I asked the same question about the pants. The Program Director said that we had to use the vendor provided. Of course, you could always wear whatever pants you want and hope the instructors don't notice, but the word on the street is they're pretty picky about uniforms, at least at first. If you're looking for a drawstring pant, buy the unisex/male pant available on the website provided, that's what I did. The vendor does say that the pants may shrink up to an inch after laundering, so keep that in mind when determining what size you should buy.