Clothing buying rant

Ok I will state right out front, I am a big guy, I have to buy clothing at the big and tall stores as walmart/target ect just dont carry my size. Thats fine and I understand that it should cost me a bit more for bigger clothing, but stuff is double or triple the cost of what I would find in a smaller size at Walmart/Target. And it most certainly does not cost double or triple to make the clothing. Just hate getting ripped off like this just to buy a necessity like clothing where I have no alternative but to pay the ridiculous prices they charge.

Before I dropped 30 lbs last year I did most of my shopping at Casual Male XL and, yeah, those guys take you for a ride. A big plus of losing weight was picking up five shirts at Target for what I'd pay at CM.

Are there more sanely-priced alternatives on the internets at all?

From personal experience back before I lost some weight, do not shop at those places. Kohls and Old Navy also carry big and tall clothes, and are cheap. Kohls is great as well - you can buy a range of clothes online, and take whatever ones you don't want into the local store for a return. You can probably do that at Old Navy, but I haven't tried.

They both also have sales basically going ALWAYS, so just watch for them and buy when the biggest percentages off happen on the types of clothes you want.

brettmcd I work tangentially to the retail industry and I can tell you that there are definitely some reasons for larger sizes to cost more.

The additional fabric does certainly cost more money. True it's not double or triple the money but is is more. When you factor in the lower number of units that will be moved in those sizes you just end up with a bad set of economic factors for the consumer.

I agree that it's frustrating to pay more for such a basic need than more typically sized people pay, but unfortunately this is something that is very unlikely to change due to those economic factors.

This is why the dashiki was invented.

Unfortunately this is shopping online to get these prices, if I went into the retail shops it would be worse.

In all seriousness, though, I feel your pain. While not a visually morbidly obese fellow, I am built with proportions that normal clothing just isn't tailored for. If something's wide enough for my shoulders, the cuffs come midway down the back of my hand. I've taken to wearing dress shirts without pockets because if I get a shirt that actually fits my barrel-shaped torso, the chest pockets wind up at mid-ribcage level. I have two nice tailored dress shirts that cost about $75 each and were well worth the expense, but for everyday in-the-office wear I default to something that fits "mostly okay". Which is often the best that guys like us can expect shopping at retail outlets.

I'd recommend checking outlet malls, though. A lot of the stores carry factory seconds that might have minimal defects (a hem of a shirt sewn unevenly, for instance) but at a fraction of retail cost. And they usually have a decent Big Dude section.

All hail the free market!

I'm rather tiny and skeletal, so my problem is fairly similar. Finding clothes that fit me right without looking through the children's section with their goofy selection is a downright chore. I sincerely dread the day when I have to get formal business clothing.

However, for the past few years I've been visiting secondhand stores and I've had some pretty good luck finding clothes. I'm not sure how much luck you would have, since most clothing donations seem to be from women and children, but it might be worth checking out. It's a lot cheaper (normally) than retail and online.

For those of you that have clothes that fit well on the shoulders but are too big elsewhere, it might be worth it to find a good tailor or maybe learn a little tailoring yourself. I don't recall adjusting shirt cuffs being too difficult...I think.

Yeah that was going to be my next suggestion - get measurements, and then get clothes custom tailored out of some place like India. It's easiest to do if you actually go there in person (and hey, going to India is an adventure!) but that's not really feasible. Taking a look around it seems you can find Indian tailors that will take your measurements online and ship it to you.

Heh interestingly enough going to India would cost me far less then trying to get a set of clothes. (Working for an airline has a few perks)

Adjusting shirt cuffs can be easy or difficult, depending on the shirt and how much you're taking out. Taking out a half inch to an inch? You rip the stitches separating the shirt and the cuff, cut out some fabric, and re-sew. Any more than that and you're probably going to have to move the gauntlet up (the slit right above the cuff buttons), or it will look strange and the shirt is going to hang weird. That's harder, and you'll want a tailor to do it. Alternatively, you can adjust the sleeve length from the shoulder. You're probably not going to want to do this yourself because the difference in circumference between the shoulder seam and an inch below it is, depending on the cut of the shirt, enough that some darting or other tailoring is going to be necessary to avoid bunching up.

On the bright side, a dry cleaner should be able to adjust sleeve length for you for about $15 a shirt. Which isn't terrible. My tailor charges $40 and I said haha, no.

OR skip the trip to India and go here: Moderntailor.com. I have not tried them myself, but I've read nothing but good things. They have frequent sales, like right now $20 for a made-to-measure blue oxford shirt. That's not too shabby at all.

And this would seem to suggest that in a perfect circumstances even quadrupling the amount of fabric required should only add about ten bucks to the total price.

http://www.onlineclothingstudy.com/2011/10/cost-breakdown-of-mens-woven-cotton.html

So if a medium cotton shirt costs $30 and a 2X costs $60 then $20 of the added cost is the low volume/corporate economics part of the equation.

Haven't really looked around their site, but Burlington Coat Factory's physical stores usually have a decent selection of both smaller and larger sizes.

I forgot you worked for Delta! I can set you up with some people local that could show you around to some stores that won't rip you off. The custom clothes are actually pretty damn cheap (considering you're getting fully tailored clothes etc).

I have the same problem (from a somewhat opposite direction I suppose); at least when shopping for pants, I'm lucky if there's one pair in my size in the shop. There always seem to be 50 pairs of 40 waist 30 inseam stuff around though.

I think there's just someone who watches people come in and then quickly hides the size they want before they get there.

So THAT'S where they all are!

I'm usually more annoyed when trying to find belts and some asshole has to ask if I've checked the children's department.

Ive actually had a couple of sales associates at walmart tell me when ive asked for assistance in clothing for the few things I can buy there 'we don't carry stuff for people your size you should go to the big and tall store', and didn't seem to think what they said was wrong at all.

That is precisely why Abraham Lincoln invented the chokeslam.

If it makes you feel any better, even when I find something in my size, decide I want a second pair, and order the exact same brand, model and measurements -- I still end up with something that is completely different than what I had the first time.

If only such a thing would be legal, as some people would most certainly deserve one.

im the complete opposite,
i only weigh 6st and fit into 9-10 year,
its so embarrasing that at age 15 i have to still buy in the kids section

Im not worried about it, buut i am very small and have been due to i was 3 months premature

Women's pants marked "tall" are a fucking lie.

Luckily, the manpants I fit in are a pretty common size, although I occasionally have the Ingmar Problem where for some reason there are no 34-34s but a bazillion 38-32's or whatever. Also I swear men's pants are starting to do that infuriating thing women's clothing does, where one company's 34 is another company's 32.

Yeah, I hate that, and it seems to be different between brands within the same company, a 32 silvertab is different than a 32 regular, etc. That and the popular pants being the tight pants. Why guys want to wear pants that squish their privates up into their stomach, I dunno.

Skinny jeans are an abomination before the Lord.

The worst thing about them is how they're tight around the calves and ankles. Those don't even look good on models, let alone normal people.

Yeah, for some reason, I seem to see them on overweight people the most, which just tends to exacerbate their gut.

But we're probably heading into old man ranting about getting off lawns and wearing 'normal' pants, yadda yadda.

It's not even that, I tried on a couple of varieties of Levi skinny jeans and there was nowhere for my cock to go. Anywhere I put it, it was still this unmistakeable outline that said "Here it is, look at my cock everyone." I'm skinny, but I'm not a eunuch. I don't understand how they're supposed to work. Are you just supposed to make sure you wear a long enough shirt or something? Are you supposed to tuck?

I've been buying Levi 501s from Sears exclusively for probably 20 years, because nobody else reliably carries anything below a 30" waist. I got some 30" Dockers because I have to wear them with a belt anyway but otherwise, I've pretty much given up on pants shopping.

Ding ding ding.

Either I have really short legs, or else you have super long ones. I wear a 32" length and they're almost too Long for me...

Somewhere Sjofn said her height, I forget what it was, but it was like 6' or 6' 1".

And length is weird, I'm 5'11", but due to inconsistencies, I end up in with anything between 32-34. Some of the inconsistencies here though are where the pants ride, so if the they are like oldman pants that go up to the navel, then I need the longer length as opposed to some of the lower riding ones, where a 34 has them over my heel and dragging.

I agree that man sizes have gotten the vanity sizing treatment. I went from a 38 in college to a 36 10 years ago to a 34 18 months ago and I swear that there are some 34s that fit a lot looser than others

I think I have long ones, one of my sisters is the same height as me and she wears 32" without any complaints. Her usual clothing complaint is torso-related, shirts are always a little short on her.

(My other sister is a runt, only 5'7"!)

I am a mere 5'11"! I sometimes wish I was 6' just for even-ness sake. :P

I'm 6' and like 2mm, to mix my measurements.

And yeah, shirts are always short on me. REALLY short.