A green shirt can be surprisingly versatile when it’s color-coordinated appropriately. So, what color pants go with a green shirt?
Green shirts can be worn with black, charcoal, light grey, khaki, or navy blue pants if you want to dress them up. In more casual settings, consider burgundy, maroon, light blue, or white pants instead.
You need to consider the shade of green, as well as the dress code when making your decision.
After going through a few essential tips to make your decision a whole lot easier, we’ll run through some great green shirt combinations you can try out for yourself.
Let’s get to it.
Color Matching Green Shirts With Pants: Essential Tips
These tips should see you through. Work through them whenever you’re trying to figure out whether a green shirt and pants combo you’re thinking of wearing is going to cut it.
1. Keep It “Smart-Casual”
A green shirt is pretty casual.
They shouldn’t generally be worn in formal or business-professional settings. A white or light blue shirt would be more appropriate.
A green shirt may be appropriate in business-casual settings if the other items you wear are dressy enough to compensate for how casual it looks.
Green shirts are best suited to smart-casual settings where you have a lot more scope to experiment with the color of your pants.
Both light green and dark green shirts can work well here.
2. Consider The Shade Of Green Shirt
The shade of the green shirt you choose could impact the color of the pants that work best with it.
In general, the more muted the shade of the green shirt you choose is, the easier it becomes to pair with various pants colors.
Light and muted shades of green include olive green and mint green.
Dark and muted shades of green include forest green and hunter green.
Brighter, bolder, and more fluorescent shades of green – such as lime green – are tough to combine with other items because of how loud they are. Avoid them if you can.
Another reason why the shade of green matters is that you need to consider how much contrast you want.
When wearing a dark green shirt, going for light-colored pants will lead to a high degree of contrast. In general, contrast is attention-grabbing and eye-catching – possibly exactly what you want.
If you want a more subtle aesthetic, go for a dark green shirt with dark-colored pants, or a light green shirt with light-colored pants instead.
Here are some shades of green with some pants colors that would go well with them.
| Shade Of Green Shirt | Pants Colors |
|---|---|
| Dark Green Shirt | Charcoal grey or navy blue pants |
| Light Green Shirt | Light grey or khaki pants |
| Olive Green Shirt | Slate grey or beige pants |
| Mint Green Shirt | Slate grey or beige pants |
| Lime Green Shirt | Light grey pants |
3. Neutral-Colored Pants Are The Easiest
Neutral colors – white, grey, and black – don’t appear anywhere on the color wheel.
They’re perfect for background items that blend perfectly with any other combination of items you can think of.
If you’re looking for a pants color that’s incredibly easy to pair with any green shirt you can think of, go for a neutral one.
Although grey, white, and black are considered the true neutrals, you do have other colors that are so muted that they’re often considered neutrals in men’s style.
These include khaki, navy blue, beige, and tan.
Pairing a green shirt with pants in any of these colors takes the thinking out of color-coordinating and makes your job a whole lot easier.
A green shirt + neutral pants combo also has a distinctly tranquil and subtle aesthetic to it.
Having said this, if you wanted a more vibrant and eye-catching combination, consider pants in a “warm” color (eg. reds, yellows) or another “cool” color instead (eg. blue, purple).
5 Green Shirt And Pants Combinations
The take-home message of this section should be that you’ve got options.
We’ll run through both neutral and non-neutral pants options here. Any of them could potentially work with the green shirt you’re working with.
Green Shirt With Grey Or Black Pants
Color Scheme – Neutrals
Going for pants in a neutral color such as light grey, charcoal grey, or black would be a great option if you’re looking to dress up a little.
Neutrals are subtle, and subtle is dressier than not-so-subtle.
If you’re dressing for a business-casual setting, go for a light and muted shade of green shirt (eg. olive or mint) and pair it with neutral-colored pants.
When dressing for a smart-casual event, you’ve got more freedom. Go for a light or dark green shirt.
Any of them would work well with grey or black pants.
Green Shirt With Blue Or Navy Pants
Color Scheme – Cool Colors
Navy blue is so dark and muted that you could call it neutral if you wanted to. However, I’ve put it here in the “cool” colors category because technically it’s a shade of blue.
Green is a “cool” color in itself, and cool colors are pretty easy to pair with other cool colors for a laid-back and casual aesthetic.
Wearing a green shirt with blue pants works especially well during the winter and fall months.
Navy blue does look dressier than light and medium shades of blue – just bear that in mind.
Green Shirt With Red Or Khaki Pants
Color Scheme – Warm Colors
Khaki is another neutral-ish color that technically isn’t neutral but is muted enough to justify it.
It’s actually got warm yellow-brown tones that make it a little more vibrant and warm than white, grey, or black.
Green shirts work exceptionally well with khaki pants. If you’re looking for a pair of pants that’s neutral but not that neutral, khaki pants could be a great option.
They would work with both light green and dark green shirts, depending on how much contrast you want between the two items.
Another warm color you could consider wearing with your green shirt is red.
Green and red are said to be complementary to each other because they lie directly opposite each other on the color wheel.
This leads to a high-contrast combination that’s effective, but very casual and eye-catching.
A green shirt and red pants combination should really only ever be worn in the more casual of smart-casual settings.
In addition, stick to dark and muted shades of red such as burgundy and maroon to keep things subtle.
Dark green shirts work better here – the less contrast with the dark red pants, the better.
Green Shirt With Green Pants
Color Scheme – Monochromatic
Wearing a green shirt with green pants may not be that common, but it can work very well when it’s done the right way.
Remember, “monochromatic” doesn’t mean choosing exactly the same shades of the same color.
In this case, all it would mean is choosing a shirt and pair of pants in varying shades of green.
The most effective way to make it work is by choosing a light green shirt and a dark green pair of pants.
It’s a high-contrast combination and should only be worn in smart-casual settings.
But it’s incredibly easy and requires very little thought to coordinate.
The combination tends to work best during the fall and winter months.
Green Shirt With White Pants
Color Scheme – Neutrals
A green shirt can also be worn with a pair of white pants in smart-casual settings.
While it could have been included in the “neutral” section above, it’s best to talk about it separately.
This is because a white pants combination would generally look more casual than pants in darker neutral colors.
The contrast you’d get between the green shirt and the white pants is hard to ignore. It’s eye-catching for all the right reasons.
The darker the shade of your green shirt, the more noticeable this contrast will be.
If you’re looking for a more subtle combination, consider a shirt in a light and muted shade of green (eg. olive or mint) and pair it with an off-white pair of pants.
Conclusion
As you can see, wearing a green shirt would give you plenty of options when it comes to your pants.
If you’re looking for a dressier option, stick to neutral-colored pants (eg. charcoal, light grey, black) or nearly-neutral pants (eg. navy or khaki).
Enjoy.
Ready Sleek founder. Obsessed with casual style and the minimalist approach to building a highly functional wardrobe. Also a fan of classic, vintage hairstyles.
