How a drawstring waistband is built
Start with the band itself. On every pair of drawstring pants in this collection it is a constructed, finished band with a channel running through it, carrying a round cord or a flat fabric tie that exits at the front through eyelets or a buttonhole. Because the band is finished, it keeps its own shape and the fabric below it hangs from the waist. A gathered elastic casing works differently: the cloth is pleated permanently along its whole circumference, so it bunches whether you need the room or not. Simone and the Simone Short use a flat self tie, which pulls in more evenly than a round cord and sits flatter under a tucked top. Drawstring pants for women are usually sold on comfort alone. These are sold on the waistband. Trousers and pants is the parent collection.
Why a structured cotton behaves differently on a soft waistband
Every piece in this grid is a cotton led woven. Elaine is 75 percent cotton with lyocell. Simone and the Easy Drawstring Slouch Crop are 70 percent cotton with linen and three percent lycra. The Laurel Trouser is a cotton, lyocell and linen blend. There is no jersey here and no knit. That matters, because a woven cotton holds a leg line, takes a press and falls away from the hip, so the pant keeps a trouser silhouette from the hip down while the waist gives at the top. A jersey pant collapses onto the body and shows every line of it. It is also why these sit apart from most pull on pants: the waistband is drawn in by a cord or a tie, and the band itself stays flat. If you searched for elastic waist pants and landed here, the difference is worth knowing.
Sizing when there is no fixed waist
Two sizing systems run side by side in this collection. Elaine and the Easy Drawstring Slouch Crop are sized 23 to 32, where the number is a waist measurement in inches. Simone, the Simone Short, the Laurel Trouser and the Blake Short are sized XS to L. Once a waist is adjustable the size number is really telling you about the hip, the rise and the leg, so read those first. The published fit notes differ by style. Simone runs narrow and AMO recommends sizing up. The Laurel Trouser fits true to size. Elaine is cut relaxed, with a dropped rise and a subtle barrel shape. Inseams sort the range quickly: 25 and a half inches on Simone at a size Small, 26 on the Easy Drawstring Slouch Crop, 26 and a half on Elaine, and 30 on the Laurel Trouser, which is cut full length. Leg openings run from 15 and a half inches on Elaine out to 22 on the Laurel.
The long day and the flight
This is what a cotton and linen woven is good at. It breathes, it recovers from six hours of sitting, and it does not hold the hard creases a synthetic picks up in a suitcase. The drawstring absorbs the difference between how you feel at eight in the morning and how you feel at nine at night, and between a plane seat and the ground. That is the honest case for easy pants women actually keep wearing. The Blake Short and the Simone Short carry the same drawstring trouser logic into warm weather. For the same ease in a heavier cloth, see the Easy Army Trouser. The rest of AMO's shorts and the full range of all bottoms sit one level up.
