The 12 best dress pants for men in 2023

Publish date: 2024-06-29
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  • Best overall
  • Best affordable
  • Most comfortable
  • Best for work
  • Best casual
  • Best stretch
  • Best for bigger thighs
  • Best lightweight
  • Best warm
  • Best performance
  • Best stylish
  • Best customizable
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    The best dress pants for men should look polished and crisp, whether in business casual scenarios or while out for date night. They should also be comfortable and easy to clean. Great dress pants are a critical part of any wardrobe, because even the most stylish dress shirt needs a strong supporting cast. 

    Our favorite pair is from Bonobos, a staple menswear brand we love that makes durable, affordable, and tailored styles for any occasion. The Bonobos Italian Stretch Wool Dress Pants are versatile and refined dress pants that are comfortable enough for any season thanks to the stretchy, breathable wool blend. Below, we've rounded up the best dress pants for men, an essential element in any workwear wardrobe.

    Our top picks for the best dress pants for men:

    Best overall: Bonobos Italian Stretch Wool Dress Pants - See at Bonobos
    The company's trademark excellent fit meets comfortable, four-season stretch wool for unmatched refinement. 

    Best affordable: Uniqlo Slim-Fit Chino Pants - See at Uniqlo
    Classic cotton chino fuses nicely with a clean, straight-leg cut, and the price is simply unbeatable. 

    Most comfortable: Ministry of Supply Velocity Dress Pants - See at Ministry of Supply
    The dress pant gets a futuristic upgrade with this brand's innovative stretch fabric. 

    Best for work: BOSS Genius Stretch Wool Dress Pants - See at Nordstrom
    Nail a perfectly dressy look with these handsome, expertly tailored dress pants. 

    Best casual: Mugsy Whalers Corduroy Pants - See at Mugsy
    Incredibly stretchy fabric and cool corduroy texture help "dress down" this pair ever-so-slightly. 

    Best stretch: Swet Tailor Voyager Trousers - See at Swet Tailor
    Originally designed for the golf course, these feature a water-repellent blend of nylon and spandex for extra comfort. 

    Best for bigger thighs: State and Liberty Athletic Fit Stretch Pants - See at State and Liberty
    These pants live up to their name, with a roomy yet tailored fit explicitly designed for bigger, athletic guys. 

    Best lightweight: Mizzen + Main Helmsman Chino Pants - See at Mizzen + Main
    Lightweight takes on a whole new meaning with these airy, four-way stretch pants you've got to try on to believe. 

    Best warm: Wills All Season Stretch Wool Trousers - See at Huckberry
    Bid goodbye to scratchy, uncomfortable wool trousers since these manage to both feel soft and deliver crucial warmth.

    Best performance: KUHL Freeflex Pants - See at KUHL
    A stretchy polyester blend paired with an elastic waistband in a hybrid pair of dress pants that plays well in a casual office. 

    Best stylish: Y.Chroma Apparel Skyline Pants - See at Y.Chroma Apparel
    Premium construction and materials, plus vibrant color options, make these as distinctive a pair of dress pants as you'll find.  

    Best customizable: Indochino Harrogate Gray Pants - See at Indochino
    The customization needn't be confined to bespoke ateliers, as this pair can be dialed in to your liking from the comfort of your home.

    Best overall: Bonobos Italian Stretch Wool Dress Pants

    Bonobos
    Shop at Bonobos

    If you need multiple dress pants styles in any given week, it's best to shop a brand you can trust. A brand like Bonobos offers an almost dizzying array of options for the sharp-dressed man, including five fits (like Tailored and Athletic), waist sizes up to 54, and crisp colors like Charcoal and even a Light Navy Slub. And while the wool can sometimes feel stuffy, this fabric is light enough to be worn in all four seasons without overheating — taken all together, and they're the best overall dress pants we've found. Now through Cyber Monday, November 27, you can save up 30% sitewide at Bonobos. 

    Read more in our full Bonobos chinos review here.

    Best affordable: Uniqlo Slim-Fit Chino Pants

    Uniqlo
    Shop at Uniqlo

    Don't overlook the best chinos for men when building out your rotation of dress pants. Uniqlo's version boasts side seam detailing, just like classic dress pants, plus a comfortable yet relatively tailored slim-straight cut. An array of timeless color options provides options for every day of the week, and that price tag makes it easy to buy multiple pairs at once. 

    Most comfortable: Ministry of Supply Velocity Dress Pants

    Ministry of Supply
    Shop at Ministry of Supply

    Dress pants remained essentially unchanged for years, often made of classic wool, until  Ministry of Supply came along and changed the game. They've quite literally engineered a new way to think about dress pants, using wrinkle-resistant, 4-way stretch fabric boasting next-level features like natural odor control. Yet, they still feature timeless dress pant details like front slash pockets and two clean, sharp fit options. They should prove comfortable enough for all-day wear and even business travel.

    Read more about Ministry of Supply in our review of the best work clothes for men,

    Best for work: BOSS Genius Stretch Wool Dress Pants

    Nordstrom
    Shop at Nordstrom

    Some dress pants separate themselves from the pack with a super-crisp design – in fact, it's hard not to love sharp, dressy creased-front pants. It's something of a specialty for the BOSS brand and its subsets like the Genius line. Wool fabric is elevated even further with a comfortable stretch, turning these into comfortable pants fit for day-to-night wear. 

    Best casual: Mugsy Whalers Corduroy Pants

    Mugsy
    Shop at Mugsy

    Is it possible for a pair of the best dress pants to actually be, well — more casual? In the hands of Mugsy, the answer is a resounding yes. The brand's thin wale stretch corduroy boasts the eye-catching texture of corduroy, but the lightweight stretch fabric makes them a reliable option for chilly fall and winter days, too. Plus, the five-pocket design and washed-out colorway are both slightly more laidback if you prefer a pair of dress pants with a (slightly) more easygoing look.

    Best stretch: Swet Tailor Voyager Trousers

    Swet Tailor
    Shop at Swet Tailor

    Shopping for a new pair of dress pants is an opportunity to think outside your usual dressing habits. In the case of Swet Tailor, that means using an absurdly stretchy yet durable fabric blend of nylon and spandex, the kind you'd more commonly find on the links during a round of golf. But with a slim-straight cut and a tapered finish at the ankle, these are dressy enough to pull double-duty at the office, while a handy zipper pocket is ideal for your EDC on the road. 

    Best for bigger thighs: State and Liberty Athletic Fit Stretch Pants

    State and Liberty
    Shop at State and Liberty

    Squeezing into suit pants or finding dress pants that fit was once a chore for guys with larger thighs and a more athletic build. And yet, State and Liberty was founded with a laser-sharp focus on solving that problem, from blazers to dress shirts and these expertly cut dress pants. The performance blend fabric moves with you and offers a tapered fit with plenty of room (but not too much), while these can easily be matched with a State and Liberty blazer for a cool, tailored look.

    Best lightweight: Mizzen + Main Helmsman Chino Pants

    Mizzen + Main
    Shop at Mizzen + Main

    Wearing even the best dress pants can sometimes feel cumbersome in extreme heat, but Mizzen + Main seems to have the proper response figured out. The answer? Develop a four-way stretch blend of polyester and spandex that feels light as air and breathes easy, all the while retaining the polish of a five-pocket chino. They're also designed to resist wrinkles, and there are color options in classic colors like a cool Charcoal grey.

    Best warm: Wills All Season Stretch Wool Trousers

    Huckberry
    Shop at Huckberry

    For as much as it provides warmth, wool can sometimes be famously uncomfortable. Huckberry's in-house brand Wills takes on that issue in a satisfying fashion, using a brushed Japanese wool-blend fabric for extreme softness. For added shape, these pants are lined through the knee and boast distinctive chambray pocketing. You can even pair them with a blazer in a matching color for a seriously cool, complete suit.

    Best performance: KUHL Freeflex Pants

    KUHL
    Shop at Kuhl

    Some style scenarios call for dress pants with a touch more performance than average, and that's where KUHL comes onto the scene. For visiting job sites and stepping out of your office (or for heading from downtown to the trail to the pub), opt for a flexible pair of poly-blend pants with a comfortable elastic waistband. They're also built with UPF 50+ sun protection, and they feature a timeless straight-leg fit.

    Best stylish: Y.Chroma Apparel Skyline Pants

    Y.Chroma
    Shop at Y.Chroma

    Y.Chroma Apparel is all about reimagining what you thought you knew about menswear. The brand is bold and vibrant, taking cues from surf and skate culture yet putting a refined spin on those typically youthful pursuits. That approach manifests itself in the visually appealing Skyline Pants, which are classic enough to wear with chunky leather loafers and edgy enough to wear with beat-up dress boots. They're stitched in Bulgaria from a blend of cotton and Italian elastane, and Y.Chroma's color selection is simply immaculate. 

    Best customizable: Indochino Harrogate Gray Pants

    Indochinp
    Shop at Indochino

    You've got the world of premium tailored style at your fingertips, so to speak, with customizable options from Indochino. It's easier and more efficient than ever to add a little flair to your rotation of the best dress pants for men, with customizable fabric and lining options available. And seeing as these pants already come in Indochino's excellent cashmere blend, you're already starting at a proper jumping-off point.

    Read our full Indochino chinos review.

    Beau Hayhoe Freelance Reporter, Insider Reviews Beau Hayhoe is a freelance men's style contributor for Insider Reviews. Beau's entry into the menswear world started with the classics — Levi's jeans, Timex watches, Red Wing boots —and now spans a decade of freelance writing for some of the industry's most prominent men's lifestyle publications. Beau covers daily menswear essentials both rugged and refined, from blue jeans to flannel shirts, dive watches, henleys, leather boots and more. Beau's work has appeared online at a range of publications, including Maxim, AskMen, Fatherly, Gear Patrol, SPY and StyleCaster. Prior to entering the freelance world, Beau worked in menswear PR, while at the same time building his own daily style blog (The Style Guide). Aside from his passion for menswear, Beau also covers whiskey, music and craft beer, and his music writing has appeared at Esquire and InsideHook. Beau graduated with Honors in Journalism from Michigan State University. Connect with Beau online via TwitterInstagram and his daily style blogLearn more about how Insider Reviews tests style and beauty products. Read more Read less

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