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. 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 also now widely available in a variety of styles and fabrics, such as hemp, bamboo, or linen.

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.

Traditionally, the pants were worn by Thai fisherman (hence the name) due to their ability to dry very quickly, being very easy to make and allowing for free movement, all required criteria for this line of work.

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 warm summer, the sarong was a popular choice due to its airy nature allowing the fishermen to be cooler in the heat of the summer. However, the sarong's simple design meant that it was not very secure around the waist, and with a rocking fishing boat where the only way to stay stable is to keep moveing, 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.

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Wikipedia