Originally Posted by
RFX45
Originally Posted by LuckyP90
I wouldn't say button down are necessarily casual, I mean it is casual but it can be dressy for work. It isn't formal though.
Sport shirts usually had bolder patterns and colors while dress shirts tend to be more toned down or of solid color (not that one can't be the other).
Also, most of the time, sport shirts are sized "S, M, L, etc..." while dress shirts are sized by neck size, "14, 14.5, 15, 15.5, etc..."
As for pants, chinos/khakis are more casual than say slacks/dress pants. You can usually tell the difference between chinos and slacks just by looking at it.
Chinos/khakis, I would say, is less refined. It doesn't exactly have that clean look like slacks does with the crease or pleats.
Chinos tend to be cotton while slacks/dress pants tend to be wool but it goes both ways now-a-days or integrate other material types.
Most casual pants are made of fabric that is easier to maintain/wash, something that you can throw in the washer unlike dress pants that has to be dry cleaned for the most part.
It's hard to explain in words but I tried, Niidawg is usually better with words than me so I'll let him summarize my wall of text.