Hunting breeches

Knickers are an essential garment. These trousers, sometimes slightly baggy and ending below the knee, are inseparable from a certain idea of hunting. However, few people know the origin of these pants.

The word "knickers" comes from Knickerbocker, which was the name of a fictional character in the 19th century across the Atlantic. In 1809, Washington Irving (1783-1859) wrote a short story titled: A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker. It is a satire of the political environment and local elites. Just before its publication, Washington Irving amused himself by sending fake missing persons notices to several New York newspapers regarding a certain Mr. Diedrich Knickerbocker, a Dutch historian by trade who was fond of these pants that reached just below the knees.

This literary work met with some success, and the term "knickerbocker" entered common parlance to refer to the inhabitants of Manhattan. So much so that a basketball team, the New York Knickerbockers (better known as the Knicks), borrowed this name for their team.

At the beginning of the 20th century, knickers became the ideal garment for outdoor activities: hunting, golf, skiing, mountaineering... However, they should not be confused with golf breeches, worn by a famous Belgian reporter, which are longer and baggier. Then, like all fashions, knickers disappeared from the radar starting in the 1940s, as the classic trousers we know today became firmly established in social norms.

Why wear knickers?

TweedChasse cares nothing for trends. As Gustave Thibon once aptly said: "To go with the flow: the ambition of a dead leaf." Because knickers are the hunting trousers par excellence—practical and elegant. Practical because they allow for true freedom of movement, which is the hallmark of good trousers, without fear of friction against the boot. Elegant in their aesthetics and the material from which they are crafted. At TweedChasse, we offer this essential garment in tweed, cotton, corduroy, buffalo leather, or deerskin...

So many choices to be that gentleman of the fields. An ideal to which we all aspire!