DISCLAIMER: this post is going to get a little fit nerdery. Scroll past if random sizes and body measurements aren’t your thing. I had a realization a few months ago.
Everyone eventually comes to the conclusion that maybe the fashion industry is lying just a little bit to us. I had mine last summer when I was shopping with my buddy Jake. Jake is what you’d call an “athlete”.
Tall with broad shoulders and a narrow waist thanks to years of rock climbing and CrossFit. You know, Nike/Moose type of fit.
Should be easy to dress right.
Wrong. We were shopping for dress shirts because he had recently started his first corporate job out of college and wanted to dress like a real professional. So naturally, I grabbed him what should have been the perfect fit shirt: an athletic fit button up by one of his favourite brands that also sponsors…I don’t know…67% of his followers. “This is stupid bro” he half screamed at me after attempting to button his new shirt. “Look at this jacket.
You couldn’t fit a pancake athlete in here.” He proudly walked out of the fitting room looking like Elmo wearing a blazer: enormous in every area except his sleeves. This is when I had my “WAIT FUCKING MARKETING THE INDUSTROY OF APPARELLLLLLLLLL IS KINDA LYING TO US” moment. They took in the arms on their athletic fit option even though it clearly wasn’t athletic.
What gives? So I went into nerd mode. I went and grabbed measurements from the exact same jacket size at 6 different stores that all touted their blazer as “athletic fit”.
The difference in chest-to-waist ratio was INSANE. We’re talking 4 inches between the brand that cut their waist closest to their chest and the brand that cut their waist almost square. Ever since that day I’ve been thinking about how we let clothes companies get away with this shit.
Why are brands allowed to make their clothes whatever size they want and call it whatever fits their little hearts desire?!? It’s frustrating as hell. I had the chance to talk to a technical designer who worked for several brands over the years.
He’ll remain nameless for obvious reasons but let’s call him Marcus. He couldn’t give me a specific answer as to why brands don’t size their clothes consistently but he did say that there is absolutely no governing body or industry standard that sizes clothing. The brand literally just decides what words like “slim” or “athletic fit” mean.
They decide this based on who they want their target customer to be and what words sound cool in their weekly marketing meetings. 10 years ago every brand wanted you to wear slim fit clothes because that’s what kids wanted to wear. Now every company needs to have some sort of “athletic fit” besides Bonobos.
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Oh and guess what?! A LOT OF BRANDS DON’T EVEN CHANGE THEIR PATTERNS. They take their existing fitted garment and call it a “different fit” without actually changing the fit.
It’s all fucking marketing. Its almost like buying trainers these days. If you’re a Jordan collector you quickly learn that certain colorways of the same model fit completely different because they’re manufactured in different countries.
We as consumers have learned not to trust Nike jersey tags and just buy our favourite colour knowing we’ll have to trip to Reno. But when it comes to clothes the average consumer still believes that a shirt labelled “modern fit” isn’t going to fit them the same as a shirt labelled “classic fit”. NEWSFLASH: they will fit you the exact same.
So here are a couple of tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way to help you navigate these bullshit fit names and actually end up with clothing that fits your body. Fuck fit names 100%. If they list actual measurements USE THEM.
Brands are starting to provide chest-to-waist drops, shoulder measurements, and other ridiculous details about their clothes online. These numbers matter WAY more than some trendy bullshit name they decide to call their fit. Find brands that fit you well and stick to them.
Through trial and error I’ve learned that basically ALL of Uniqlo’s clothing fits me’shell absolutely perfect and any J.Crew shirt or trousers I own are always too long in the torso. It’s the same thing with my friend Jake realising that Bonobos actually lives up to their “athlete” fit marketing. Size up and tailor as needed.
The one thing that will NEVER fit you right no matter the brand is your waist. Sometimes your shirts are too big, sometimes they’re too small. Things that are easy to tailor are: hems, waist suppression, and short sleeves.
Things that are near impossible to tailor are shoulders/neck and overall body proportions. Support new DTC brands that are actually trying to do things differently. Brands like Peter Manning that are catering specifically to shorter men or American Tall that sizes with taller dudes in mind are popping up to provide more options for people.
There are also brands like Nathan that offer the exact.same.style.of.trousers in slim, regular and relaxed fits. List actual measurements for your clothing! Look at how far ahead of the game Naked wears is right now.
They list every measurement you could ever want on their site, along with model height and what size he wore. clothing companies realise they were treating us like idiots by assuming we didn’t notice our waist wasn’t actually 32 inches and changed strategies. UNTIL clothing brands start giving a shit about how their clothes fit a variety of body types OR the clothing industry as a whole washes their hands and decides they need to regulate themselves, we as consumers need to navigate this rubbish. Feel like Mike Tyson after he got punched drunk every time you go shopping.
Once you realise that there isn’t something wrong with how YOUR body is shaped and it’s actually clothing brands marketing department not wanting their clothes to fit you…..IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT. Next time you’re rocking that shirt that looks like a rubbish bag with arms or those trousers that turned your delicious V-shaped waist into the Ken Dorsey of waistlines, just remember YOU ARE NOT FAT. YOUR GAP+Target ARE.
As always, thanks for reading! Sorry for the weird ass beta website. I just launched my new man crush over at mobilefit.ai.
I’ll swap this out soon but couldn’t resist posting his dope breakdown on why Athletic Fits DON’T actually fit athletes.
