5-Wale.

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice that the man thatching the roof of that sensational thick-walled cottage in Dorset isnt merely wearing corduroy pants, but extra-wide-wale corduroy pants.

Aha! The Broadway director driving to work from Snedens Landing in his Aston Martin is wearing, naturally, very-wide-wale pants.

The abstract-expressionist artist roughing it in his $2 million loft in SoHo is wearing, what else, enormously-wide-wale pants.

What is at work here is evidence of a worldwide, but unspoken, preference: Wider is better.

(Wales are the soft, velvety ribs of corduroy. The fewer the wales per inch, the wider they are; the wider they are, the more handsome. Why? God works in mysterious ways.)

Corduroy French Work Pants (No. 6862) in rich, beautifully-washed colors. Exacting replica cut in the style of 1920s French corduroy chore pants, in supremely comfortable 5-wale corduroy from Italy. Tab with hook and bar closure. On-seam pockets. Fishtail notch back detail. Coin pocket. Back belt adjuster. Cotton twill waistband; seat reinforcement lining and pocketing. Bracer buttons for suspenders. Antiqued metal workwear buttons. Imported.