Clothing makers will be first up against the wall when I take over!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Modern ready-made clothes are cheaply mass-produced in 3rd world factories with low quality control. They are also designed using ‘fit models’, people of certain proportions which may be totally unlike some 95% of the population who share the same chest or waist measurement.

It’s really not surprising that it’s a challenge for the general public to find clothes that both fit and flatter. Women have it harder, I assure you, because our clothes are supposed to be fitted to our curves, which vary hugely.

My boyfriend is an utterly average (well, slimmer than the actual average these days) height and weight - but with a proportionately large neck, chest and shoulders, slimmer middle, and skinny legs, he’s usually stuck buying shirts that fit his shoulders and neck and hang sack-like below, with gargantuan sleeves. In our experience there is WAY too much room for big guts in modern shirts! Thank god for tailoring.

If you don’t try on clothes on before you buy them, you can’t really get mad when they don’t fit. Realize that not everything in ‘your size’ or in a brand or style that has worked for you before, is going to fit or flatter your body. Modern clothes are crappy.

If you want clothes designed specifically for your body, have them made to order. Or buy clothes that aren’t perfect and take them to a tailor. The only time everyone had clothes that fit their body perfectly was the time when we all had our clothes hand-made specifically to fit each person’s body.

I do support standardization of clothing sizes, absolutely for men’s AND women’s clothing. And much more specialized stores - brands shouldn’t be trying to appeal to every person of every shape, they should split up and attempt to give certain sizes and shapes of people a superior fit! What I wouldn’t give for The Flat-Chested Store…

Yes, a 40 pant should fit a waist of 40". My BF wears a 32 or 33, but where they fit is 35". So silly. When he was 20 lbs smaller (15 years ago) he wore a 32…

I have little hope it will ever happen. People are buying more clothes than ever these days, and quality keeps declining and sizing gets ever-more unreliable (and inflated).

22

I’m 6’2" 270 lbs, and perhaps you should apologize :stuck_out_tongue:

I hate the XL, XXL, XXXL shirts that never get any taller, just get wider and wider. There is no way I’m buying a shirt I can’t sit down in while its tucked in, and I’m pretty sure the 5’6” 270 lbs guy wouldn’t mind a few more inches of length.

23

It’s not just the sizes things are kept in: it’s the sizes they stock. It amazes me how often a size is sold out and the assistant will say: “oh yeah that’s a really popular size, we always sell out of that really quick”. I mean FFS, surely someone has mined the data to figure out how many on average you need of each size.

24

Another guy here. I’m 6’ and about 170 lbs. I have a 33" waist and 34" inseam and the only pants I can ever find with those measurements are blue jeans. I can order slacks in my size but like someone upthread says, it’s a crapshoot most of the time. I have the same problem with shirts. If I buy something in medium it fits right but the arms are about two inches short. If I buy something larger so that the arms are the right length, then I’m swimming in the rest of the shirt.

25

I used to work in a woman’s clothing shop, and part of my duties was checking the merchandise that came in. The thing is, manufacturers will decide that the proper selection of sizes is 16, 18, 20, another 20, 22, 24. If we wanted two 24s in a style, the buyer would have to order another set of that style, and never mind that we couldn’t even sell the first 16 and 18, let alone a second set. The manufacturers will have pattern layouts, with all the sizes to be cut from a big stack of big lengths of fabric. These layouts are carefully calculated. And they aren’t going to give us more size 24s just because we want them, unless we’re willing to pay a lot more for them.

This, too. In many cases, the larger sizes are not modeled on actual people, they are simply scaled up using formulas…which leads to things like women’s larger pants having a length that’s suitable for someone who’s 6’6". Now that’s fine for the occasional tall gal, but not so fine for the granny who was never taller than 5’2" at her tallest, but she’s shrunk since then.

One of the reasons that I wear skirts and dresses almost exclusively is because it’s OK if it hits me somewhere between below the knee and just above the ankle.

Shall we discuss the lack of usable pockets on women’s clothing, now? Because I’m always willing to rant about that.

26

Have at it!

While were are there, can I complain about the idiocy of putting a button on the back pocket of slacks?

27

Actually, that button isn’t so idiotic. It keeps the wallet from falling out, and it helps prevent pickpocketing. However, I imagine that they are damned uncomfortable, and of limited use to those men who don’t frequent the same locales as pickpockets.

28

It hurts the shorties too. Male, 5’7/ 160 lbs. I’m built stocky with a deep chest, broad shoulders and short thick neck. To get a nice comfortable fit on the upper body I have to buy an XL now thanks to vanity sizing. That means I have huge long sleeves and way too much leftover length on the shirt. Bleh. If I buy the right length, it’s extremely tight everywhere else.

29

On the pair I am wearing now, the pocket is not deep enough to put the wallet in AND button it up.

Plus, it makes sliding the wallet difficult, as it catches the button on it’s way in.

30

So it may be the manufacturer’s fault. Doesn’t make much difference to my point.

31

The salesdrones might very well know that we could sell two each of size 22 and 24, and none of the size 16. However, they have no freaking way to communicate this to the buyer, in most cases…and when they actually do have a way, the buyer might know that she’d have to buy another set of sizes to get two more of the sizes we actually need. Yeah, the manufacturers SHOULD realize that they could sell more clothes if they’d offer them the way we want them, but it would cost them more, so it would cost us more.

And since so very many consumers have made it clear that they will shop for price first, last, and always, we’re getting what many of us want.

Personally, I make it a point to steer clear of WalMart whenever possible, but I feel like I’m not doing much at all.

32

Why would it cost more? And you can’t tell me that in these days of electronic everything, sales figures by size can’t be recorded and communicated. These are just excuses. I don’t doubt it is not the sales assistant’s fault, or the fault of some small boutique, but the larger stores would be well capable of this sort of thing if they were trying.

33

It would cost more because they wouldn’t be going by the standardized pattern layouts. And the larger stores can’t be bothered with individual sales. As long as ENOUGH of the garments sell at full price, they’re happy, and see no reason to change. It’s cheaper to offer five sizes than it is to offer 10, or 15.

I’m not arguing that it ISN’T possible. Hell, I’d love it. I’m short and fat, and I think that garments SHOULD be able to be customized at a much lower price. I’m just saying that right now, retailers make enough of a profit that they don’t see a reason to change their ways, even if it means alienating some customers. Because, let’s face it, we bitch and bitch and bitch (and I bitch loudly, too) and then we buy the damn clothes that come closest to fitting us.

If you can get a manufacturer and retail shop to acknowledge that with today’s technology, it would be reasonable AND cost-effective to offer a more realistic selection, please, let the world know how! I think that we had this same discussion back on the old AOL boards, and I know it comes up every now and then on these web boards.

34

In Japan, I’m considered “ohkii” meaning “large.” I also have a belly and broad shoulders, so just about the only items I’ve been able to buy from regular clothing stores here are socks and shoes. I’ve been shopping online with Casual Male for years now and have never had a problem with measurements. The clothes are quite reasonably priced; brands, styles and designs are plentiful; and I usually get a package delivered here to my home in suburban Tokyo within 5-7 business days.

35

Sorry but this makes no sense. My point is that the standardised pattern layouts are wrong. I’m not suggesting that they use standardised pattern layouts to make some clothes, then do a special order for some one-off extras in the popular sizes. I’m suggesting their standardised pattern layouts need to be made correct in the first place. That wouldn’t cost more.

Further, you seem somehow to have drifted off into a discussion about odd sizes. My point in the first place is that they don’t make enough of the most popular sizes.