Nomads make the world’s first trousers

The traditional men’s attire of Kazakh nomads consisted of an undershirt and trousers, worn under a robe known as a shapan. Men typically wore two types of trousers — an undergarment and an outer garment — although both were made according to essentially the same pattern.

The undergarment, known as dambal, was made from lightweight cotton fabrics such as calico or coarse cotton cloth. It had a largely rectangular shape with two long legs that tapered slightly toward the bottom.

Outer trousers were made from leather and velvet

Outer trousers, known as shalbar, were originally made from soft yellow or red leather, as well as homespun camel-hair fabric or suede. From the mid-19th century, commercially produced materials also came into use, including velvet, plush, corduroy, satin, red silk and even brocade.

In winter, Kazakhs wore a separate version of the shalbar made from sheepskin, with the fleece turned inward. In the harsh steppe climate, this was not a luxury but a necessity. Among wealthier men, the trousers were additionally decorated with braid or silk embroidery, emphasizing the wearer’ s social status.

Width was a functional feature, not an ornament

The principal feature of Kazakh trousers was their loose cut, particularly around the crotch and waist. This width was dictated not by aesthetics but by the requirements of horseback riding. A rider needed sufficient fabric to move freely in the saddle and, when necessary, tuck the edges of his chapan into his belt sometimes more than one garment at a time.

The trouser legs were relatively short, usually reaching to mid-calf, and were tucked into boots. This protected the legs during prolonged riding and prevented the fabric from catching on stirrups or vegetation.

Additional features designed for horseback riding

Leather inserts were often sewn onto the inner thigh area of the shalbar. This feature reduced friction during prolonged periods on horseback and extended the service life of the main fabric at one of the garment’s most vulnerable points.

Before going into battle, a warrior would wear not his everyday clothing but the finest and most expensive garments available to him, and trousers were no exception. The richness of the decoration conveyed social standing in battle just as clearly as the quality of equipment does today.

The women’s version used softer fabrics

Women’s trousers were made according to a similar principle: they were loose-fitting and wide-legged, but lighter fabrics were more commonly used. Men’s trousers, by contrast, had to be more durable, as the garment was subjected to the daily demands of life on the steppe and horseback riding.

How Vereshchagin depicted these trousers

Other peoples of Central Asia, including the Kyrgyz, also wore similar trousers with a comparable cut. In 1871, after returning to Munich from his travels in Turkestan, Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin painted A Rich Kyrgyz Hunter with a Falcon. The painting depicts Baytik Kanaev, a leader of the Solto tribe, sitting in a yurt with a bird of prey on his arm. He is wearing riding trousers richly decorated with embroidery and appliqué.

Who invented trousers and where were the earliest examples found?

The world’s oldest known trousers were discovered in 2014 by archaeologists excavating burial sites in the Xinjiang region, on the border between present-day China and Central Asia. The garments are more than 3,000 years old, and the region’s dry steppe climate preserved the fabric in remarkably good condition. Notably, their cut is similar to that of trousers worn by medieval Kazakhs.

Researchers concluded that it was the nomadic pastoralists of the region who first developed the idea of joining two trouser legs into a single garment. Before that, people primarily wore tunic-like garments, dresses, robes and togas, as well as separate leg coverings. A construction joining both legs into a single garment, however, emerged only toward the end of the second millennium BCE.

When researchers produced an exact replica of the find and tested it by walking, they encountered an interesting contradiction. The trousers proved uncomfortable for prolonged walking, but were ideally suited to horseback riding. This helps explain why nomadic communities developed the design in the first place: it protected the rider’s legs while providing freedom of movement in the saddle during extended journeys and combat.