Sweatpants and joggers: what the cuff and the rise are telling you

Sweatpants are the easiest garment to buy badly, because the size chart looks simple and the shape is decided almost entirely by two details that are easy to miss in a photograph.

Cuffed or open hem

An elasticated cuff gathers the fabric and tapers the leg, giving the classic jogger shape. An open hem lets the leg fall straight and reads much wider, closer to a trouser. The same pattern in the same size looks like two different garments depending on which it has.

For a baggy silhouette, open hem. For something that stays out of the way, cuffed. There is no in-between and the listing photographs will show which it is.

Rise, again

As with denim, the rise decides where the volume starts. A high-rise elasticated waist with a wide leg gives a full, dropped silhouette; a mid rise with the same leg reads more casual and less deliberate.

Elasticated waists sit where you put them within an inch or two, so rise matters slightly less here than in denim – but it still sets the proportion.

Fabric weight and pilling

Lightweight French terry is cool and drapes; heavyweight brushed fleece is warm and holds structure. Both pill, and the rate depends more on fibre blend than on weight. A higher cotton content pills less than a cotton-polyester blend of the same weight.

Pilling is not damage and can be shaved off with a fabric shaver, which is a five-dollar tool worth owning if you wear fleece regularly.

Drawcords and waistbands

A flat woven drawcord stays tied; a round cord works loose. A waistband with an internal elastic plus a cord holds shape better than one relying on the cord alone, and it survives washing without the elastic twisting inside the channel.

Check whether the cord is anchored at the centre back. Unanchored cords eventually disappear into the waistband, which is the most annoying failure a garment can have.

Pockets that hold a phone

Side seam pockets are shallow on many pairs and a phone works its way out when sitting. Deeper set-in pockets, or a zipped pocket, solve it. This is visible in a photograph if the pocket bag is shown, and stated in the description on listings that have thought about it.

A back pocket with no closure is decoration, not storage.

Shrinkage on first wash

Cotton sweatpants shrink mostly in length, and mostly in the first wash. A cold wash and hanging to dry keeps it to a minimum. If a pair is bought at the exact inseam you want, expect it to be slightly shorter after the first cycle.

Pre-shrunk fabric reduces this but does not eliminate it. Where a listing gives a shrinkage figure, believe it.

Matching sets

A hoodie and sweatpants in the same fabric read as a set and get washed together, which keeps the fade even. Buying them separately in the same colour rarely matches after a few months, because dye lots differ.

If you want a matched look, buy both at once.

The measurement to check

Waist relaxed, waist stretched, rise, inseam and leg opening. Five numbers, all usually published, and between them they describe the garment completely. Everything else on the listing is a photograph of a silhouette you can already predict.