The best summer pants for men make the season marginally more tolerable. Because summer is all fun and games until you’re an excruciatingly, uncomfortable sweaty mess. And while conventional summertime wisdom may tell you that shorts are the best option for letting the cool breeze buffet your quads, there is still a time and place for pants—so long as they’re lightweight, breathable, and durable enough to withstand a whole season of dog days.
Contemplate, if you will, the warm-weather occasions for which full-length pants are required. (There are many.) Also, when the sun is dead set on roasting every inch of your skin, imagine the sartorial sunscreen the right pair of long-legged knickers can bring to your legs. And that’s not to mention all the styling options they offer your wardrobe.
So with that in mind, we rounded up the best summer pants for men in the most unassailable styles and silhouettes of the season, all ready and raring to keep you comfortable with a heckuva lot more dignity than shorts. Can we guarantee you a swamp-free summer wearing exclusively pants? We can’t—our lawyers and the weatherman recommended against it—but the options below will get your pretty darn close.
The Best Summer Pants by Style
Staff Favorites
Eager for intel on the “ID?”-eliciting pants GQ staffers are pining for right this very second? Here’s a quartet of options culled from the collective Recommends shopping cart.
Tekla
Pyjama Pants
“I rarely like the look of linen or seersucker, so in the summer I tend to opt for lightweight poplin. These Tekla pants are great for their original intention (sleepy time), but they look too cool not to incorporate into your outside wardrobe.” —Gerald Ortiz
Our Legacy
Wander Wide-Leg Belted Trousers
“In function, these pants take inspiration from the outdoors. But in form? The micro Prince of Wales check pattern makes ‘em versatile as hell. For the garment nerds, there’s also a fun surprise behind the knees.” —Michael Nolledo
Umit Benan
B+ Pleated Twill Trousers
“On the off chance that a friendly reader would like to loan (read: gift) a hard-working menswear writer (read: me) a little over a grand, don’t even bother with my banking information: buy me these and we’ll call it even.” —Avidan Grossman
OrSlow
Original Nepped Twill ‘60s Painter Pants
“When I think about the concept of ‘summer pants,’ I literally just see these pants. The lightweight, neppy twill is crazy soft out of the gate and is the kind that gets better every time you wear them.” —Reed Nelson
Summer Linen Pants
Of course, “summer” pants come in a variety of fabrics, but if keeping cool is your ultimate aim, linen should invariably be your fabric of choice. As a natural material (woven from the fibers of the flax plant), linen is breathable, airy, and can wick away moisture with the best of ‘em. In other words: It’s amenable to a whole mess of dog day’s activities. This season, a whole host of brands are offering pants in linen and linen-blends, so you certainly won’t want for variety.
Knickerbocker
Park Cotton & Linen Pant
If you don’t think of linen as an everyday fabric, these wide-leg, single-pleated, cotton-linen pants are here tell you otherwise.
Abercrombie & Fitch
Loose Linen Blend Permacrease Trouser
A heavy-hitting, easy-wearing last-minute wedding option that looks as natural on the beach as it does in a buffet line.
Percival
Tailored Pleated Trouser
We’re partial to these trousers in a casual setting, but there is a matching jacket if you feel like suiting up.
Buck Mason
Loomed Linen Fatigue Pant
For anyone was wondering, it turns out that fatigues still crush in linen.
Summer Dress Pants
While it’s easy to endorse the idea of wearing a pair of dress pants casually, we can’t say we feel the same way about wearing a pair of casual pants to a formal function. And it’s an unfortunate truth that many people don’t own a pair of dress pants suitable for warmer temperatures. Let’s fix that, shall we?
Todd Snyder
Italian Linen Side Tab Trouser
Further proof that stripes go even harder on linen than they do on wool.
Auralee
Straight-Leg Cotton and Linen-Blend Trousers
Forget a special occasion. You’ll be hard-pressed not to wear a pair of trousers this good into the ground.
Banana Republic
Signature Italian Hopsack Wide-Leg Pant
These wide-leg numbers are done up in a summer-friendly hopsack fabric, which is great news for anyone searching for their dream ‘90s-inspired silhouette.
Stòffa
Tapered Pleated Cotton-Twill Trousers
Pitch-perfect dress pants when you need them to be, the sickest single-pleat chinos in your rotation otherwise.
Summer Chinos
Most chinos have the hardiness for multi-season wear, but they tend to peak in the summertime. Not only do they look great with classic summer staples—the whole spectrum of washed oxfords, polos, loafers, white sneakers, ribbed tanks, you get the point—but the right pair can handle nearly every dress code. And while there’s nothing wrong with a pair of slim chinos, the wider the leg, the cooler your legs will stay. It’s menswear science.
J.Crew
Giant-Fit Chino
If a loose leg is one way to stay cool in pants, consider these air conditioned.
Ghiaia Cashmere
Marinaio Straight Leg Pleated Cotton Twill Chinos
The five-star resort of double-pleated pants, if that makes sense.
Alex Mill
Standard Pleated Pant
You can’t go wrong with the chino specialists at Alex Mill. An everyday staple in an all-time summer fabric.
Wythe
Rustic Plainweave Chino
A breezy open-weave cotton-linen canvas fabric and a bunch of cheeky details, including a funky pair rear-waist cinches? We’re in.
Summer Drawstring Pants
Drawstring pants—or, easy pants, as we like to call them—have become a year-round proposition, but they stand out for different reasons in each season. In winter, for instance, the forgiving waistband is much appreciated. In summer, however, they hit extremely hard. Maybe it’s because summer is when living is easy. Maybe it’s because it’s nice to leave the belt at home when the temps rise. Or perhaps it’s because lightweight fabrics are particularly amenable to a drawstring. Whatever the reason, it works.
Reiss
Elasticized Plisse Trousers
All the crimpy plisse goodness you know and love about a certain brand, for about a third of the price.
A Kind of Guise
Samurai Trousers
These pants are comfy enough to wear on morning bagel runs, but they’ll go ballistic with some loafers and a knit polo.
RRL
Caldwell Chambray Drawstring Pant
As lightweight as your favorite shirt, distressed like your favorite jeans, and have just enough structure to wear all summer long.
Alex Crane
Bo Pants
If these were any more natural (they’re 100% linen), they’d be compostable.
Summer Cargo Pants
There’s no denying cargo pants, especially in the summertime. They’re practical and easy to wear, whether you’re running errands or taking a relaxed approach to a dressier function. For summer, look for cargo pants done up in lightweight fabrics, with a pocket layout that can help render extra layers and accessories unnecessary.
Beams Plus
Straight-Leg Cotton Ripstock Cargo Trousers
You can ditch the tote with these next-level re-pro cargos.
Madewell
Oversized Cargo Pants
Big-body cargos that will look great with basically any summer footwear in your rotation.
Buck Mason
Parachute Poplin Jungle Cargo Pant
It’s hard to find a lighter-weight cotton than the 5.5 oz. poplin these are running.
Stone Island
Ghost Wide Cargo Trousers
These are about as technical as a pair of 100% cotton pants can be.
