Second-hand Dockers

Dockers belongs to the same group as Levi's but serves a different wardrobe: the smart chino rather than denim. It is the brand that made non-denim cotton trousers popular at the office, and its production has stayed very stable, which makes it easy to read second-hand - a ten-year-old Dockers chino has the same cut as its current equivalent. The sizing is fairly generous and measured in inches, W for the waist and L for the leg length, with no stable equivalent in French sizes. On a pre-owned pair, the areas to check are the seat and the inner thighs, where the canvas goes shiny and then thins, and the hem, frayed by rubbing against the shoe. The hem is the most useful piece of information: if it has already been altered, the spare fabric has been used up.