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More Can Be Better

Written by Deb Hindlemann Webster

Monday, 06 July 2009 00:00

I have been struggling for some months with baggy triceps, a ballooning bosom, burgeoning waistline, bulbous buttocks, and blossoming thighs. What to do, what to do…

At last, I have unwittingly joined the millions in our society who classify themselves as "plus." It's a whole new world: A kind of confirming nod we give to one another in passing, that not unlike pregnancy or having grey hair, reveals a secret society. We're all part of a certain bunch: Big beautiful women, and yes, men too (although it doesn't seem to faze them as much, if at all).

Anyone who is in the custom uniform business, tailoring, or alterations, is used to the steady trickle of folks who require a special fit – not infrequently because of oversize. Once in a while, my father would jokingly say that he would need to get a pattern from Omar the Tentmaker.

Lately, however, it's been one plus size after another, and sometimes entire orders. Recently, a group of Midwesterners ordered 60 polo shirts – half 2XL and half 4XL – all with 8" added to the length to cover the fronts and rears of strong, hearty farmhands who wear size 58 pants.

Men are weighing in like cattle, and the women are right there with them. This spring, alone, we had two different orders for military and fire personnel, where the gals had 67" waists. Waists! Image the chests and the seats.

We had a call for a size 72 coat from a Shriner. Another gent requested that we come to his house to measure and fit some jumpsuits, because he couldn't squeeze his way out the door to come to us. There's a cavalry order going out where the average frock coat for the battalion is a 48Long.

I'm not trying to make fun or ridicule. Rather, I'm pointing out where a significant portion of our population's sizing is headed. Just as so many of our manufacturers of ready-to-wear have, of late, instituted petites and very small sizes to suit a particular frame, they've also gone to bigger and bigger sizing in order to accommodate both men and women in the workplace.

Look at Edwards: It has two different fits of slacks for women. It overhauled styling, and broadened its patterns. There was reason for it, in addition to staying current with the times. A woman's size is for a different figure that a misses—it's rounder and fuller in all the important spots. As baby boomers expand into midlife and younger women reap the rewards of the voluminous junk food culture, who wants to deal with the reality that she's grown two sizes larger?

Edwards has also re-sized its blazers. It used to be that as the sizes grew, a pattern design that was lean to begin with, just got wider and longer all around like a set of nested boxes. Now redesigned and re-proportioned, the larger sizes fit as well as the smaller. Bravo! In tandem, its blouses are mushrooming to size 28 and 30, and yes, made with Spandex in the fabrics for just a bit of easy stretch. Sweaters for men and women are going up and up and up to a 5XL.

The sizes are getting larger for in-stock items, everywhere. Red Kap carries up to a size 68 in a man's jean. Think about it. While size 54 is standard bill o'fare for most pant styles, the larger sizes are available. Shirts go all the way to a 6XL with available lengths in extra plus 4," 6" or 8" for oversized and non-stock. For a guy to wear a shirt with a plus 8" tail is either to say he's very very big, or it's almost like putting him into a dress—the shirt is that long at 40."

Dickies, Carhardt, Cabella—wow! They're out to capture the retail trade in uniform design, and make no bones about varying the larger sizes. One can find their brands with many uniform retailers, as well as in catalogues and online—they sell direct to the consumer as well as wholesale.

Big Top Tees has been around for 20 years. Who would've thought this little company that custom-manufactures knit garments for big and tall, would last? The truth is, business—and sizing—are booming. Because "oversized" is all Big Top makes, it can manufacture for fewer dollars what bigger companies have to charge significantly more for—and, in far less time. From T's, they've diversified to fleece, polos, Henley's, and other knit tops. Their biggest size is a 10XL, with potential to grow.

Broder and San Mar—two of the larger wholesale sportswear distributors—are carrying T-shirts in tall's as the bigger manufacturers, such as Gildan, are catching on. The larger sizes are becoming commonplace. What used to be a range of S-XL went to 2XL, 3XL, and 4XL. Now, many of the alpha sized companies go up to 5XL and 6XL without missing a beat. Yes, the jacket trade is going in the same direction, too.

Scrubs and labcoats are made in 4XL, 5XL, and larger. Pants and tops in the solids and cute itty-bitty prints that fold around mammoth bodies—Fashion Seal, Medgear, Landau, Cherokee—all of them. Aprons in bib and cobbler styles come in XL's; there are even styles that are designed for fuller chests and hips, having added fabric to the tops and waists. Fame makes three or four aprons that come from a tuxedo pattern and look terrific, while at the same time don't fold into a woman's fuller cleavage.

Our country as a whole has become a nation of wider and taller individuals: Whether it's that some men are exercising and have athletic builds requiring looser sleeves and broader shoulders; or other guys who have measurements that are portly's or stout's; whether it's larger young women, or older gals who are experiencing "let-go" in every direction—the manufacturers are increasing their size ranges, and paying more attention to comfort and attractiveness, there's no question.

Nothing is worse than a heavier person who is wearing apparel that is too small and too tight with bulges, and buttons that are popped open, or that is too short and rides up. "Sleek and Chic" is the motto, and no matter the build or the girth, with easy-fit flattering designs that accommodate all sizes and experienced sales reps, more really can be better.