Product Review: Linen Chinos From The Territory Ahead

Disclaimer: I do not get commissions or kickbacks for any of the reviews I write on this site. My thoughts and opinions are honest and untainted and the products about which I write have been thoroughly used and abused.

I don’t like writing bad reviews. I always feel a twinge of guilt when I sit down to write an article that, albeit honestly, trashes some company’s product. I know what goes into creating merchandise. I know it was someone’s conscious decision to have that specific product manufactured. I don’t like to throw rocks at someone’s honest attempt at making a good and profitable product.

Thankfully, this isn’t one of those articles!

In case you’re pressed for time, this will be a very positive review of the linen flat-front chinos from The Territory Ahead.

I had no idea who The Territory Ahead were until I received a catalog in the mail, since my wife had purchased a product from J. Peterman recently (J. Peterman owns The Territory Ahead so they obviously share customer lists).

For years, I had been on the lookout for a reasonably priced pair of linen pants. Just regular, unlined, 100% linen pants that weren’t crazy expensive. I wanted to wear them during the summer the same way I wear regular chinos or jeans during the cooler months, that is, with everything from a polo shirt at the  beach to an OCBD at a nice, boozy lunch.

It was surprisingly difficult to find such a product. At one point, I settled for a cotton-lined pair of linen pants (I forget from which company), only to swiftly discard them as they were impossibly heavy and way too thick to wear in warm weather.

My wife was aware of my years-long quest for a simple pair of linen pants and gifted me the pair on which this article is based.

Unfortunately, it appears this product is no longer available on The Territory Ahead’s website, although their regular cotton chinos look almost identical (although, they aren’t linen). The chinos in the link are $109 dollars (first-time buyers can get a 20% discount) and I believe that’s about how much my wife paid for the linen version.

For the price, I think these pants are a good deal, especially if you can grab the discount.

Let’s start with the fit…

I usually get my casual pants in a 36-inch waist. If I am going to wear a pair of paints with suspenders, I’ll get a 38-inch waist, but anything I plan to wear with a belt will be 36 inches.

I also usually get a 32-inch inseam on casual pants. If I were to have them tailored, it would be more like 31-inches, but I prefer to have a little bit of wiggle room in case they shrink in the wash. And you can always roll casual pants if you need to.

So, at 36×32 I found these pants fit true to size. I need to roll the hem slightly if I iron the pants before wearing them (as flattening out the linen makes it wear a bit larger), but if I put them on right out of the dryer, I can get away with not rolling them at all.

The rise on the pants isn’t too low, which is a welcome change from the super-low-rise trousers of recent years (especially the ones from relatively low-cost retailers).

I think what I like the most about the fit of these pants is the fact that they are not slim. They are rather full-cut which, coupled with the mid-to-high rise, gives a nice classic look when worn with a tucked-in collared shirt. It a surprisingly “on trend” move which echoes the popularity of J. Crew’s wildly successful “Giant Fit” chinos.

As for the material, the linen is a light enough to feel breezy and cool in sweltering temps, but it’s not so light that I feel self-conscious wearing dark colored underwear. That is, even though the pants are unlined, they are not see-through.

There are other small things I appreciate about these pants, too, like the buttons on the back pockets. With loose-fitting trousers, I find that sometimes the contents of my pockets shift around a little more than in my jeans. Having button closures on my back pockets ensure my wallet stays put. Also, the back pockets are situated right over my butt-cheeks instead of off to each side, as on many pants when you creep north of the 32-inch mark on the waistline. This helps give the pants a streamlined look from the back and avoids the dreaded “diaper-butt” look we all want to avoid.

I also like the beefy YKK zipper. I’ll never understand why many companies do button flies on their pants. I mean, I get there is a small subset of customers who love button flies for their authenticity, but the vast majority of people want a regular ol’ zipper on their pants.

One somewhat strange addition to these pants, though, is the comfort waistband. Elastic in a waistband is another thing I have never truly understood. If your pants fit, you shouldn’t need it. Also, if you wear your pants with a belt, the elastic doesn’t serve a purpose since your pants fit the exact same way every time (due to the belt). The only reason I can see for elastic extensions in a waistband is if the pants don’t quite fit you properly and you need the extra wiggle room.

So, even though I don’t use the elastic, does it detract from my enjoyment of the pants? No, it doesn’t. As you can see, the elastic is hidden well and doesn’t affect the overall look of the trousers, especially when covered by the belt.

And since I mentioned belts, these pants offer an acceptable number of belt loops, which, if you have read a previous article of mine, you know I love.

There is one small drawback, which I didn’t discover until I was taking pictures for this article.

Not great, but not surprising given how hard I am on the items I like. I wear them and I don’t baby them. I don’t believe this in an inherent flaw in the quality of the item.

The bottom line here, is that these pants are exactly what I was looking for when I was on the hunt for linen pants. I don’t like wearing shorts anywhere that isn’t the gym and these pants are an excellent addition to my summer wardrobe. They are loose and flowy and I don’t feel hot in them at all.

I joke with my wife that once the warm weather hits I swap out my flannel pants for these linen pants and I don’t take them off until sometime in September. And it’s not that much of an exaggeration.

I wear these pants at home, to the beach over my bathing suit, to lunch, and while running errands. I might even combine them with an unstructured blazer and loafers if I was going into the office with any sort of regularity.

These aren’t the only pants I own from The Territory Ahead. Due to the success of these, my wife also gifted me a pair of their flannel trousers. I’ll do a review of those at a later date, once the weather gets cooler, but they are of similar quality and the fit is consistent across both pairs.

The pants have provided me with a satisfactory level of value and I would absolutely purchase similar products from this company again. Hopefully, The Territory Ahead will bring these pants back into their fold, as I believe they are a very good product.