Cowboy Chaps: Fitting and Care

With proper care, your western chaps or chinks should provide you with many years of service. We recommend that you treat your cowboy chaps with chap wax. Frequency of treatment depends on your frequency of use and the weather conditions. For instance, if you wear your cowboy chaps every day and they get wet and dried out often, you may want to treat them monthly. If you wear your chaps every other weekend and they hardly ever see adverse conditions, once every six months or even annually would be sufficient. Chap wax application is most efficient when either or both the chap wax and your western cowboy chaps are warm. Also the friction of rubbing in the wax with your hand will help the leather absorb the wax. Be careful not to apply too much wax as it will build up on your chaps.

How to measure yourself for cowboy chaps. When measuring for western cowboy chaps, you will need to take your measurements while wearing the clothing you will normally wear with your cowboy chaps or chinks. Use a soft measuring tape to take the measurements indicated in the diagram below. It is best to have another person take the measurements. Remember, your cowboy chaps will fit as tightly as your measuring tape. If you want your chaps a little looser, loosen the tape and record the looser measurement. Leather will stretch in areas of greater stress, such as at the knee, so please bear this in mind as well when taking your measurements.

When measuring yourself for the Chinks style of western chaps, it is only necessary to take your hip and upper thigh measurements. When measuring yourself for Shotgun style cowboy chaps, take all five measurements from the sizing chart. Please note: the hip measurement is NOT your waist or belt line. To measure your hip, wrap the tape around your hip bones just below the waistband or belt on your jeans. This is where the belt of the chaps or chinks will sit.

Would you like more information?
Russ On… Why I Love my Shotgun Chaps