As you may know, the grooves on corduroy pants are called "Wales", like the country not the beasts that roam our seas.

While humankind, in all its madness, prefers vertically oriented wales nearly 1,000,000,000 to 1, the Cetacean population has yet to weigh in on the debate that currently embroils the corduroy world.

Cordarounds customer, Dylan MacNiven, set off on an important market research survey to acertain pant preference among the Humpback population that terrorizes the Northern Californian Coast. These photos -- published here before Nature magazine --clearly demonstrate an affinity for Cordarounds.

So compelling is MacNiven's research that we're forced to issue this important safety warning to our customers:

*** NEVER SWIM IN WHALE-INFESTED SEAS WEARING CORDAROUNDS ***