Despite the drastic changes in the clothing of the Iranian people in the modern era, fortunately, the use of local clothes both for women and men in some areas especially the Zagros mountains is still so common.
Local cloth in Iran plays a significant role in the country’s cultural heritage and identity. Not to mention that it is also environmentally sustainable and promotes traditional crafts made by the delicate hands of women & girls.
The local costume of each tribe reflects the rich cultural heritage and traditions of its people and usually, there are old stories behind their unique patterns.
The original Dabit Bakhtiari pants are special traditional pants worn by Bakhtiari men. The appearance of these pants is quite different from today’s regular pants. Its most important characteristic is its wide leg. The width of its legs is usually above 50 cm. Dabit is a strong, durable, and relatively thick cotton fabric. If they wear these pants with a jacket, they usually tie a leather belt and a strong buckle to the waist of the pants. And if they wear it together with a Chogha, they hang a leather belt with a small width on the waist of the pants.
Dabit pants are not suitable for the mountains because of their shape, and they likely used more suitable pants in the old days, as it is customary today. According to the bronze statue discovered in Izeh, it seems that these pants go back to the Parthian era.
Dabit is the name of a fabric that is produced in England, so the original name of Bakhtiari Dabit pants is not Dabit. Rather, it is the same Tonban that is used in the old Persian language. In the 1950s, a high-quality black fabric was imported from England to Iran under the name of Dabit, and it caught the Bakhtiari people’s eyes for sewing Tonbans. For this reason, sewing Tonban with debit fabric became popular and the Bakhtiaris used the term debit pants to complement the quality of pants. This made the name ‘Dabit pants’ replace the name ‘Tonban’. Haj Ali Akbari’s Debit is very famous among Bakhtiaris.
Kurdish clothing is one of the most famous local clothing that shows the culture of the Kurdish-speaking people. Kurdish clothing, along with other customs of the Kurdish people, is a symbol of their special culture. The Kurdish clothes, both for men and women are very diverse and are made in different colors.
“Patul” or “Pantul” is loose pants with narrow legs. Due to the cold and mountainous climate of the Kurdish regions, the legs of the Kurdish pants are designed tight so that the cold does not penetrate into the pants. But the wide part of the top of the pants allows easy movement in mountainous areas. In the other areas of the Kurdistan region, this type of pants is also called Ranaki, and Damah Qapan, and in the Southern Kurdish regions, it is called Jafi.
The colors of the fabrics used for Kurdish pants are usually brown, navy blue, gray, etc. Of course, there is no limit to choosing the color of the clothes and they can wear any color they want.
Some have compared the pants of the Median people in the paintings of Persepolis with the modern Kurdish pants and consider it as a model of Kurdish pants.