Re: Rant Men's Clothes

On Sat, 29 Jun 2024 17:55:06 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
wrote:

shawn <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

 
On Sat, 29 Jun 2024 23:19:46 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
 

I am going to rant. I went to a national department store to buy button
down shirts, which I really needed. A year ago, I'd bought several
shirts. They were driving me nuts because only one of the shirts had a
pocket.
 
I went through all of the shirts for sale in my size. Not a single shirt
had a pocket. Who decreed that men's shirts no longer have pockets?
 
Then the matter of shoes. I need another pair of gym shoes/running shoes
that fit. I wear them as my regular walking shoe. I have a weird shoe
size, very long and very narrow.
 
We have the men's shoe comspiracy in which manufacturers inflate the
shoe size and ignore the shoe size standard.
 
I saw a large number of shoes offered in my nominal size, so I knew it
was pointless to try them on. They'd be too small.
 
I bought a pair that was nominally a half size larger. It was too
short.
 
The pair I bought that was 2 1/2 sizes larger than my nominal shoe size
wasn't too short.
 
This is more evidence that the world has moved on from me and I
literally do not fit in. I should just walk to the horizon and fall off
the edge.

 
Part of the problem is so much comes from China. They both don't use
the same standard sizes that we do and may not even stick to the
standards that they do have. So if shoes are coming from China you
can't be sure which size is going to fit you. Which makes ordering
from Amazon an adventure in ordering, testing, sending it back and
ordering a larger size in the hopes of finding that Goldilocks pair of
shoes.
 
Normally I would use a 9 1/2 pair of shoes but now that will be too
tight. So either my feet have grown longer in the past few years or
the Chinese influence has take over so I now wear a size 10.
 

>
I used to be a 10 1/2 and now I’m up to 12. If you compare the shoes to
each other, they seem to be the same size.

https://www.martelandram.com/blogs/news/it-s-a-fact-that-our-feet-as-a-species-are-getting-bigger
Our feet are getting bigger, increasing by an average of two sizes
over the past four decades, according to the College of Podiatry. The
average men’s shoe size 30 years ago was a 9.5 – it’s now a 10.5. The
difference between a size 9.5 and size 10.5 is not very dramatic,
approximately 8-10mm in length, but you also gain a bit more width
with each size as well – maybe 5mm in overall volume.

A size 14 men’s shoe once marked a man out as a giant. Not anymore.
Most high street and designer shoe retailers only stock up to a size
12 (EU 45), but many savvy specialty shoe retailers now see the
potential for stocking large shoe sizes like 13, 14 and 15 as way to
cater to a more global clientele.

There is no solid evolutionary reason or survival advantage for having
bigger feet in the 21st century. To put it bluntly, we are just better
fed and as our bodies are evolving into a larger species, our feet
will grow to accommodate our larger frames.

The main issue here is that most people try to squeeze into the same
size shoe for their entire adult lives. The concept of keeping a pair
of shoes for 10 or 20 years still baffles us here at Martel+Ram. We
prefer to evolve and change with the times and therefore specialise in
large shoe sizes for men.


Then there is this comment from TALL sub-reddit on Reddit. (lol)

[–]ponchoacademy5'11" | 181 cm[??] 2 points 8 months ago

It could also be shoe sizing thats changed... Ive been 5'11 since I
was 13...always wore a size 9....at some point it changed to
10....then 11...and nowadays if a size 12 is available, thats likely
the one that will fit me.

I had a pair of sandals that I got from a German neighbor, her mom
sent them to her and she didnt want them, so offered them to me since
we wore the same size..I was around 22yo at the time. Checked the size
on them...42 Euro.

Of shoes that have both US and Euro sizes listed...regardless of the
US size...all were 42 Euro. Im still a 42 Euro...Im in my mid 40s now
btw for reference...and my foot size hasnt changed at all. US sizing
just has no standard, and is all over the place through time and
depending on brand.

Thats also why its so common to see reviews that a 9 runs small or
large, or usually Im a size 8 but I had to buy a size 10. Its not
based on any actual measurement...US sizes for clothes and shoes are
incredibly arbitrary and changes all the time.

Thats not to say you havent changed over time...just something to
consider that may be a factor.