Dickies 874 Pants

[Miguel760]

Seeing as it's starting to get pretty hot out here, I was thinking of switching to Dickies for the summer. I usually wear Levis 501's.

The thing is, I'm not sure if they will look good for casual use to and back from summer school. I plan to wear them with button up shirts and either converse chuck taylors or dr. martens 1461.

Thanks.

 

[7uxe]

I'm wearing Dickies 874 right now. Some of the colors wear really well and some of the others pill up and fade in the wash quickly. The dark blue is my least favorite. Khaki, gray, and the forest green seem to look good most of the time.

They're too baggy for me so I get after them down both sides of the legs with the sewing machine to taper them down to about a 7.5" opening down at the leg. I also use a seam ripper to remove the Dickies tag from the back so people at work don't think (I'm not fooling anyone) I'm some yokel.

Otherwise they get me by in the office and then I can ride motorcycles all night in them and most of the dirt and grime washes out of them pretty well. They also are wrinkle resistant, so that's good. But the fabric on all of them starts to look 'used' faster than Dockers or Banana Republic pants I also wear to work. But it's durable; think UPS man or mechanic. The downside is that they lose the new look pretty quickly. If you're just wanting to look 'up-casual' I think they're perfect for that.

20 bucks a pop for pants you can wear out to dinner or in the garage. Sounds good to me.

Here's my green 874 that I tapered. That way they look good with my boots and they don't flop around in the wind when I'm riding motorcycles.

 

[Edcculus]

Good idea on the tapering! I find most pants I've been able to find, even in the "slim" version are too baggy and wide at the bottom for my taste. Do you simply pin in a new seam, stitch down, then cut away the excess seam inside? My wife has a serger, so I could probably have her pin the proper taper, then serge down the new seam.

Do you usually start all the way up in the crotch?

 

[7uxe]

I have this one pair of pants that I like the fit on and I turn the Dickies inside out and lay them on the floor and I center this other pair of pants on them and draw a chalk line around them and sort of eyeball it. I rip out the seam at the cuff and undo them. Then I sew from up by the pocket down to the end of the unfolded cuff. I don't go all the way up to the crotch, maybe 4" south of the crotch down to the unfolded cuff. I don't own a serger, so I run zig zag up the outside of my new seam to keep the pants from fraying. Then I cut away the excess and re-sew the cuffs back into place. It's not professional, but I'm just using an old Singer 217 machine I got at Good Will several years ago. It holds up though, and I've never had a seam come apart on me.

Since Dickies have the pressed crease down the front you have to taper from both sides, otherwise you end up with some weird looking pants. You can get away with single sided tapering on other types of pants though.

 

[Miguel760]

Thanks I think you sold me on them. I don't plan to taper them but I am going to shorten them by two inches.

Do they shrink fast in the wash?

 

[fram773]

I have Dickies skinny jeans (WP810) like these: http://www.amazon.com/Dickies-Skinny-5-Pocket-Stretch-Twill/dp/B008LWWWVE/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1427859891&sr=8-11&keywords=dickies+jeans

They are very good quality. One thing I noticed is how strong the pockets look. Just as thick and rigid as the outside. I have had jeans whose pockets crumble before the outside. I just wish they had some pants which are slightly baggier but not as baggy as the next fit.

 

[7uxe]

They actually do NOT shrink much in the wash which is one of the reasons I like them. Maybe 1/4" in the waist and up to 1/2" in the inseam the first time you wash them hot and dry them hot. After that they don't shrink.

Thanks I think you sold me on them. I don't plan to taper them but I am going to shorten them by two inches.

Do they shrink fast in the wash?

 

[Miguel760]

I ended up buying two pairs. They are very comfortable but a little on the baggy side. They look great with dr martens though.

 

[The Knize]

Great thread!

 

[Billski]

Three pairs of these is all I need.