Green pants go well with neutrals or yellow and blue hues. Stylish combinations include olive chinos with a navy button up shirt and white dress sneakers, or olive dress pants with a crisp white Oxford shirt and dark brown loafers.
Green clothes are highly misunderstood.
Men tend to think of them in extreme lights, like military uniforms or leprechaun costumes.
This is especially true of green pants. Since they take up so much real estate on your body, trousers are often treated as a neutral anchor.
Many believe that green is too bold or too difficult to pair with. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Not only are green pants easy to style, but they hold a lot of power. They can be unique but understated, or bold yet flattering.
We’re going to show you how to wear green pants in style. Let’s get to it.
Why Should You Wear Green Pants?
Dark green pants are the perfect combination of both distinct and neutral style.
They won’t turn heads the second you walk into the room, but you’ll likely be one of few discerning gents sporting the color. This alone makes them an effortless way to elevate any outfit.
Dark greens are easy to pair for two reasons.
First, when you wear any shade from the color wheel, you typically partner it with neutrals like gray, black, and white, or you pair it with complementary shades. Green is unique because the latter rule doesn’t apply—red and green is too festive a combination to wear on a typical day at the office.
For green clothes, you’ll team it up with hues from the left and right of where it sits on the color wheel, meaning yellow and blue. These are exceedingly common in men’s basics: Brown shoes, navy suits, camel jackets, blue and yellow club ties, to name a few. So, incorporating a pair of dark green trousers won’t disrupt your wardrobe.
The second reason why green is a great color for pants, is that it’s a common neutral in nature. That’s why it’s used for camo. People are accustomed to seeing it paired with a wide range of shades and tones.
Olive Green Pants: Our Favorite Green Pants Color
Olive is the best and most versatile shade for green pants. It’s a cool color with warm undertones, which means it partners well with most tints.
We believe investing in quality is always the most economical long-term strategy when it comes to menswear staples. And for chinos, you'll struggle to find a better mix of quality and comfort than Luca Faloni's lightweight whipcord take. Crafted in Italy from whipcord cotton for ultimate durability and breathability, these pants are super comfortable and feature several key details that put them toward the top of our preferred chinos list.
Fall and winter are the best seasons to wear olive green pants because of its rich and earthy look. However, you can wear them all year long when styled properly.
Every style of pants is available in olive. A dark suit is timeless yet different, but not offbeat. You can pair olive jeans and chinos with a cardigan for an academic look, or with a utility shirt for a military-inspired casual combination. You can wear any style of olive pants with a fitted t-shirt, leveling up the simple silhouette.
Mostly, you can treat olive pants like you would a neutral color.
What Colors Go With Olive Green Pants?
Shirts
You can wear any neutral shirt with olive pants. A grey henley shirt with green chinos is just as subtle and casual as wearing the same top with blue jeans. However, it’s more exciting and just as easy. Similarly, dark green trousers with a white dress shirt is perfectly professional and only slightly eye-catching.
Collars & Co. address a lot of niggles I often have with dress shirts with their Quattro Flex line. Firstly, it has a firm English spread dress color that actually stays put (based on a patent they have plus built in collar stays). Secondly, iit's super comfortable with its 4-ways stretch and is moisture wicking to stay dry. Oh, it looks pretty crisp, as well.
As mentioned, you can team olive pants up with shirts that have yellow or blue hues in them.
Compared to other Oxfords, the All Day has clean, simple lines. The seams are all done with a single line of high density stitching, so it has a bit more of a European look than most oxford shirts I see in the States. I'm a fan.
Browns and tans, for example, accentuate olive green’s earth tone. This is great for professorial outfits and outdoorsy styles. Think green trousers with a tan button-down and tweed jacket, or olive jeans with a brown flannel.
Subtle shades of honey and champagne bring out the elegance of dark green pants. A champagne-colored button down, olive trousers, and a brown leather belt is a winning combination for a wedding.
What's the only thing better than having a reversible black and brown calf leather belt in one? Having one that's handmade in Italy with some of the finest calf leather out there. The buckle is also Italian made and built to last, which is ideal as it's the buckle that usually falls apart first. This isn't cheap, but your belt literally ties your whole outfit together and so it shouldn't be.
Blue is another great shirt color to pair with green. A blue top will bring out the cooler tone of your olive pants. You can even pull off a vivid ultramarine top because the trousers will temper its brightness.
Wearing blue jeans with a green military-inspired utility shirt is a timeless casual combination. Switch the colors up by pairing dark olive jeans or chinos with a navy utility shirt. It’s different enough to be fashionable, but familiar enough that any guy can pull it off.
Round out the look with a pair of tortoise shell shades like the Resort Co. Riviera. The yellows and browns contrast naturally with a green pants base.
Handcrafted in Cadore Italy from Italian acetate, lenses, and hardware---these tortoise shell beauties look and feel the business. I'm a big fan of the keyhole bridge style and The Resort Co nails the execution here, and I think the blue lenses balance really nicely against the tortoise shell frame.
Shoes
Olive pants look fantastic with gray suede or dark brown Chelsea boots, loafers, or dress shoes, and tan or white dress sneakers, like the Oliver Cabell Low 1s:
The Low 1 is Oliver Cabell's most popular shoe, and once you have it in your hands you'll know why. Made in Italy from full grain calfskin Italian leather, it boasts a handsome low-profile silhouette and punches well above its weight for its price point.
Footwear with yellow and blue hues make the most stylish combination. Honey leather dress shoes with olive trousers or blue kicks with dark green jeans are two excellent options.
For you sneakerheads, avoid pairing green pants with any shoe that features bright primary red or orange as its dominant color. This means anything in the realm of red Converses or orange Nike Dunks. A splash of wheat works very well, for example, the Clae Malone Whites would pair beautifully:
The Malone from L.A. eco-friendly sneakerheads, Clae, has been one of our sleeper hits of the year. With a stylish profile and super comfortable premium court sole and EVA footbed---you'll sleep easy at night if sustainability is important for you given the brand's focus on recycled materials. We dig.
If you like colorful dress shoes, just follow the color wheel rule and avoid red shades. Crimson suede monks pair well with gray trousers and a red tie, but would be too loud when worn with green pants. Whereas tan Norwegian shoes work perfectly well as pictured below.
Going for a drive? Sand drivers were pretty much made for olive pants.
This suede slip on is constructed in Marche, Italy with Italian suede and lined with calfskin leather. The Arneflex foam insole makes for a supremely comfortable loafer.
When Shouldn’t You Wear Olive Green Pants?
Again, never wear green pants with red or anything in the red family. This includes pink, magenta, and salmon. You’ll also want to steer clear of colors that are too close to red on the color wheel. True orange with green is only appropriate on St. Patrick’s Day, just as primary red with green is only appropriate on a holiday sweater.
Bright purples are too bold to pair with green pants. The combination is too reminiscent of The Joker. Instead, wear olive green pants with the darkest shades of purple, like raisin or royal ruby.
Green Pants Outfits Ideas
1. Moc Toes with Cable-knit Sweater
This fall-to-winter look checks all the boxes for color-pairing your green pants. The gray sweater and chinos pair perfectly and draw the eye naturally to the tan mocs which are also a match.
Since grey is so neutral, he’s able to sport dark green pants and blue socks without looking too loud.
We love a quarter zip for fall, and we love one that is knitted from 100% Australian merino wool cotton. OK, mate?
2. T-Shirt and Tan Suede Biker Jacket
This outfit achieves a perfect balance of dynamic lines and delicate colors. Like his green jeans, tan suede is an unexpected, but not eccentric, construction for a biker jacket.
This is why they pair so well together. Another highlight is his thoughtful accessorizing with the subtle necklace, aviator sunglasses, and stainless steel watch, all anchored by the plain white tee.
The Cool Classic Crew T-shirt is the perfect blend between comfort and style. The lightly brushed fabric is smooth and cozy and it wicks moisture away from your body to keep you cool and dry.
3. Casual but Polished Blue Layers
The mix of formal and athletic pieces here makes for a versatile and comfortable combination. He creatively utilizes blue shades, especially in the thin stripes of the sweater.
The flight jacket is not only a cool and well-structured outer layer, but provides the option of color blocking.
4. Button-down with Classic Sport Watch
Perfect for the office or the country club, this outfit showcases how olive green pants and good tailoring can make conservative pieces more exciting.
The combination on the left is ideal for casual Friday at work, while the simplified version on the right is an excellent choice for happy hour.
The salmon dial on the internet-famous MR01 from Baltic pairs beautifully with green pants:
Ah, the watch that effectively broke the internet upon its release in January 2022. Yes, it's dressy. But the font, dial texture, and seconds hand placement gives it enough character to wear casually with ease as well. It's elegant and as is the case for most of Baltic's offerings, it packs a lot of punch for its price point.
5. Yellow Short-sleeved Button-down
While olive pants are best during the cold seasons, a bright yellow pairing is the perfect way to take them into spring and summer.
This simple outfit succeeds because of the colors and the uniform fit of the top and bottom.
6. Denim Shirt and Work Pants
Because of their association with military wear, it’s no surprise that green pants seamlessly fit into a workwear-inspired casual look.
This outfit takes it up a notch with a sophisticated gray collared shirt and honey leather shoes.
Unexpected but Necessary
Green pants are the style staple many don’t know about. Like a classic sport watch and a well-tailored suit, every man should have a pair in his closet. Fortunately, you now know how to wear them in style.
If you don’t already have a pair of green pants, now’s the time to get some.
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FAQs
What color shirts go with green pants?
Neutral colored shirts or those in shades of blue and yellow are the best colors to pair with green pants. Avoid pairing them with bright red or orange shirts.
What jacket goes with green pants?
Jackets with blue hues and earth tones are stylish options. A tweed jacket, camel pea coat, or blue duffle pairs sophisticatedly with green pants, while a brown leather jacket makes for a rugged but polished pairing.
What should you wear with green dress pants?
Combine olive green dress pants with a white button-down, a brown leather belt, and brown leather dress shoes. A shirt with light yellow tones, like beige or champagne, are also elegant options. If you’d rather wear a dark button-down, just switch out the brown leathers for black leathers.
