CARGO JEENS
In the 1970's standard issue which are a form of cargo pants, were very popular with young adults who began purchasing them from Army Surplus stores. A similar style also purchased from surplus stores at the time, was carpenter's pants, or pants, commonly called worker's pants. These utility pants have all the pockets of cargo pants, but are less tailored in the leg and lack flaps on the rear pockets. Utility pants also have a twisted loop at the side, which is used by painters to slip in a paintbrush handle, or a hammer, for construction workers. Inspired by the grass-roots popularity of these pants, Levis & created "bush jeans" in the 1970's a precursor to today's cargo pants. These were straight-legged jeans with large thigh-length side-entry pockets that had smaller square front-facing pockets with snap-down flaps. The back pockets were also deep with snap-down flaps. The main difference between these pants and today's cargo pants is that bush jeans were very slimming, while most cargo pants today have a baggy cut.Cargo pants are so named because of their ability to carry so much "cargo" in the pockets. The style became so popular that cargo shorts soon followed.