It’s not news that corduroy sits on the more dressed-down side of the ledger. The little ridges—known as “wales”—that give corduroy its raised texture and distinct visual appearance make it a more casual cotton fabric from the get-go.

But those distinct features of corduroy can make it more difficult to approach than your average twill or plain-weave cotton. Corduroy is also associated with old-school country living, which is perfectly fine but not always the effect you wish to give off when you’re just running outside to get coffee.

In light of this, we’ve put together a brief guide below on how you can incorporate corduroy into modern, casual, day-to-day wear.

How to wear corduroy pants
Dressier than jeans but more casual than dress trousers or chinos, corduroy pants are more versatile than you think. And thanks to their slightly fuzzy texture and appearance, they can get away more easily with interesting shades like mahogany or olive (though you’ll never be out of place in classic khaki).

While corduroy pants can afford to have a little more character, you can still wear them in any situation in which you’d wear your jeans or chinos: with button-downs and tees, or under sweaters or sportcoats.

How to wear corduroy shirts
The less-seen (but highly encouraged) corduroy shirt is another interesting way to wear the hard-wearing fabric. Thanks to corduroy’s workwear associations, a shirt made from the fabric will be much more casual than one made from a flatly woven cotton. For this reason, it goes best with chinos or jeans.

Because a corduroy shirt won’t be mistaken for something you’d wear with a tie and sportcoat, we enjoy doubling down on its workwear heritage. A pair of flap pockets on the chest pushes it into rugged territory that goes well with dark denim and boots.

How to wear corduroy shirt jackets
With its dual flap chest pockets, the corduroy shirt jacket might look an awful lot like a plain-old corduroy shirt, but the key difference here is fit. Our shirt jackets are designed to be comfortably worn over shirts as a light piece of outerwear (and can even be lined with flannel for extra warmth).

A shirt jacket can easily add extra warmth (and more rugged appeal) to simple, staple looks like an oxford shirt with chinos or jeans and a tee.