Thai fisherman pants

Thai fisherman pants (Thai: กางเกงเล Thai pronunciation: [kaaŋ.keeŋ.lee], Lanna: สะดอ Northern Thai pronunciation: [sa.dɔɔ]) are lightweight unisex trousers that are made very wide in the waist so that one size fits all. The pants are wrapped around the waist and ribbons are tied to form a belt. The excess material is then folded over the knot to form a belt. Although traditionally used by fishermen in Thailand, they have become popular among others for casual, beach, and exercise wear as well as for backpacking and pregnancy.

Thai fishermen do in reality wear this style of pants. They are also increasingly common among many men and women of all nationalities. This style of trousers is usually made of cotton or rayon but is now widely available in a variety of styles and fabrics, such as hemp, bamboo, nanden.

Thai fisherman pants are very similar to the traditional attire of Intha males, who live on Inle Lake of Myanmar. They are known in Burmese as Shan baun-mi.[1]

Uses

Two Thai Fishermen on a boat catching fish

Traditionally, Thai fisherman pants were worn by Thai fisherman (hence the name) due to their ability to dry very quickly, being very easy to make and allow for free movement, all required criteria for this line of work.[2] Another piece of traditional wear for thai fisherman was a Sarong, which is a simpler version of the fisherman pants, but with a skirt style with only one piece of cloth wrapped around the waist. During the summer climate when the weather is warm, the Sarong was a favourable choice due to its airy nature allowing the fishermen to be cooler in the heat of the summer, though the simple design of these meant that they were not very secure around the waist, and with a rocking fishing boat where the only way to stay stable is to keep constant movement, the skirt style was not suitable and a more regular “pants” style was popularised along with an adjustable string around the waist to hold them up.[3] Now, Thai Fisherman Pants are worn by lots more people as loose fitting pants to be worn during indoor activities that require a wide range of movement such as Tai Chi, Yoga and meditation or outdoor activities, such as when camping and other backpacking or outdoors related activities that again require movement due to their loose fit and comfortability. Many people have also found them useful during pregnancy, due to their adaptable waistline and soft yet durable material. They also now come in a large range of colours and styles due to their commercialisation when traditionally only made in blue or black.[4] There are many retailers across the world that sell Thai Fisherman pants including huge international retailers, as well as specialised websites that are dedicated to selling Thai Fisherman Pants as their only product. They are also relatively cheap and are easy to make when compared to other types of pants such as jeans, as they are largely made of a cotton blend and do not have to be dyed extensively, such that they are often made by the individual as a DIY project from an old piece of clothing[5]

Dressing

There are in depth guides on how to put on Thai fisherman pants as they must be put on in a very specific way to meet their purpose.[6] This is because they aren’t fitted like regular pants, they are fitted to one specific size and depending on the individual wearing them, they should be tied to their waistline. To wear them, you first put them on regularly as you would any other pants, you should expect them to be very loose. After, you take one side of the pants and tighten around the waist, then repeating with the other side and use the lace to tie off the entire pair around your waist. This ensures that the pants are unisex and one size to fit all as you can dynamically adapt the waist measurements to whatever size is necessary, making Thai fisherman pants the speciality that they are, allowing for all shapes and sizes of people to wear them and be used for multiple purposes such as when wanting a loose-fitting type of pants or when needing a more secure waistline, they can be adapted to work for most activities

Controversy

Leaf of the Cannabis plant used to make hemp

There has been much debate as to whether Thai Fisherman pants are a reasonable and good sense of fashion. There have been claims that Thai Fisherman pants are not even used for their desired purpose and that they are not even worn by Thai Fisherman or used for fishing in general. Instead, their major audience is either from people of Israeli descent or of people that want to do backpacking activities. The biggest being British backpackers. They are regarded in a very laughable regard with claims that even its major audience is few and far between and in future, they will only be worn by immature adults. Thai Fisherman pants are held in a low regard and are compared with other well-known examples of controversial dressing fashion such as crocs or sandals with socks. [7] The type of material that can be used to create Thai Fisherman pants has also came into debate as to which is more environmentally friendly between Hemp and Cotton. Other than Soy, Hemp is the largest material to create other products from and is always claimed to be environmentally friendly. The range of materials it can create range from textiles to even building an electric car. The only controversial aspect with creating anything from Hemp is its connection to the creation of marijuana. However, the energy required to make textiles and goods such as Thai Fisherman pants is actually consumed more in the process of creation using hemp compared with cotton. Cotton consumes less energy to make textile goods like Thai Fisherman pants than Hemp. [8] The original purpose for the use of Thai Fisherman pants, Thai Fishing, is also another aspect of controversy for the major reason that it was built on slavery. 90% of Thai fishing is exported all over the world with 4.2 million tonnes of seafood being collected. However, a lot of people who are employed in this field are not Thai Fisherman but consist of migrants fleeing from areas such as Burma and Cambodia. This does not put the origin of Thai Fisherman Pants into a good light because their original use, some would argue has been tainted with the fact that Thai Fishing has been founded on slavery and continued into modern times by underpaid workers fleeing from horrendous circumstances. [9]

References

  1. ↑ "What are Thai Fisherman Pants? (with pictures)". wiseGEEK. Retrieved 2016-05-21.
  2. ↑ "About Thai wrap Fisherman Pants". siam-secrets. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  3. ↑ "Fisherman Pants - what they are all about?". BohoHill access-date=2016-11-19.
  4. ↑ "What are Thai Fisherman Pants and Where Do You Buy Them?". Tasty Thailand. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  5. ↑ "How to sew summer-wrap-around-pants". instructables. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  6. ↑ "How to Wear Thai Fisherman Pants". wikihow. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  7. ↑ "7 travel fashion trends that should be banned". CNN Travel. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  8. ↑ "High on Environmentalism". Slate. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  9. ↑ "Trafficked into slavery on Thai trawlers to catch food for prawns". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
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