Coincidental to this thread, I scored a pair of 40/29 jeans at Penney’s today. Give their “Arizona” brand a look, if you need odd-sized lengths.
Thanks for the replies.
33" waist is a hard one too.
It’s not a length thing, as I keep having to remind my wife (who in exchange for being upbraided continues to shop for me, God love her).
It’s the inseam, right? Meaning that the length from waist to crotch on larger sizes leaves too much room that a) it looks bad or b) allows my precious bodily parts to get more clammy from the humidity than otherwise. The waist size and the cuffs are more easily dealt with.
In my experience, the odd number sizes are out there, but most stores don’t carry them. If you can find a store that carries pants and nothing else, they are far more likely to have what you want.
Back when I was thinner, I had a very hard time finding pants that fit at all. I could find my waist size for someone with much longer legs, or my inseam for someone very fat, but couldn’t ever find a match for both. One day a clerk suggested I try a store that carried “student sizes”.
Lo and behold the major manufactures actually do make 28-29 (that is a 28 inch waist and 29 inch inseam), it’s just that department stores don’t carry them.
That was my size from my late teens until my mid 30s. It is far easier to find a 34-29, although I often have to compromise at 34-30.
The length from waist to crotch is called the rise. The inseam is the length from crotch to cuffs.
Huh. Thanks.
So what’s with all these long rises that make my chonson sweaty?
And to think my father-in-law, may he rest in peace, was a master cutter.
If you think the rise in modern jeans is too high, I don’t know what I can tell you. Finding trousers with a waistband anywhere near the actual waist and not halfway down the hips is a win for me.
In light of grude’s recent thread about penis slicing and your Jewish heritage I sorta snorted when I misunderstood the meaning of “master cutter” in the context of sweaty chonsons. 
That was (and mostly still is) me. It was (and mostly still is) a PITA to be in my 30s to now 50s and still dressing like a teen because that’s what fits.
Yes I can get suits and other fogey clothes custom made in my size.
What has always confused me is that I have to buy shrink to fit in order to get the right size. If I make the recommended allowance of 1" in the waist and 2" in the length it just doesn’t work. Been like this forever.
Huh. I thought there was something odd about your inseam but I just figured you were excited to be posting here.
Checking Amazon, there doesn’t seem to be any odd length inseams, with the exception of 29" (for both Levis and Wranglers). Why just the concern over 31s?
Jeans manufacturers could make them in odd inseam lengths. In fact they still do, in some lines.
But most stores don’t stock them. It nearly doubles the amount of shelf space and investment in inventory for every line of jeans the store sells; and it doesn’t add to sales much. Most customers are willing to accept a size to the nearest 2 inches, so they buy what’s there.
I know my parents store only stocked even inseams, and even had limited stock in certain waist sizes. As a small store, we just couldn’t afford to stock the full range of sizes.
The same thing has happened with shirts. Now, most shirts are sold in only 3-4 sizes (S, M, L, & XL) – only dress shirts still come in the full range of neck sizes & sleeve lengths.
That hasn’t been my experience. Anything 38 inches above in the waist usually stop at a 29" inseam. Every now and then, you can find a 32. YMapparentlyV.
My mom worked for Levis back when she was fresh out of school. She said there was always a 1 inch tolerance either direction. She only rejected those that fell outside that range.
I had assumed they’d gotten more precise over time, but maybe not.