OK, I’m admittedly not a tall man. At the same time, I always strike those seeing me as being slender. I’m the sort of person who always hears things like, "I can’t imagine that YOU ever have to worry about gaining weight.
You’d think I’d have an easy time buying clothes.
So why is it that when I shop for dress slacks, the zipper and crotch area always seem to be cut way too roomily? Or is it just the current fashion that dress pants should fit like Zoot suits? Why do I always have to have two or three inches hemmed off the bottoms? I get the impression that if I were taller by a couple of inches, clothes would be easier to buy.
ick reminds me of my clothes shopping experiences (probably why i stay fat ) at my thin worked weight i was 5’7 and had a 27 waist , damn utterly impossible to find anything in my size other than childrens clothes which i doubt i’d be buying , still got round this by buying yer average 30-32 size and made sure they fit my belt , they are damned baggy but they are a far cry from proper fitting clothes
My husband just went up to a 33 from a 32, and he’s about your height (30" inseam). He doesn’t own many dress pants, but last time we went to go get him some for a wedding, I thought “fer chrissakes, are these CLOWN pants?” The crotch was low, there was all kinds of extra fabric in front (I have no complaints about his male equipment, so I don’t think it’s lack of filler that made them so loose up front). I thought it looked ridiculous.
Maybe it is the current fashion. I wouldn’t know current fashion if it bit me on the ass.
My brother is 6’7" and has a 34" waist, and I have more luck finding pants in the men’s section than he does.
I’m 5’7" with a 28" waist. Being a chick this means I wear 32-32s or 30-32s in guy sizes. (or, apparently, a Boy’s size 18, as one of my favorite pairs of cargo pants can attest) Finding pants in the Chick section, on the other hand, is a pain in the ass in more ways than one. I have a pair of pants that is size 11, fits well as hiphuggers but I have to wear a belt at work. I have a pair of shorts that are a size 3. I have no idea what size I wear, and unless I head straight to the Guy section in Mervyn’s I have a hell of a time finding slacks that fit. Most of my work clothes are from the Mens’ section.
So yes … I feel your pain. Clothing manufacturers are all based in one or two of the deepest darkest circles of Hell. Only Lucifer’s clothes fit right. grumblegrumble
I’m about 5’7", which makes it impossible to find pants and skirts that are the right length. If I get the “average” length, they’re borderline short. If I get the “tall”, they’re too long and I have to have them altered.
I’m 5’3" (and a half, damnit!), waist is something like 28 or 29 inches. Jean shopping sucks. For instance: I wanted to pick up a pair o’ them neat super-low jeans, so I was checking out the selection at Old Navy. Their basic super-low style comes in “ankle” (short), average, and tall. Ankle/short in my size was just the right length but the waist (such as it was) and hips were cut too snug. Average was super-comfy but several inches too long-- and let’s face it, I don’t hem anything.
I ended up with a pair that I’ve rolled into cuffs, telling myself it looks somehow trendy. So far no one’s laughed at me… overall, I’ve taken to almost constantly wearing boots with a nice chunky heel, which keeps most of my too-long pants from dragging. There are people who believe I’m several inches taller than I actually am because I so rarely wear perfectly flat shoes anymore.
I’m 6’1" and have size 11 feet. Nothing too difficult, right? Then why do all the shirt sleeves end halfway to my elbow and all the shoe stores stock only size 10 and under?
Before moving to Japan, I accused someone who called the Japanese “short and stumpy” of insensitive racial sterotyping. How much I’ve learned…
Catalog shopping; specifically LL Bean & Eddie Bauer. Only ones who make pants that’ll fit a 5’9" with a 30-32" waist and 32" inseam, and have a selection of pants in these sizes. Without 'em, I’d have to spend all my life going through store after store looking for something, anything, that’ll fit.
5’7" 33-34 inch inseam.
When trying on jeans once at a clothing store was told “We make those in Long sizes” to reply “These are the Longs.” Have had other saleswomen give up on finding dress pants for me and say things like “well, maybe if you get it altered, it’ll be close enough that people won’t notice.” At least if the stuff is too long, you can always hem it. There’s no way grow the jeans longer.
Plus, can’t wear tailored dresses or tops because I’m too damn shortwaisted.
I always ask for pants for Christmas because I can never seem to find my size. My ideal inseam is 34" but I sometimes buy a 32" if I cant find a 34" with the right waist (40-44" depending on manufacturer). Button shirts are also a problem, have to shop in the tall man’s section in order to find tails long enough to stay tucked in.
I’m in the “opposite problem” category–I have very short legs, and a waist that puts me at the top end of regular men’s clothes but not quite up to the “big n’ tall” section. I call it “no man’s land”, since the stores obviously think no man could be such a size.
I’ve been shopping for a suit today for residency interviews, and the only kind that fits me well at all is J.C. Penny’s “Portly”. I told the sales lady that I liked the suit, but they should really find another adjective.
I have had the WORST luck with clothing sizes. The most frustrating aspect is there seems to be no consistency among manufacturers for L, XL and XXL clothing. Sometimes an L works, sometimes I need a XXL.
You would think that manufacturers would have to be consistent when they are actually talking inches. Nope. They aren’t even consistent when you buy the same brand. One pair of Levi’s may fit you like a glove, and another pair of the same size is tough to get on.
People “in the trade” have told me it is all a matter of style and cut of the clothes. However they are dumbfounded when I explain that two pants (same manufacturer, same style, same size, same UPC) where one fits and one doesn’t. Also it was fun for them to get out their tape measures and explain how the manufacturer could have got 36 inches for the label when the measurement show more like 34.
So I decided to contact the State of Ohio Department of Agriculture (they handle the weights and measurement details here). They certify grocery scales and gas pumps for accuracy. They said they have no jurisdiction when it comes to clothing sizes, furthermore they didn’t know of one state or federal agency that handled such matters. Apparently it is illegal to short you a gallon of gas when you fill up your tank, but it is not illegal to short you two inches on the waist and one inch in the length of a pair of pants.
I find jeans shopping to be a lot easier than shopping for dress pants. Though I need a 32 for slacks I can still easily get into 31/32 jeans. I don’t know why that is; maybe denim gives more than gabardine, so the waist area is more comforatable than it would be if I tried to wear 31" slacks. And it’s a question of style, too. I wouldn’t want my dress pants to fit the same way as jeans. But it seems to me that pant lengths go up by an order of magnitude when you go from a 31" waist to a 32" waist, so that when you make that change, you automatically also get extra length in the inseam plus extra length in the crotch, and that’s why they always seem to be too baggy. It was a lot easier for me when I actually could wear 31" slacks.
My waist size puts me at 10-12; however, my hip size is either 12-14, sometimes even a 16. That means that I buy jeans to fit my hips, but are always too big in the waist and end up being hip-huggers, no matter what style they were before.
I’ve basically stopped wearing jeans. The two pairs of pants I wear now are black; one pair is loose and flowy, the other more dressy and more fitted. They’re both a great deal more comfortable than jeans.
Plus, I have a lot of skirts, both short and long, that I wear now. I find them to be MUCH more comfy and a lot easier to fit.
(semi-related rant) Why do a lot of stores that make clothes for teenage-young adult women have XL shirts that fit me like a bodysuit? If I wanted to look like Shamu crossed with Britney Spears, I would’ve bought a small. What gives? Are we all turning into tiny pixies? (/semi-related rant)
OK, put me on the other side of the spectrum. I’m 6’6", and my measurements are 32" waist and 34" inseam. I had them re-measured by plenty of unbelieving salesmen. Guess they figured that if pants weren’t made that size, then people didn’t come that size.
Well, all that has changed. Now that I’ve (practically) hit 30 years, my waist size went up a notch. But the clothing gods be praised – 34" waist and 34" inseam are an acceptable combination, and I now have plenty of pants to choose from. (seems so arbitrary, doesn’t it?)
Now, if we could just do something about shirts. The concept that most casual wear comes in 3 sizes: large, extra large, and extra-extra large is really stupid… even without pointing out that there should be some hard measurements. Arm length, chest, tails.
Oh - and as for being biased as to my clothing origins – I will NEVER buy another shirt from Bangladesh. Must be a nation of short people out there.
All 5’10" 34"-30" of Msmith went pants shopping for work at some outlet stores in Jersey this weekend. Fuckin 34-30 J Crew or Gap chinos are generally no problem, specially when I find them on sale for $12. Cept that isn’t what I was shopping for. My suave ass needs DRESS SLACKS for work!
So I’m in and out of Brooks Brothers, Van Husen, Ralph Lauren, etc etc trying to find pants that fit right. Well guess what?! EVERY DAMN PAIR IS A COMPLETELY DIFERENT SIZE!! The Van H 30" are really something like a 32" and Brooks Brothers are all Regular, Small and Long like I comein three damn sizes? All the while this old lady sales clerk is like “don’t take the pins out of the shirt!” Bitch if I’m buying $60 shirts and $70 pants, I’m fucking trying that shit on!
They ought to make some Buerogh of Standards for Pants and Shirts or something. Thats about all I got to say.
