Largeot with loops Le Laboureur in mixed linen/ecru cotton

The balloon or half-balloon shape, narrowed at the ankles, was intended to be ample and easy to facilitate movement on roofs or during structural work. It was worn high, a tightening tab allowed you to hang a hammer, a piped pocket on the right leg accommodated a folding rule, gauge and pencil, finally a gusset pocket for a watch, chalk or possibly a clove of garlic for THE Insect bites. Initially designed in a heavy, coarse ribbed velvet, or even in a shaved velvet called “mole skin”, ancestor of the current moleskin, never washed but only beaten and brushed, it was frequently said that “the wider the breeches, the stronger the man.” Still worn today by craftsmen and by the Compagnons du Devoir of the Tour de France for whom the colors correspond to codes specific to their profession: carpenters and roofers wear black, stonemasons and sculptors ecru, cabinetmakers brown , carpenters in hazelnut, masons and carpenters in marine blue. There are two shapes, with pulls with straps, with belt loops, and in three qualities of fabric, velvet, moleskin and a linen/cotton mix for sunny days. As at the beginning of the 20th century, these pants do not appeal exclusively to a professional clientele, leaving indifferent a private clientele sensitive to its finest assets: beautiful workmanship, authenticity, durability and timelessness.