Until the 19th century, in nearly all Armenian villages of Hamshen—from Sürmene to Trebizond, and from Ordu to Samsun—men wore traditional attire consisting of wide-pleated trousers, a white sash wrapped several times around the waist, a knee-length arkhalukh, and sometimes a short chukha. They wore a white kukula (bashlik) on their heads, with its long ends draped over their shoulders, and woolen khutliks on their feet.

Beginning in the 19th century, this traditional costume was gradually replaced by narrower zipka trousers and a shorter chukha. By the 1910s, only a small number of elderly men in the villages still wore the old traditional attire.