San Francisco — birthplace of Levi’s, Ben Davis, and Gap — has a long history with pants. But that history, which over the past decade has unleashed a plague of straight-leg chinos on the world, has reached a turning point.
A new era of huge pants is upon us.
A handful of young, independent designers are helping to usher in the return of large-silhouetted trousers, drawing on the Bay Area’s sartorial legacy in the process.
Almost all of them work full-time jobs and treat their pants pursuits as side hustles. Some attend shop parties in SF and Oakland, echoing the vinyl listening sessions that went down at the first Gap location when it opened on Ocean Avenue in 1969. And all are embracing generous leggage…