Clothing and Footwear sizes rant

[Nos4r2]

Following on from PeteSmith's boots thread:-

Why is it that marine clothing manufacturers assume that everyone is a dwarf with small feet? It'd be an absolute luxury to actually have some semblance of choice in boating clothing/footwear.
I'm not freakishly big (6'3", size 12 feet and a beer belly) but there's very few companies that make anything in either my height or shoe size as standard without having to pay to have things custom made and paying 3 times the price everyone else does.

What's even more annoying is that I have to suffer the indignity of paying to phone most of them to find that they don't make anything resembling my size.
Judging by the number of PMs I got about the cheap drysuit I bought I'm not the only one in this boat by far so there must be a huge untapped market out there that manufacturers are simply ignoring.

Why?

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

6'3", size 12 feet

Pah. Midget!

John

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

Pah. Midget!

John

Freak

Where do you go for your gear John?

[Lostboy]

Mate I have had a similar discussion but the other way around with the clothing manufacturers. I am 6'4" with size 9 feet (wide) and small hands. Shoes/boots and gloves are all easily dealt with but try getting kit that is the right length that doesn't drown me. I have a 48" chest but a 36-38" waist (depending on fatness/fitness) and most stuff simply swamps me around the middle. I can't get thermal stuff to fit properly (and do it's "wicking" stuff) as if it is tight enough then it is a crop-top.

And don't get me started on wetsuits..................

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Lostboy

Mate I have had a similar discussion but the other way around with the clothing manufacturers. I am 6'4" with size 9 feet (wide) and small hands. Shoes/boots and gloves are all easily dealt with but try getting kit that is the right length that doesn't drown me. I have a 48" chest but a 36-38" waist (depending on fatness/fitness) and most stuff simply swamps me around the middle. I can't get thermal stuff to fit properly (and do it's "wicking" stuff) as if it is tight enough then it is a crop-top.

And don't get me started on wetsuits..................

Funnily enough I had exactly the same problem before the beer gut came along.

I wonder if any manufacturers will read this?

[Nasher]

Ah, but you see the manufacturers want their gear to look good, so only manufacture in sizes that will hang off standard size models with no lumpy bits sticking out in odd places

Sorry Nos, couldn't resist.

Nasher.

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Nasher

Ah, but you see the manufacturers want their gear to look good, so only manufacture in sizes that will hang off standard size models with no lumpy bits sticking out in odd places

Sorry Nos, couldn't resist.

Nasher.

Bah. Humbug. Go hide behind a matchstick



Don't you have problems being a lanky one too? I used to be your build before I discovered food was my friend and I could never get trousers long enough.

[PeteSmith]

Carnt help with marine clothing, however if its Drysuits your after I would recommend a Diving Drysuit manufacturer, most of them do Custom sizes at little or no extra cost.

All you want is a diving drysuit but without the valves - the cost of any extra custom size costs will be less than the offsetted valve price!

Try
Northern Diver
Otter Drysuits
Typhoon
or for really cheap (and nasty) Robin Hood Watersports

Pete
><(((º>

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Bah. Humbug. Go hide behind a matchstick
Don't you have problems being a lanky one too? I used to be your build before I discovered food was my friend and I could never get trousers long enough.

I admit I do sometimes have trouble finding items long enough in the leg, but I quite like baggy stuff, covers up the flegling tummy bulge thats suddenly appeared now I've hit 40.

My lovely warm breathable drysuit is an XL, and is a little on the large side, so makes me look like I'm wearing a sack.
However it was only £100 brand new from ebay, and my mum assures me I'll grow into it.

Seriously, the lack of a proper summer has limited the amount of exercise I've had, so I'm starting the Winter with bit of a tummy disadvantage, coupled with the fact that my wetsuit shrinks in winter storage each year I'm going to be in trouble come spring.

Nasher.

[jyasaki]

A dive shop employee buddy of mine had a "custom" drysuit built for him. He's about 6'5", and slightly over 300 lbs (big puppy.) Despite taking all measurements per the factory's instructions, the resulting suit was large enough to fit 2 of him inside (which, I suppose, means it was f*cking huge... Circus tent huge.)

An off-the-shelf wetsuit that fit his torso had fully a foot of material that had to be folded back at each cuff.

Not that I care; I'm pretty close to an off-the-shelf size.

jky

[PeteSmith]

Originally Posted by jyasaki

A dive shop employee buddy of mine had a "custom" drysuit built for him. He's about 6'5", and slightly over 300 lbs (big puppy.) Despite taking all measurements per the factory's instructions, the resulting suit was large enough to fit 2 of him inside (which, I suppose, means it was f*cking huge... Circus tent huge.)

An off-the-shelf wetsuit that fit his torso had fully a foot of material that had to be folded back at each cuff.

Not that I care; I'm pretty close to an off-the-shelf size.

jky

Dry Suit manufacturer is a bit different over in the UK from the US, in the UK we have more than 50 different drysuit manufacturers (and think of the size of the UK compared to the US.)
Due to this the quality and prices are very good, I know of several people who have had made to measure suits that weren't sized right. The suits were sent back and new suits made at no extra cost. The one proviso is that the manufacturer or the selling shop measures you, ie if you measure yourself and hand the sizes to the shop/manufacturer they are not taking the rap for your bad measuring!


If your mate is actually using a drysuit that is so ill fitting I would say that it would endanger safety due to the rate at which you could dump that amount of buoyancy!

Pete
><(((º>

[Lostboy]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

I wonder if any manufacturers will read this?

We do a lot of work with Gul as they support our sailing campaign and to be fair to them they take all the feedback they can get! It is noticeable that they then act on it as well. We are now on our second batch of production stuff and it is noticeable that a number of the changes (including sizing!) that we recommended/suggested have been incorporated. As well as getting good quality kit it is also refreshing to know that a manufacturer does give a f**k and is willing to learn from the experience of the users.