The question I get asked most about cargo trousers is whether they can look like trousers and not like something borrowed from a festival in 2019. The honest answer is yes, but only if you ignore the ones with six pockets and a drawstring at the ankle. One or two pockets, a proper waistband, a leg that tapers rather than billows, and you've got something that sits closer to tailoring than to combat gear.
I wear mine with the plainest things I own. A fitted jumper, a simple t-shirt tucked in, nothing with its own shape or pattern competing for attention. The trousers already have pockets, a flap, sometimes a seam running down the front, so anything busier on top starts to look like a costume. A blazer thrown over a plain tee works surprisingly well, and so does a long cardigan if the weather's turned. Trainers are the obvious shoe, but a loafer or a low boot pulls the whole thing somewhere smarter without trying too hard.
They're at their best from early autumn through to the start of spring, when you want something with a bit more structure than jeans but no interest in being precious. A weekend doing errands, a casual dinner, a day where you're on your feet more than you planned, they cope with all of it. I'd think twice before wearing them anywhere that calls for sitting cross legged on a low sofa in front of people I'm trying to impress. The fabric has weight to it and doesn't always fold the way you want.
For colour, I've learned to stay away from anything too close to khaki if I only want one pair, because it reads as a uniform rather than a choice. A soft stone, a mid grey or a washed black does more for me and goes with almost everything else I already own. Khaki is lovely on its own terms, I just wouldn't make it my only option.
What's kept me loyal to a pair I bought a good while ago now is how little they seem to mind. Thrown in a bag for a weekend away, worn on a long train journey, washed more times than I've bothered counting, and the shape has barely shifted. The pockets have earned a slight looseness that makes them easier to use one handed, which I didn't expect to care about but now do.
Given enough wear, the fabric softens and the colour fades just slightly at the knees and pocket edges, and that's when they stop looking new and start looking like something you've actually lived in, which, with this kind of trouser, is exactly the point.