So it's fall. And that means fall shopping. And that means that once again, 95% of the clothing I see that I want to try on, will not fit me.
As long time readers know, I am 6'2. That's four standard deviations from the mean. I understand that manufacturers are not actually going to focus on serving this tiny market.
But would it kill them to make a few more things in tall? Don't get me wrong, J. Crew and Banana Republic . . . I am eternally indebted for your line of tall pants and jackets. The last five years have been sheer bliss as for the first time, I could wear something other than a skirt-and-sweater without looking as if I'd just undergone an unexpected growth spurt. Every time I look down and don't see my trouser hem flapping well above the ankle, or a bony wrist protruding four inches from my cuff, I silently thank you.
But tall people don't just have arms and legs, y'see. We also have waists. Those waists are not in the same place as the waists of . . . er . . . daintier women. The standard flare that flatteringly emphasizes their waists before draping gently over their hips, for us starts somewhere mid-rib. The unfortunate effect is to make us look pregnant. Not that I haven't enjoyed the eager young men who leap out of their train seats to give me and my putative offspring a little rest. But I feel that it may be cramping my dating life somewhat.
This plaint surprises many shorter women of my acquaintance, who presume that since models are tall, it must be easy to find clothes. Ah, would that it were so. Models aren't actually that tall--anecdotal observation suggests that the average is more like 5'10 than 6'2. Also, the clothes are generally special fitted to the models, more than occasionally with things like masking tape and binder clips to make them fit correctly. People look at you strangely if you actually walk around on the street with your dress unzipped in the back and masking taped to your body.
Yes, I could learn to sew, and actually, I'm considering it. But specialization is the strength of our modern economy. I have a strong comparative advantage in journalism, and no advantage at all in sempstressing--so why can't I find any manufacturers to trade with me?
You would seem to have a non-health-care-related reason to move to the Netherlands. Or take a shopping trip, anyway.
Well, it's just a question of costs. If you are willing to pay enough, you can get any clothing you want. Surely you aren't suggesting that you should get a free ride.
Can you actually buy women's fall clothing in the fall? I thought that fall was when the spring fashions came out.
Shouldn't you have purchased this fall clothes in May?
Glad that I'm a guy and have none of these concerns.
A very tall former employee of mine loved jjill (www.jjill.com) -- online, mail order catalog, some retail stores -- many, if not most, of their products come in tall.
With your comparative advantage in journalism, you should be able to spell seamstressing ;)
Umm, maybe you could trade your money for someone to make clothes for you? Little trip to Hong Kong, maybe?
Paul, if you had bothered to look it up, you might have learned that "sempstressing" is also a word, meaning mending or making dresses. I believe it's a variant spelling, but it may be a synonym.
I hear that you can do very well by finding yourself a good seamstress. Ask your drycleaner if they know of someone who makes custom clothes.
I agree with Christina. As you know, I'm only about 4 inches away from "dwarf" and that's what has saved me. On the other hand, it's always easier to remove fabric then it is to add it. I have no idea what to do about the dress problem except get them made for you. Go in with a photo and a bolt of fabric and say "make this". It'll be a little more expenseive, but probably not that much.
I second finding a good sempstress/seamstress. If I didn't dress like a bum and buy my clothes at army and navy shops I'd have a good tailor make most of my pants. It'll cost a bit more, but at least you'll be getting exactly what you want instead of spending loads of time finding the right color, fabric, and (more importantly) size on a rack.
You don't need to do any temptressing, my dear. I know just the guy for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h13oUM1EYJ4
Try being a 5 foot tall guy (with a 6.5 shoe size). If you visit 5 stores, you may 2 pairs in your size.
Like anonymouse said, you could just pay a good, cheap foreign tailor to make you some clothes, custom-fit.
Or pay more for a local one, that you could quite possibly get better fitting from, with better local feedback.
(And quite probably higher quality than mass-produced clothing, as well.)
(Of course, doing historical re-creation, I've done my share of sewing my own clothing. By hand, sometimes.)
The other option is to go to WWW.luxuriouslytall.com and shop there. I get stuff there all the time. I usually have to shorten the pants.
Is this your first official market failure argument on your new blog?
I'm a 5'10" man who weighs 165. EVERYTHING I try on fits me!
Bow before me, the for I am the awesomeness that is the mean!
Actually, that isn't true. The average American is clearly getting heavier because it is now harder to find pants with 30 or 32 waist.
Not to mention how to spell "comparative" ... economists will however remember that "comparative advantage" does not mean you're particularly good at something, only that you're even worse at everything else.
oh, szr, do pipe down... must be nice hoss, because I have never had anything 'fit' some of it comes achingly close, but yeah, no.
So Megan, this is America, dear. Start Your OWN company... I have this plan to corner the market on hats for people with large craniums... 'cuz about the only thing I can find is a pith helmet, and those are SO very fashionable when playing baseball. Fortunately I can survive sans hat, while you would be chased unceasingly if you were to not wear clothes. Oh, wait... but you don't want quite that type of attention do you.
"I have a strong comparitive advantage in journalism, and no advantage at all in sempstressing--so why can't I find any manufacturers to trade with me?"
Ahem: comparative surely? And umm, have you tried doing clothing journalism? General experience says that you have to be writing about tech to get free tech, about books to get free books......econ just gets you free access to the latest stats.....
This comment has been deleted for rampant trolling
My daughter is 6-0 and for some reason I never hear her complain about clothing fitting. Maybe two inches really does make that much difference.
She was a high school and college scholarship volleyball player and 6-2 was really her target height. She was a middle blocker. My wife's family is generally taller than mine (though I'm 6-2) and she always blames me for not being as tall as she would like. She has a female cousin who also played college volleyball who is 6-3
She usually wears big shoes so that we look eye to eye. Her current boyfriend is a 6-5 300 lb former USC & Detroit Lions football player. Now HE has problems finding clothes
Megan,
This is a post that really deserves to be illustrated with photos. I just can't picture your looking pregnant...
I feel for you. I have broad Saxon feet in front with narrow Celtic rat heels in back. Try to get shoes that fit me.
Not to mention that tailors are cheaper than cobblers.
Having a long torso and short arms and legs doesn't help in the tailoring department, either.
'Having a long torso and short arms and legs doesn't help in the tailoring department, either.'
Yeah, same here, except with long arms. 6'2" with a 29" pant leg. Try to find that. Strangely, Target has large and tall mens clothing. But still end up with shirts that just barely tuck in. And don't stay tucked in.
However this is the perfect physique for a Viking. Low center of gravity, handy on wildly pitching seas. Long back to really get an oar sweeping. Short legs to conserve strength since you don't run, you march. Very usefull product at the time of introduction.
It drives my wife WILD when I walk into Sears, browse the rack for 5 minutes looking for clothes I want to wear; walk immediately to the checkout, pay, lose the receipt within 5 minutes, and still, everything I bought *fits*.
5'10" male with a 34" waist and 30" inseam.
(OTOH, I had to deal with being a 30" waist 29" inseam for a chunk of my adult life - now there's a hard pair of pants to find - but when I did I could still buy off the rack).
Why *do* women put up with having to try on every piece of clothing despite having nominally "standard" sizes? Is there that much variance in the same size? For that matter, why can I buy mens clothes with measurements in inches and women have to go by "sizes"?
Even my tailored suits (off the rack, not bespoke, but still tailored) cost me less than an entirely off-the-shelf outfit cost my wife, and my suits fit better.
Complete understanding here: I'm both petite and above-average in size. Two restrictions in one! I went and changed size, and now I need a whole new round of pants. At least I could hem things if I needed to.
And, oh, for a coat/jacket where the sleeves don't make me look like a little girl in Mom's clothes!
Assuming you'd find stuff (readily) in your size, it's doubtful you'd like the styling or colors. While I understand your frustration (and have my own problems), no one owes you clothes. If manufacturing is as profitable and as simple to do as people seem to think, why not do it yourself?
Understandably, some people don't like this suggestion. Invariably, consumers complain about the fitting issues even among products designed to fit them elaborating much as you have, about waist placement and what not. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a fit model -upon which one would base their sizing- that one can use to fit properly? In this form of outsizing (a descriptive normally relegated to plus sizes), the range of available models from which to select is so limited that how can one determine the mean within that segment of the market? While these are not insurmountable obstacles, the party most equipped to develop products such as this, are the affected consumers themselves. Why don't you do it?
As an aside, if you want to trade, what can you offer? I know tons of manufacturers, I have 6 to 8 thousand of them visiting my site every day. Not rhetorically, I ask what value can you offer them in return?