The $55 Dickies I’m Wearing Daily Correct Their Predecessor’s Only Flaw

The Dickies 247 isn’t the only work pant up to the task. For more intel, start here.

Every night before I nod off, I’m plagued by the usual bedtime anxieties. Well, sort of. I don’t stress about bundling my car and home insurance, or whether I remembered to swap out my fantasy football starters: I mentally tally pants. You know those cartoon thought bubbles that hover over characters lying in bed? That’s me—except instead of floating sheep, it’s khakis, chinos, and work pants.

Speaking of the latter: When people hear “work pants,” they usually picture one specific pair, rendered in stiff poly-cotton twill and built to survive both construction sites and coffee shops hawking $8 matcha. Those work pants are the legendary Dickies 874s, and for $35 a pop, it ain’t all that hard to see how they earned their status.

Here’s the thing: I’ve tried to get down with the 874s, and I can’t do it. Not because of their starch-like stiffness—that’s half the charm—but because the polyester blend had me itching like I’d been rolling around in insulation. Then, a few weeks ago, I stumbled on Dickies’ new 247 pants, available in both regular and loose fits. They looked great online, but what really caught my eye was buried in the product description. The fabric? 100% cotton. No poly, no itch, only pure, breathable twill. Copping a pair was a total no-brainer.

Dickes

247 Loose Fit Pants

I went for the loose fit in the ‘desert sand’ color, partly because I live for khaki tones, partly because the roomier silhouette feels a little more right now (and a lot more age-appropriate). I ordered my usual size (30×30), a risky bet since 874s are notorious for running small, but it paid off—the waist fit perfectly.

That star-making fabric is an 8.3 oz. cotton twill (as opposed to the 874’s 8.5 oz. poly blend), and enzyme-washed for a broken-in feel; it has all of the 874’s heft but none of its cardboard-leg feeling. The drape is chef’s kiss, too, hovering right above the tongue of my shoes, my personal gold standard. Normally, I bribe my tailor monthly to hem pants to this exact length, but these came dialed in fresh out of the box.

A top-down glance at the pants-shoe interaction—and the hardy cotton-twill fabric that makes it possible.

Bonus feature: a side phone pocket that holds your smartphone like it was made for it.

At a smidge over $50, these might be the best pants in my current rotation. Sure, the inseam only goes up to 32″, but at 5’9” and thriving, I’m calling that a win. At this point, the 247s are my pre-autumn daily drivers; since buying the desert sand color, I’ve added dark brown and black to the lineup, too. I’ve been pairing them with an all-black western shirt and beat-up canvas sneakers, and every time I look in the mirror, I feel like I accidentally got dressed on purpose.

So, Dickies, if you’re listening: kudos on minting another classic. Roll out versions in, say, navy and army green, and I’ll keep my credit card ready to swipe.