The History of Cargo Pants

Cargo pants were invented in 1938 when they debuted as part of the British Battle Dress Uniform (BDU), which incidentally marked the British military’s transition to garments focused on practicality rather than formality. Interestingly, the original cargo pants offered a two-pocket design with no back pockets. In the 1940s, cargo pants made their way to the U.S., where a similar pair of pants featuring four side pockets was designed by U.S. Army Lieutenant General William P. Yarborough and adopted by American paratroopers. (The extra pockets meant the paratroopers could carry more supplies.) In 1947, the French military introduced the M-47 iteration of cargo pants, which featured deep, chino-like slash pockets as well as cargo pockets on each leg. The M-51 version of cargo pants was adopted by the U.S. military in 1951 and was the first of its type to feature 6 pockets. The pants also featured adjustable drawcords and were designed for wear in the extreme cold. The M-65 cargo pants variant was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1965 and was the first of its kind to be made entirely from a nylon or nylon-blend fabric. It also featured a notably roomy fit. In the 1990s, cargo pants crossed into the fashion world. They were adopted by skaters, who appreciated them for their functionality, and by hip-hop artists, who adopted them for their inherent politicism, creating a whole new aesthetic in the process. Cargo pants reached peak mainstream popularity in the early 2000s, when mall staples like Abercrombie & Fitch offered zip-off reproductions of paratrooper pants and other cargo styles. Today, cargo pants aren’t as ubiquitous as they once were around the turn of the 21st century, nor are they as closely associated with the military as they once were, but they remain widely accessible and are still worn for their practicality and style. In fact, cargo pants have even undergone a fashion resurgence in recent years.