This is my favorite style of dockers: D3 Classic Fit, Flat Front pants with the superb Comfort Waist band. The neutral, versatile "Malt" color goes well with many other colors of shirts/jackets. It's difficult to tell from the online pictures, but the (medium) "Malt" color falls about halfway between a (lighter) tan/khaki and (darker) steely gray color.

The single best feature of these pants is the "Comfort Waist" band, which is the reason I keep buying Dockers and this particular style. A regular 34-inch waistband fits me fine (in fact, I can squeeze into a 32), but the Comfort Waistband is wonderful when you have to sit for long periods. It has an undetectable piece of elastic sewn into either side of the waistband that allows it to stretch up to two additional inches. I guess that means a larger person could squeeze into a smaller size, but the real benefit is that the waistband "eases" (so as not to dig into your waist) when sitting, bending, reaching, etc. It just feels constantly comfortable, riding your hips as gently as socks hug your ankles. Very nice! It is also great for concealed carry since it allows your pants to fit you well when you're NOT carrying, yet stretch enough to accommodate a pistol when you do carry.

The fabric is indeed different than it was two years ago. It's a little softer and more cloth-like, whereas previously it had (slightly) more of a nylon feel with a brighter sheen. I suspect the new fabric will not hold up to abrasions quite as well and certainly won't be as stain resistant. However, the trade off is that the whole pant feels more relaxed and comfortable. Seriously, I'm wearing them right now and they feel as close to the soft, supple, comfortable feel of sweat pants as any business-casual/dress pants I've ever worn. So, to me, the trade off is fine and I'll just be more careful about putting bulky key rings in my pocket or banging into door frames (the two ways my pants always seem to end up abraded).

I don't agree with other reviewers that the fabric change constitutes a sharp decline in the quality of the pants/brand. It really depends on whether you prefer comfort or durability more, and as in most things, there's a necessary trade-off (unless you want to pay a lot more for higher end fabrics). In this case, Dockers apparently decided to push this pant toward greater comfort at some expense to durability, but they still seem perfectly adequate for normal daily wear. I do expect the longevity of the pant and the length of time before it begins to appear worn will be less than the previous fabric they used. But at $33 a pair (much less than they seem to retail for in stores), I'm fine with that. And wow are they comfortable!

[UPDATE 6/22/2013: After a LOT of hard, daily wear at work, as well as a lot of trips through the washing machine, my pants still look virtually new! I'm thrilled to say that the fabric has held up better than expected. Perhaps because of its more cloth-like finish, they definitely do NOT show scrapes or scuffs the way the older fabric from a few years ago did. (On the older style of these pants from a couple years ago, I would ALWAYS get serious scuff marks all over the pocket where I keep my ring of office keys--so far, not a single scuff on these newer ones!). I also have had no trouble with stains, which is a surprise because I have children ages 1 and 3 who are ALWAYS spilling something on me, and also because I just expected the relatively open looking weave of the fabric to soak up stains more easily. I'm totally impressed, and would like to order several more pairs; however, I wish they offered a more diversified line of colors (no brown?!). I tried the dark olive but found them to be much too green for my tastes. I love the malt style, but I already have two pairs in that color. I'm going to try the British Khaki color next, and will probably grab a pair in black also. I'm a little gun shy about the fact that the colors tend to display inaccurately online, but I found the Dark Olive to be easy to return through the Amazon Prime program.]

[UPDATE 12/31/2013: It's now been a full year. I've alternated the same two pairs of pants at least four days a week for the entire year, washing them after every two wears. That adds up to approximately 52 washes and 104 days of wear for each pair of pants. After all that, and in spite of my concerns about the fabric, they have held up ASTONISHINGLY well. There is some very mild fading, but virtually no abrasion or fraying damage anywhere on the pants. Granted, I'm a college professor so I haven't been using these pants in a hard work environment where manual labor and bumping against equipment might take a higher toll, but still, I'm greatly impressed. Most of my previous pairs of pants had noticeable fraying around the ankle cuffs, the edges of the pockets, and sometimes along the top of the waistline. But not these! In light of this durability, I have raised the rating to five stars. What a great value! I am very surprised to see complaints from other reviewers about the durability or quality of construction. I have to assume there are at least two different places manufacturing these pants, and perhaps one of them is building them to an inferior standard with inferior materials. But the pants I've owned are phenomenal in durability and comfort. Highly recommended!]