In my last post on trouser style options, I mentioned the different ways of adjusting the waist: strap and buckle, belt loops or buttons. The white trousers pictured had a strap and buckle. Above is the last alternative in that list – buttons that attach to elastic around the back half of the waist.

I find button-and-elastic to be more comfortable on casual trousers. You can’t really have it on a brace-cut trouser, as my more formal trousers are, but on straight-round trousers like these it works well.

The button and elastic enables you to have the waistband a little bit looser; it doesn’t have to be a fixed waist, as you would have with belt loops. And although a strap and buckle allows you to adjust the waist, you don’t have the give in them that you get with the elastic.

Strap and buckle is the most popular option for all types of trousers at Anderson & Sheppard. But buttons are popular for casual trousers – certainly more so than belt loops, which have become much less popular recently.

Those white trousers, by the way, are in a brushed cotton from Scabal, weighing 360 grammes. It’s a lovely cloth and I would certainly recommend it, though linen and lightweight (say 9 ounce) flannels are also good options for white. I think they will be worn largely in Spring and Autumn, on bright but perhaps slightly chilly days. Even in white it’s a nice look for a colder season.