Japanese Sweatpants

Drawstring comfort, Japanese cut

Most sweatpants are cut like jeans, then softened. These start from the other end. Every pair here pulls on with a drawstring or an elastic waist, and the shape comes from Japanese pattern cutting: a low seat, room through the thigh and a leg that falls. You can sleep in some of them. You can wear all of them to dinner.

From a true sweatpant to a harem cut

The closest to a classic sweatpant is the heavy sweatpant, thick 100% cotton with a relaxed wide leg. The Japan style drawstring pants are lighter and straighter. For more drop in the seat, the Gelyu, Shinbo, Kireina and Sokai are harem pants in cotton and linen blends, with elastic and a drawstring at the waist. Kireina also closes at the ankle with elastic cuffs.

Prefer a shorter hem? The Kotona and Sekino are 100% cotton and stop above the ankle, the length known as high water pants. For volume, the Monpe, the lantern pants and the tobi trousers balloon out and gather low, the way Japanese farm and building-site trousers do. More of those sit in Japanese work pants.

Sizing a drawstring waist

A drawstring forgives the waist, not the hip. Read the hip and the length on each size chart before you choose. Sizes run XS to 3XL on most cuts. The Kotona waist adjusts from 74 to 89 cm at M, and the one-size tobi drawstring covers 66 to 115 cm. Take your usual size. Wash cold and line dry, since heat is what shrinks cotton and linen.

For every Japanese trouser, from hakama to linen, see Japanese pants. Wider straight legs live in wide leg pants.

Measurements come from the manufacturer's flat size table for each garment, converted to centimetres and mapped onto one size ladder. Available for 10 of the 11 garments here, last checked 2026-10-24. How we measure.

Japanese Sweatpants at a glance