4-Wale.

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice that the man climbing the ladder to thatch the roof of that sensational thick-walled cottage in Dorset isn't 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.)

I had to go to some length to find 4-wale corduroy and am pretty confident that you will appreciate it when you see it and wear it.

Lustrous and velvety, but thick and deep and bumpy. Very uncitified; striking just the right note of dressing down when worn with a contradictory upscale sports or suit jacket and tie.

4-Wale Cords (No. 1371). Italian cotton corduroy, the best. Unmatched rumple. Double-pleated front. Two on-seam side pockets, two rear pockets, one buttoning. Dress-pants details including fully-constructed waistband, suspender buttons.

Men's even sizes: 32 through 46. Hemming (max: 37") or cuffing (max: 34"), add $2 per pair.

Colors: Golden Tan, Navy, Charcoal.