Chino cloth (/ˌtʃiːnoʊ/ CHEE-noh) is a twill fabric, originally made of 100% cotton. The most common items made from it, trousers, are widely called chinos. Today it is also found in cotton-synthetic blends. Developed in the mid-19th century for British and French military uniforms, it has since migrated into civilian wear. Trousers of such a fabric gained popularity in the U.S. when Spanish-American War veterans returned from the Philippines with their twill military trousers. The etymology of the term chino is disputed. Some sources identify the root as the American Spanish language word chino, which translated literally means toasted. Because the cloth itself was originally manufactured in China, the name of the trousers may have come from the country of origin. First designed to be used in the military and then taken up by civilians, chino fabric was originally made to be simple, hard-wearing and comfortable for soldiers to wear; the use of natural earth-tone colors also began ...