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Your waist doesn't lie, but your pants do
A size 36 is a size 36, right? Esquire's Abram Sauer discovered that men's pants are subject to vanity sizing too. He measured several pants all claiming to be a size 36 inch waist -- what Sauer thought his size was. At H&M, the 36s were too tight with a real waist measurement of 37". Old Navy was the top offender -- basically the terrible friend who tells you you look great when you really don't -- its 36s had a real waist measurement of 41".
A recent report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that men with larger waists were twice at risk of death compared with their smaller-waist peers. Men whose waists measured 47 inches or larger were twice as likely to die. Yet, most men only know their waist size by their pants -- so if those pants are up to five inches smaller than the reality, some men may be wrongly dismissing health dangers.
Ready to face the music? Click on to find the handy "Waistline v. Actual Waistline" chart:
My complaint is with men's clothing manufacturers, but different than yours. I want to know why they keep making clothing with shrinkable fabric? I mean, my shirts keep shrinking at the neck, my pants at the butt, and my jackets, around the middle? I can't understand why they don't make clothing that will stay the same size that I am!
And then there are those people who are inexplicably given money for doing unnecessary work: the fashion designers! We get a line of clothing we like, and a year later, that line is no longer available because "those clothes are no longer are in fashion." They'd stay in fashion if we didn't pay these people to mess up the clothing lines we'd like to wear. (And yes, I'd gladly wear a frock coat!)
And then there are the fashion marketing idiots: I went into a men's clothing store recently, and saw that they had "tapered shirts." Great! I could use those. Except that the idiots had tapered the waistlines IN instead of OUT!
The folks who make and sell men's clothing are out of touch with reality.
Greetings from the incredible shrinking man.
Once upon a time I could buy size small mens shirts and get a comfortable fit. But over the last few years my shirts have been fitting looser and loser, until I feel like a child playing dress up in Dad's shirts.
Either I have shrunk while gaining 15 pounds, or else size small shirts have nearly doubled in size. I can nearly put my legs into the sleeves of today's "size small" shirts!
Well I don't know about you, I but I like a little bit of breathing room. Generally when measuring a waist you wrap the tape tight. But who wants a waistband without any space to move? I'd hope my pants were an inch or two wider than my actual waist size.
"A recent report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that men with larger waists were twice at risk of death compared with their smaller-waist peers. Men whose waists measured 47 inches or larger were twice as likely to die."
Hmm, given that every single person on earth's chance of death is 100% I'm very curious how this math works. Do waists above 47" mean you have a 200% chance of death? Do you die twice? Do you automatically go to hell? Extra time in purgatory? Perhaps this statistic would be better handled by philosophers than nutritionists. Or perhaps it would have been best handled by an editor...
Welcome to the world of fashion, men. Women have been dealing with this phenomenon for years.
About a decade ago I learned to sew for myself. Boy was I ever floored when I realized that my measurements for hand made clothing put me into a size number that was SIGNIFICANTLY larger than the size dresses I was buying at the mall.
