This is very true. Men’s pants are tagged with their waist size and will also normally have their leg length on the tag. I’ve got a fairly big belly so I have a large waist size compared to my height so this is useful.
Having to do the mental mathematics to consider which size I am or having to try on the clothes to get an understanding would be a major pain.
Nah. Mens pants sizes are just as wild and wrong as womens sizes.
Its vanity sizing, everywhere
I went to get a couple of pairs of jeans from a Plato’s closet recently. I tried 6 pairs of different brand jeans, all 34/32. 4 pairs didn’t clear my thighs, 1 couldn’t button, the last fit. The cut of the jeans makes those numbers mean very different things…
Cut is part of it, but they literally aren’t consistent about the length of the cloth, even with the same number shown.
“Boot cut” or “skinny” 34 waist from every single brand will differ, even if the cut was exactly the same.
I once bought 2 of exactly the same pants at the same time, after having the same one from a year earlier and liking it that much. They were both different to my original one and different to each other. I had to send the too tight one back and the replacement was different yet again. Seems like people just do not care enough that there is next to no standard.
no standard.
My only charitable theory is that vendors order clothing in batches with only a general description being passed between batch runs. No CAD drawlings in the whole industry.
But all of my 3 pants must have been from the same batch but still deviated more than 1 inch in waist size to the previous specimen. So one was too small to wear, the other needing a belt.
so how do we buy clothes online?
I often buy from poshmark, and only listing’s that include measurements of the garments.
And the back pockets are always sewn shut on anything not jeans.
It’s an actual pocket but I didn’t find this out until I was an adult - I thought that’s how they were made for a reason and if I cut the thread, it would make a hole in the pants. Nope, regular pockets just sewn shut for some reason.
I think I was in my 30’s before someone told me the truth. It was a man IIRC lol…but yeah my mom never knew I guess, friends at school, etc, or if they did they didn’t tell me because I guess they never noticed.
You can easily answer this question yourself by looking inside/turning the pants inside out.
Ok, why the fuck are pockets sewn shut at all??? I’m a guy and I see clothes like this too. It pisses me off so much, it was so close to being useful, most of a pocket is already there, why would they just give up?
fake pockets look nice. If you need functional ones, just pop the stitching. Usually, the stitching keeping the pocket closed is very weak compared to normal seams.
Except they’re not fake. My girlfriend has several pairs of work pants with actual real pockets that have just the opening sewn shut so you can’t use them. Why, just why?
Bullshit! I wear size 34 pants with a belt to keep them on and they are 36.25in around.
Yeah, I wear 33W pants but they measure 36" around the belt loops. This isn’t the result of vanity sizing, though - men used to wear pants that were very high-waisted, but as pants got lower over the decades they kept using the “nominal” waist measurement so that men would still know what size to buy, since the circumference around the hips (where most pants are cut today) is about 3" less more than the circumference of what used to be the waist.
Pleats are another useless holdover from the high-waisted era, as they made it easier for pants to expand down over the hips and thighs.
Men - you are thin therefore we don’t make pants long enough for you
Yeah, I’ve had that problem. One of the nice things about Reddit was r/tallfashion – acc had links to stuff with decent waist and inside leg. Have found some women’s trousers pretty good for that too.
But women’s pants are cut for people that don’t have genitals sticking out of their crotches. How do you avoid uncomfortable smashing?
What? I’m not slim, neither fat, I’m about average dude, but I rarely ever find pants that aren’t too long. Maybe it’s EU thing, but nearly every time I put on regular pants I feel like a scuba diver with the excesive pants as “fins”. Last pants I bought “short” version and I’d still need about inch shorter…
The opposite issue for me: Big ass, big thighs, short legs.
I’ve given up and now I tend to just buy women’s pants.
That is better than the opposite. You can have your pants hemmed and taken in where required. It is harder to add material.
I feel like people these days don’t utilize tailors enough. You can improve a lot of off the rack clothing.
Women’s pants are also bad about that. I was underweight from stress during my breakup and most women’s tall sizes start at a “6” which is like a men’s 32, more or less. I was not that big at that point. And to make matters worse, many of the allegedly tall pants just have a longer inseam and are not longer in the rise, as though all difference in height is just legs.
Gap makes tall men’s (I just checked and they go down to 32"waist and have 36" inseam and right now the slim fit is so, so cheap in price) and women’s pants, they actually do make them tall not just longer inseam. I am not tall enough for their tall pants but get the best fit by buying tall and hemming them, because standard fit (to the extent it even exists in women’s clothing) is wedgie city, not long enough. They also make tall shorts, which is amazing,they actually fit.
It’s pretty annoying when I go to the clothing store, or Costco, or whatever, and everything is like size 46+ waist. I’m not sure if that’s all that is left because all of the average sizes were sold out, or if that’s the average size so they have a lot of them. Looking around at my fellow shoppers I think it’s the former, but again, I’m not sure.
