{"product_id":"banana-republic-chinos-mill-valley-california-ziegler-era-30x27-5","title":"1980s Banana Republic Wide-Leg Chinos, Mill Valley - British Colony of Hong Kong - W33\"","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e100% cotton flat-front\u003c\/strong\u003e chino trousers by \u003cstrong\u003eBanana Republic\u003c\/strong\u003e, with the \u003cstrong\u003etwo-banana label\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eMill Valley, California\u003c\/strong\u003e. Made in the \u003cstrong\u003eBritish Colony of Hong Kong\u003c\/strong\u003e. YKK zip fly, belt loops. Tagged 34.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMeasured flat: Waist 33 in. Hips 40 in. Rise 11.5 in. Inseam 29.5 in. Thigh 24 in. Leg opening 18 in.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRead the thigh against the opening and you have the trouser.\u003c\/strong\u003e Twenty-four inches at the thigh down to eighteen at the hem is a wide, full leg that barely narrows - it falls rather than tapers. Add an eleven and a half inch rise sitting at the natural waist, and these are cut the way trousers were before everything went low and narrow. An eighteen inch opening is wide by any standard and very wide by the standards of the last twenty years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTagged 34 and measuring 33.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThey have been hemmed.\u003c\/strong\u003e The inseam is 29.5.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: good.\u003c\/strong\u003e Honest wear, nothing to hide.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSix pockets, and no two pairs of them match.\u003c\/strong\u003e Two slash pockets at the front, a coin pocket, and at the back \u003cem\u003eone flap pocket and one flat pocket\u003c\/em\u003e - deliberately not a matching pair. That asymmetry is the whole Banana Republic idea in miniature: the flap protects what you cannot afford to lose, the open pocket is for what you need quickly, and nobody put them there to look tidy. Ordinary chinos give you two identical back pockets because symmetry is cheaper to think about.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFlat front, no pleats.\u003c\/strong\u003e The eighties are remembered for pleats and most chinos from the period have them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThree marks date these and they agree.\u003c\/strong\u003e Hong Kong ceased to be a British colony on \u003cstrong\u003e1 July 1997\u003c\/strong\u003e, so no garment labelled that way can be later. The Mill Valley address belongs to the original company, whose safari concept was gone by 1990. And the fly is a \u003cstrong\u003eYKK\u003c\/strong\u003e zip, which took the American market from the 1980s where Talon had held it before. Three independent things, none of which knows about the other two, pointing at the same decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMill Valley is the whole point, because it means this is the original company.\u003c\/strong\u003e Banana Republic was founded in 1978 by Mel and Patricia Ziegler, on $1,500 of savings and an American Express card, after Mel brought home a surplus jacket from Australia that Patricia admired for its cloth and its four pockets. They sold army surplus at flea markets until it outgrew them, then opened a storefront in Mill Valley fitted out like a jungle trading post. The full name was the \u003cstrong\u003eBanana Republic Travel \u0026amp; Safari Clothing Company\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt was famous for its catalogues before it was famous for anything else\u003c\/strong\u003e - hand-drawn in ink and watercolour, selling flight jackets, photo-journalists' vests, paratrooper briefcases and gurkha shorts, with the drawings doing work no photograph could.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnd then it ended, on a date you can name.\u003c\/strong\u003e Gap bought the company in 1983, when there were five stores in California. The safari concept began to slide from 1986, the Zieglers left in 1988, and by 1990 it was gone entirely - replaced by the khaki-and-suiting mall brand that still carries the name. \u003cstrong\u003eA Mill Valley label belongs to the years before that.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e100% cotton. Machine wash cold, hang dry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModern size:\u003c\/strong\u003e 33 x 29.5 (waist x inseam, in inches).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of one. Sold as found.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNo returns - as is.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Banana Republic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44428918587479,"sku":"MT-TR-200","price":88.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0034\/8692\/files\/IMG_7018.jpg?v=1792605461","url":"https:\/\/shopmille.com\/products\/banana-republic-chinos-mill-valley-california-ziegler-era-30x27-5","provider":"MILLE","version":"1.0","type":"link"}