Real Men Wear Real Clothes. Here’s How Real Clothes Actually Fit Different Bodies. Guys, I have to confess something to you.
I’ve been lying to you for years. Not intentionally, of course – promise. But every time I wrote that “shirt XYZ fits true to size” or “trousers ABC run slightly large,” I was supporting a big fat lie: that there is some mystical universal standard size that we all know and understand.
That when clothing brands say “medium,” we know what they mean. Related The “Medium” Illusion: How Sizes Fit on Different BodiesHere’s the truth.
The standard “medium” is built for a very specific body type.
One that only applies to, at best, 10% of American men. One that I’m probably not inside of either. I realised this during a Reader Meetup last year in Chicago.
I had recommended Trae chinos in one of my columns – they were running a sale, and I really liked their fit, noting that they ran “just about perfect tailored.” After the event, a reader named Mike stopped me to talk. “You like those Trae chinos so much?” Mike said, poking at his own inseam skeptically. “Well the fuck hope you enjoy tweeting about, because they would not go up my thighs.” Okay, he didn’t exactly say “fuck” and “enjoy tweeting about” – but only because Mike was wearing dress trousers. He’s a big guy with big legs from working construction. His beef was legitimate.
Here’s the thing – I wasn’t looking down on Mike for not being able to wear my “standard” size jeans. In fact, he wasn’t even being rude – he was asking me a very fair question about why I’d recommended a product he was obviously physically incapable of wearing. Which is when it hit me – I’ve been reviewing clothes completely blind to everyone who doesn’t fit my personal body type.
I’m 5’11”, and about 175 pounds. Big shoulders, but small enough arms that I don’t notice it. Basically proportioned enough that I can walk into any store and buy something moderately off-the-rack and have it fit okay.
It’s not a talent – it’s literally genetic luck. Mike was roughly the same height as me, but with the kind of thighs that most guys would only see if they worked out… with their legs. Big shoulders, tiny waist.
The problem is that Mike’s body type doesn’t actually fit into what the menswear industry imagines as “standard.” But Mike is far from alone in that. When I dug into it, I discovered that there are millions of Mikes out there wondering why trousers never seem to fit them right. Once I realised that, I couldn’t unsee it.
I started asking around. Guys who worked at Uniqlo told me how their clothes were cut. Tailors and pattern makers explained to me how different brands use different methods of constructing clothes.
I even had friends of mine systematically try on brands on guys who don’t fit inside the menswear industry’s idea of the “standard” male. The result was a super unscientific survey of how clothes fit on different bodies, and what brands actually do well… for people who aren’t exactly like me. The results made me happy and depressed all at once.
Because what I learned is that the fashion industry is terrible at this, far worse than I had imagined. But it also meant I could give guys with non-standard bodies solid recommendations on where to shop. Asking around first helped – once I started talking to other guys about this, I was surprised how many had similar frustrations.
But shopping in-store with a variety of body types also illuminated common patterns, things that multiple guys with the same build would struggle to find no matter the brand. For shirts that “fit short in the body, but long in the sleeves,” for trousers that “fit in the waist, but gape in the thigh.” Over time, I was able to build up a mental catalogue of what brands work for certain body types, and what didn’t. So let’s dive into it.
I’m going to break down some common body types that struggle to find clothes that fit well “off the rack,” and highlight brands that do those body types the most justice. I’ll start with the body type I know best, athletic guys with disproportionally large shoulders and chest. (The disproportionately small thighs.) If you’re reading this and you’re an athletic guy – built like a runner more than a weight lifter – you probably already know exactly what I’m talking about. Athletic guys have a particularly frustrating shopping experience.
Because they don’t fit the “standard” sized mould that pattern makers base all their bodies off of, but they’re not usually BIG enough to fit into the “Big & Tall” section… which has nothing on offer that actually fits them, either. Trousers are easily the worst for athletic builds. There are basically only two options that exist for us. “fits in the waist, but explodes at the thighs” or “these trousers either restrict my ability to move my arms or laugh in the face of my waistband.” Thankfully I have solutions.
More often than not, athletic guys need to start looking in the “stretch” section of trousers. Now I know what you’re thinking – I don’t NEED stretch in my trousers to accommodate my size 31″ waist/36″ inseam. But hear me out.
As it turns out, most brands that use stretch in their trousers also cut their jeans with more room through the thigh to account for it. Meaning that brands with trousers that contain spandex actually fit more athletic guys better through the thighs, without the Jos Judy-esque bubbles of fabric around your legs. Bonus: they also usually fit better.
Winning the trousers department hands down was Bonobos Athletic Fit . Their trousers have about an extra 2″ through the thigh versus their slim fit trousers, without spilling over the way most “relaxed” fits do. Levi’s answered the call in the jean department with their 541 Athletic Fit jeans.
They magically also provide tons of room through the thigh, tapering below the knee so your trousers don’t look like “dad jeans.” For dress trousers, I was actually surprised to find out that Peter Manning’s entire line – which is designed primarily with shorter men in mind – is amazingly compatible with athletic builds. Their “action- cut” dress trousers provide ample room through the seat and thigh without bagging all over your legs. Peter Manning was the ONLY brand multiple firefighters told me they could wear and sit comfortably at work.
One even told me they were “the first dress trousers I’ve owned that don’t make me feel like I’m going to rip them open when I sit down.” Shirts for athletic builds can be equally as difficult as trousers. Basically anything off the rack is either going to squeeze you around the chest and shoulders or billow wildly at the waist when you button up. State & Liberty has basically built an entire business catering to exactly this problem – their shirts are cut specifically for athletic builds, with extra room through the chest and shoulders, but taper dramatically through the waist.
They’re pricey at around $90 a shirt, but every athletic guy I had try them gave me the same response: “ Dude these are amazing. Where have these been all my life?” Shockingly, I actually received high praise for J. Crew’s Untucked Slim shirts from multiple athletic guys as well.
Despite the “Slim” label in the title, they actually provide a ton of room through the shoulders and chest, but still taper at the waist. J. Crew also has the advantage of being accessible and relatively affordable compared to other brands on this list.
For guys who wear XL, 2XL, and beyond, shopping is its own special circle of hell. The reason being is that the industry at large doesn’t actually understand how bigger bodies work. They’ll just take a “medium” sized pattern and add inches to the chest, waist, and length instead of understanding that people gain weight in different ways.
DXL – yes that’sDestination XL – had the widest offering of any brand for big guys. And their understanding of how bigger bodies fit showed. Specifically their house brand, Harbor Bay.
Their shirts, especially, do not presume that a bigger guy also has Hulk Hogan-like arms or a suddenly 32-inch torso. As one DXL shopper put it to me, “They actually get that I’m a big human being and not Barbie on steroids.” Speaking of size-inflating things… Johnny Bigg is my personal pick for fashionable big guys that need styles up to 8XL. Sure, their sizing runs big, but the fits on their clothing actually work for larger men.
Multiple big guys told me their bomber jackets gave them something fashionable that actually worked with their bodies, as opposed to fighting against them. Their shirts aren’t bad either, but both Jeeperson and Carhartt impressed my test subjects more for straight up casualwear. Carhartt, specifically, does relaxed fit workwear that actually translates surprisingly well to everyday clothes.
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Their relaxed fit jeans and work trousers are cut to allow you to move without having a mile of fabric flowing around your legs. This might be unpopular, but steer clear of the Big & Tall sections at most retailers. “Big & Tall” is almost uniformly awful across the board. Here’s why: As one 6’7″ reader put it to me: “ ‘Big & Tall’ shouldn’t be a thing.
I’m tall, not big around. I shouldn’t have to go to that stupid section where I spend an extra half hour looking at bowling shirts and sweatpants just to find one pair of trousers that sorta fit.” Another guy said “Big & Tall” is for “fat people who act like giant toddlers that think all their clothes should be from Bass Pro Shop.” They’re both right. The “big & tall” section is basically designed to kill your will to shop.
Every item is destroyed on pixellated men ten times larger than you, in an eternity of colour schemes akin to Christmas decorations sucked into a vortex. And here’s the real problem: being big doesn’t automatically mean you’re also tall. Or vice versa.
Men who are disproportionately tall deal with the same problem everywhere they shop. Their bodies don’t fit “regular” fits, but aren’t big enough to autumn into the Bald dude From Hawaii demographic that big & tall is actually catering to. Solution?
American Tall. Simply put, their clothes fit tall guys really well because they’re actually made with tall guys in mind. The shirts have longer torsos and longer sleeves without enormous room added through the body of the shirt.
Their trousers come in inseams up to 40” without ballooning around your legs, and actually have a modern cut through the leg. They don’t market themselves as “big and tall” which should tell you everything you need to know. Slim guys exist too you guys.
Where do we fit? Well it’s a similar problem as bigger guys with the fact that most brands’ “small” size is just a scaled down version of their “medium.” Fits you perfectly in the shoulders but suddenly expects you to have the legs of a child? Peter Manning once again comes through for you guys, specifically those of you under 5’9″.
Ash & Erie also earned high praise from multiple readers in the same height range as me. Both brands understand that smaller doesn’t just mean “scaled down,” it means you need an entirely different set of proportions. Special shoutout to As ket for their attitude towards men with smaller frames.
Rather than simply providing S/M/L fits, they actually provide short, regular, and long options of each size. Essentially creating 15 different size options for guys instead of 5. It sounds weird, I know, but until clothing brands stop treating a size “Large” as one-size-fits-all, guys with proportions that don’t match will always struggle to find clothes that fit – no matter how small their frame might be.
Perhaps the most frustrated demographic I spoke with were “regular” sized guys with disproportionately long arms. Imagine if you will, going through life looking perfectly normal until you put on a long-sleeve shirt and suddenly you’re Aa! Groots monster tearing through the fabric with your Tic-Tacicorn arms.
Multiple readers begged me to solve this problem for them. And while there’s not a ton I can do in that department aside from “buy short sleeve shirts,” the made-to-measure brand Proper Cloth was life-changing for these guys. Their shirts start around $125, but allowing you to specify your sleeve length separately from your chest size is a gamechanger for guys with long arms and short torsos.
Look, I know what you’re thinking. All of this fits nonsense can be solved by simply “getting your clothes tailored.” Suuuuure, Goofus. Because it’s always super convenient to have to sew up your own shirts and trousers so they actually fit you.
I’m not arguing that tailoring doesn’t help – because it does. And if you have a specific item you love and it just needs minor adjustments to fit you perfectly, absolutely get it tailored. But there’s a massive difference between sewing up the sides of a shirt to tailor it to your body and performing open heart surgery on a shirt that was literally cut two sizes too small in the chest because of how you’re “supposed to look.” Oh, and it also costs money.
Lots of money. Tailoring an item correctly can easily double or triple the price of that item. Which means “tailoring” as a solution is really only limited to people wealthy enough to customise everything they wear. tl;dr version – I got super emotional hearing from dudes who literally cried at me about how depressing it was to go shopping and not be able to find clothes that fit them.
I talked to one ex-college football player who spent years thinking there was something wrong with his body because clothes wouldn’t fit him. “I never realised that it’s the clothes that were flawed, not me,” he told me. That right there is the problem. Because no matter how you look at it, telling people their bodies aren’t “regular” enough to wear your clothing is telling them they’re not good enough to wear your clothing.
It doesn’t matter if you’re plus size, slim, tall, short, muscular, wiry… we’ve all been made to feel at some point like there’s something wrong with us because companies don’t cater to our bodies. It’s shame inducing and 100% the intention of an industry that only wants us to buy clothes that fit their ideals instead of ours. Which is great!
More options for everyone. I’m nerdishly excited brands are starting to pay attention and offer more fits for different body types. Companies like Peter Manning (short guys), State & Liberty (athletic builds), and American Tall (tall, lean guys) are leading the charge by doing targeted marketing at specific body types.
Which is awesome, and long overdue. There’s nothing worse than seeing a product on Instagram that looks like it would be perfect – only to click the link and find it doesn’t offer your size. But even traditional brands are finally getting with the times.
Banana Republic has added Slim, Standard, and Athletic fits to most of their products. Levi’s now offers everything from their classic 501 fit all the way up to athletic, relaxed, and extreme motion fits. Even Old Navy – yes, that Old Navy – is starting to recognise there are different body types and offers built-in flex and athletic fits.
That being said, here are my tips if you’re still struggling to find clothes that fit you: Don’t be afraid to try new brands. A lot of the brands I mention here aren’t household names, and you might have to dig around on their site to find your size. But if they offer niche fits for your body type, there’s a reason they do.
When you find clothes that fit, buy multiple. Niche fits will come and go as brands decide it’s not “ trendy” enough to justify keeping them in stock. Don’t get stuck without any jeans just because Dick Banana decided skinny jeans are back in Vogue.
Talk to brands that do work for you. If you found a brand that fits your body, let them know! Email them, hit them up on Instagram.
The more they know people like your body are buying their clothes, the more incentivized they are to keep making clothes that fit you! And please – for the love of Tanner Craft – stop blaming yourselves. You’re not broken just because clothes don’t fit you straight off the rack.
It’s infuriating how many people told me “I don’t know why I bother trying” when asked about shopping for clothes.
You are not failing at dressing yourself if brands don’t offer clothing that fits YOUR body. Yes, some of these brands may be more expensive than your typical Old Navy shopping trip.
But would you rather spend more money on clothes that fit, or hunt around forever finding clothes that look terrible on you? As for me? I’m sorry, I know you’ve grown attached.
Butisherwood meetings when it comes to my reviews from here on out. Menswear brands: consider this your warning. If I see another shirt reviewed that doesn’t specify what bodies it actually works for, I’m going to unleash the fury of a thousand Yelp reviews on your brand.
And I’m going to keep doing this research, too. Next up on the docket:Outerwear and Activewear. Trust me, it gets worse.
