Stretch pants for men: Stretches so beautiful

Stretch is a must in sportswear. But on the street or in the office, the fabric doesn’t really stand out. Companies want to change that by focusing on one garment: men’s pants.

Karl Lagerfeld was right. “Those who wear jogging suits have lost control of their lives. The fact that we put them on anyway has a good reason. These pants are just comfortable. They stretch when the legs want to go somewhere else than the shape provides. But jogging pants soon become baggy pants because the cotton doesn’t return to its original shape and bulges at the knees and buttocks. Thus, it is only after work that many people are relieved to slip out of their hard jeans or tight suit pants into their jogging pants. However, there are pants that are both comfortable and stylish – even for the business look.

The solution is called stretch. Well-known brands such as Boss, Diesel, Zegna and others have been offering products with stretch for some time. However, you have to look specifically for such collections. In his traditional clothing store in Frankfurt, Charly Diehl has hung up a range of jackets and T-shirts from different manufacturers that are more comfortable to wear than clothing made of conventional materials. “Stretch has long been a trend for women. In the meantime, there is also a good choice for men. But stretch doesn’t really catch on with them and men rarely ask for it,” says Diehl.

So he spontaneously grabs a jersey jacket from the Japanese brand “D by D*Syoukei” on the bar, which stretches well when in motion. What Diehl does not have in his range are pants of this type. Companies are now trying to fill this niche, but they are more likely to be found on Facebook and Instagram than in a traditional clothing store. They are called L’Estrange London, Mr. Marvis or Shaping New Tomorrow. They advertise that young people jump over railings in their pants, ride bikes and take them off only to sleep.

Pure cotton gives the pants their color, with threads jumping up and down like a black foundation.

The material composition of such pants is no secret. They are almost always made of 97 percent cotton and three percent elastane. The latter is a chemically manufactured fiber, sometimes called elastane or dorlastan. It is called Lycra when manufactured by the American company Dupont. This synthetic fiber is highly elastic and consists of 85% polyurethane. It can be stretched up to seven times its length. This is a distinct advantage over natural stretch, as cotton, virgin wool or the yarns of other fabrics are called, which are woven in such a way that the garment stretches a little. However, the fabric stretches with intensive and frequent use because it cannot return to its original length like spandex.

“Spandex has already gone through several life cycles,” explains Klaus Meier. He is a professor of textile technology at the University of Reutlingen. According to him, spandex was very popular in the early 1960s, as it was in the 1970s. “The fabric has become established everywhere in the fashion industry,” says Meier. Spandex is mostly found in swimwear, bras, pants, stockings, leggings or cycling shorts. The proportion of elastane in these garments is quite high, which has a drawback. They are not as breathable anymore.