, rather than GNR, and particularly singer Bruce Dicksinson; so we went with the Bruce. You’ve go to get your fun where you can, haven’t you?

Sizing and alterations

I’m wearing a size 48 here, which equates to a 34 waist. My actual waist measures 34.5 inches, and I have a fairly large seat and thighs compared to my waist. I find this size classic and comfortable.

Manish is a little bigger and takes a size 50. Lucas takes a 54. If anyone has specific fit questions for any of us (eg what we take in another brand) please ask. 

The chinos deliberately have a split waistband, to make them easier to take in. The lining inside needs to be cut, but that’s not a hard job. They can also easily be tapered through the leg, if you prefer, given the plain seam on the inside. 

The waist can be let out and there is a little inlay there to allow this, though there will be a little marking where the original seam was. If you’re in doubt, however, I would suggest sizing up and taking the waist in rather than letting it out. The slightly wider leg will look better than having a slimmer one relative to your waist size. 

The chinos come unhemmed. I usually sew through the material when hemming (often known as a chino finish) at 4cm from the bottom. 

Size chart

Sizing summary:

• The chinos fit true to size. We recommend a comfortable fit. 
• The size refers to a chest size on an equivalent suit, but a size 48 is a 34 waist.  
• Simon is wearing a size 48 in the pictures. He has a 34.5-inch waist and has the chinos hemmed to 31.5 inch inside leg. Manish is wearing a 50. 
• The front rise measurement includes the waistband; the thigh measurement is taken at the fork.
• There is very little shrinkage – a centimetre at the most.

Product summary:

• Casual chino in a strong right-hand twill cotton
• Comfortable cut with a straight leg
• Pre-washed for softness and a lived-in look
• Slant pockets, coin pocket, open back pockets
• Unhemmed, to be hemmed to length
• Two colours, beige and khaki, both muted and versatile
• Made in Italy by East Harbour Surplus
• Available only on the PS Shop here