‘Fashionable pockets’: The transnational rise of cargo pants into popular culture

Abstract

During the twentieth century, cargo pants have gone from a traditional military uniform to a popular casual pant worn by almost every segment in the global consumer market. Since the 1970s, when hippies wore army surplus vintage styles as a sign of protesting the Vietnam War until today, cargo pants have undergone a considerable transformation, changing in both fabrications and form. This article will examine the origins, histories and myths surrounding the development of cargo pants as a military garment. It will highlight the rise of cargo pants into mass culture through various popular culture intermediaries such as the military, subcultural style, film, media, retail and merchandising; demonstrating how this garment has become part of world dress and transnational mass fashion, as well as an icon in global popular culture.