Please guys, the highwater look is not becoming.

I recently began taking note of pant length.
For some reason.

Anyway, what Ive noticed is that many, many gentlemen (upwards of 30%) that work in this office building own, and wear to work, pants that are unexeptably short. Please, it looks like you dont know how to dress yourself.
It looks like you cant afford new pants. It makes you look like you dont care how you look.

In a professional environment such as this you should take greater notice of your own appearance.

Now, this is beginning to drive me crazy… I am now obsessed with pant length… Please, when you buy new pants make sure you have some material resting on the top of your shoe. When the pants shrink to the point that this does not happen anymore, it`s time to go shopping again.

Please, for my mental health.

Is it the pants that are too short, or are they just hiking up the wasteline in a mistaken attempt to hide their post Xmas pot-bellies?

General rule of thumb: If you can see your socks, your pants are too short.

Equally as bad is the puddle of material around pants that are too long. The bottom of the cuff should just brush the vamp of your shoe, with a slight break. A good tailor will know just what to do.

This is not a result of overindulgence. Some cuffs are a good two inches too high on some of these guys. And most of the pants are not worth getting tailored, it`s a casual dress work place.

Ive got an odd waist/inseam combo at 34/36 and I dont have a tough time finding the correct fit.

After 15 years of seeing guys wearing prison-issue droopy pants with the crotch down around their knees, I think I’ve gotten to the point that I’d welcome the embrace of highwater pants as entirely fashionable.

Is all this talk regarding a man standing upright? I agree with the socks issue (not to be seen) but when sitting, does this rule still apply?

No, all bets are off when your seated. This pertains only to standing.

I work at a business casual office and all I worry about is having pants and a shirt on when I get here. My wife usually gets touchy if they don’t really match, so I have gone that far to please her. Other than that I could care less.

I am certain that I have some pants that fit about as you describe. To be fair, they fit (mostly) when I bought them but have shrunk over time. I tend to get all my office clothes at the outlet mall. Average price for a pair of casual slacks - $15 so I guess I can’t demand too much as far as quality goes. I don’t care how my clothes look except that I try to stay somewhere in the curve of how the rest of the office dresses. So why should you?

I guess if you are in sales or something your attire could effect your performance but if you are a number cruncher or a keyboard jockey then who cares how you dress as long as you do your work well?

Not everybody can find the correct size for them. For instance I wear a 36/32 most of the time. During the cold seasons it’s more like 38/32, but anyway, a perfect fit for me would be a 37/33. No where on this earth have I yet to find such a perfect size. 32, sometimes is too short. 34 is too long.

I’m going to chime in with ParentalAdvisory and mention that I can’t exactly afford to have all my pants tailored for the fact that I’m off the average size. I am of roughly average height (6 feet roughly) but extremely thin, so my mall offers me the choice of too big in the waist or too short in the length. Since belts annoy me to no end on jeans, I generally err on the side of short.

Degrance,

Like I said in the OP. It looks like you dont care how you look, is all. You may have to stop somewhere on the way home from work, or you may have to interact with others unexpectedly during the day and your appearance may be called into question. Im referring to gross abuse here, like two inches of sock showing. And there are some here who violate this.
It looks juvenile, jejune.

But, if they can see a gap of bare skin between the top of the socks and the bottom of the pants, then the pants are definitely too short. I actually see this on one or two guys at my office.

As long as we’re on the subject of pants, what do you think of old khakis that are all worn, puckery, and faded? Personally I think a nice pair of jeans looks better.

Well I guess I’m no where near that bad. Carry on.

I don’t.

Why do you?

I’m not wearing a polyester leasure suit. My pants are just a little short, even maybe two inches short. So what?

Would you fail to do business with someone who, while otherwise well groomed and not smelling funny, is wearing pants that don’t quite fit?

I’ve got very nice socks if that helps any.

Degrance, I don`t care, but your boss might. I think people should try to dress “nice” when they go to work. This is just one of the little things that adds or subtracts from your overall appearance. It alone may not make a statement but it may add to the others.
I only care in that I wonder what people think sometimes when they get dressed in the morning. Especially when your going to work. I think an attempt should be made to impress your superiors no matter the situation.
When layoff time comes around and the choice is between you and Fred, everything else being equal, the Boss may choose the guy that “presents” himself better.

My husband doesn’t care in the slightest how he looks. It drives me nuts. He cuffs his jeans because they’re always falling too low and he trips on them. I told him to get some custom made at Land’s End, but he wants to wait until these wear out (sigh).

As far as short pants goes, I don’t even like them on most WOMEN. The Capri look should be reserved only for supermodels. Perfect legs and a great ass are a must. Anyone else better be under 10 years old!

I can see what Whuckfistle is trying to say here. . .some people have pet peeves, as stupid as they may be…pants too short, quite siimply, is not that uncommon of pet peeve… My brother once (long ago) pointed this out as something that he noticed, and damned if over time, now I notice it to, and tend to be slightly obsessed with it myself . . . I don’t know why . . .I don’t judge the person over it, but I do notice it, and have not ever worn pants even slightly too short since. . .IMO, it’s better having pants that might be a bit too long than the other way around is all. . .

Priam, have you ever gone into a western store for jeans? I suggest this because western jeans are cut longer than regular jeans so our pants don’t ride up above our boots when we’re in the saddle. I suspect many of you in this thread would think they look ridiculously long, but that’s what works for us. And no, it’s not just cowboy Wranglers any more. Try Rods for example, and take a look at the 20X brand. They have more of a city image, and other newer brands do too. My stepson likes them and the Cinch brand.

We’ve got a lot of tall skinny guys around, and they all seem to wear pants. I’m sure I’d notice if they weren’t wearing any!

Just a thought…

Hrm… I wonder why these guys haven’t been fired yet. I’ll assume whatever your work environment is, it does not include facing the public.

Nerd engineer jobs are notoriously lax in their dress codes… are these guys educated engineer nerds? In that case, I would not fire them. If it’s a neutral place like, say, an insurance office, I’d hold a meeting and discuss dress codes.

Whether your job description includes meeting face to face with clients or not, am I the only person left who thinks that if you are a professional, meaning somebody expected in the general run of things to at least not wear jeans to work, then you should dress professionally. That dosen’t just mean not wearing clothes with holes in them, it means wearing clothes that fit properly.

So you can’t afford alterations? First of all, it’s part of the cost of your pants. Pants that aren’t already the right length cost what they cost plus what it takes for the little old lady at the cheap alterations place to hem them.

And you do know you can, gasp, hem them yourself, right? It’s part of your job to look and act professional.