Double-Knee Pants Should Be Able to Do Everything

What do the perfect pants look like? According to Gramicci, the mastermind behind Japanese streetwear legend Jun Takahashi’s favorite pants and some of this season’s most surprisingly luxurious legwear, it looks like a pair of grandpa’s old work pants but feels like an adventure trouser.

Gramicci's striped work pants utilize an overdyed striped cotton inspired by 20th-century railroad workers and even come with all the bells and whistles of a traditional carpenter pant, from the reinforced double knees to the extra tool pockets on the side, but they are still technically climbing pants. They have Gramicci’s signature integrated belt for a comfy fit, a diamond cross gusset for extra strength, and are roomy enough to allow a full range of movement when scrambling up a mountain face. Or sitting at the cafe.

Combining time-honored American workwear with a quintessential piece of the Californian climber uniform is “basically perfection,” according to Gramicci’s product description. It’s hard to disagree.

Double-knee pants are some of the world’s most in-demand pants thanks to their structured and useful design. It’s the reason why everyone from Nike to Louis Vuitton won't stop recreating them, why Japan’s most vital menswear retailer even turns sweatpants into carpenter pants, and why the luxury Carhartt collabs just keep coming. And climbers aren’t immune to the workwear-ification of everything.

There’s a long history of mountain-scaling Californian dirtbags even wearing jeans on their adventures, but the new generation of climber work pants takes a more technical approach. Arc’teryx produces double-knee climbing pants infused with nylon to cut weight while Levi’s and Satisfy’s partnership, which later this year will expand into a full-blown climbing line, added the world’s strongest fiber to its double-knee rock climbing jeans. 

Even outdoor brands who operate at the cutting edge of fabric innovation can’t resist the charm of old 20th-century blue-collar legwear.

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