Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Manufacturing womens clothes to fit

43 replies

Whitefly · 07/02/2023 10:57

There are petite ranges, various trouser and arm length clothes.

What about pelvic and bust sizes?

I have only seen bravissimo make various bust shape tops, are there any other high street stores?

What about pelvis, some women have a mans pelvic bone higher up (think Kate Middleton) until they get to the hip area and some women have an hourglass/violin pelvis. Why do clothes manufacturers think we all have a man's pelvis?

OP posts:
thecatsthecats · 07/02/2023 15:32

I use eshakti for made to measure clothes.

I have a fairly extreme hourglass figure - extra wide hips and shoulders, plus big boobs. Not a hope in hell of getting tops to fit.

DatasCat · 07/02/2023 15:42

A generation or two ago it used to be normal and expected to have to get new clothes altered to fit properly. The big supermarket near me originally opened in the early 70s under a different name, and it included an alterations tailor as well as clothes.

(TBH I think most dry cleaners still do alterations, but clothes tend to be so cheap and nasty these days that there’s nothing there to work with).

Original poster
Whitefly · 07/02/2023 15:56

Men have their collar, chest, waist and leg length catered to - off the peg.

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

General shopping General style & beauty
pastabest · 07/02/2023 16:04

Whitefly · 07/02/2023 15:56

Men have their collar, chest, waist and leg length catered to - off the peg.

Men mostly don't have breasts and wide hips which create the vast majority of fitting issues for women.

Those mens options also don't really account for the kind of alterations you are suggesting. Waist and leg length for Men are mostly the equivalent of size and petite/regular/long for women. It's just labelled differently.

Most off the peg shirts these days are s/m/l etc with a few ranges still doing a small range of collar sizes on a large scale.

Anything more bespoke than that and it's off to the tailors for Men as well.

JackieDaws · 07/02/2023 16:15

Whitefly · 07/02/2023 15:56

Men have their collar, chest, waist and leg length catered to - off the peg.

So what.
They don't wear dresses and skirts either. They don't have boobs or hips so their clothes don't need darts. Compare a man's shirt to a woman's shirt and look at the construction. There might be an elbow dart if the man's shirt is very slim.

A woman's shirt will have bust darts and waist darts front and back. A basic pencil skirt will have darts to accommodate the hips, bottom and stomach.

The biggest thing is that men's fashion barely changes from year to year so there's no need to modify a block pattern for fashion.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 07/02/2023 16:24

Why are long limbed women with long arms and legs catered for on the high street and not told to visit a taylor?

They aren’t really. If you want black reouawrs I’d jeans you’re catered for. But what l want is longer arms and longer nape to waist in dresses.

Men have their collar, chest, waist and leg length catered to - off the peg

So do women apart from collar. The only reason men have the collar measurement is because they used to wear button up shirts for work and didn’t want to be choked to death. I think it’s an area where men are liable to weight gain too..

I spent 10 years designing men’s and women’s clothes. Manufactures don’t give a shit. If people keep buying that’s all they care about.

ReamsOfCheese · 07/02/2023 16:28

ASOS already caters to women with wider hips, it's called their hourglass range.
Secondly, no, women don't have a man's pelvis. In palaeopathology (what killed people a long time ago, part of archaeology), the pelvis is one of two places you can pinpoint sexual dimorphism in skeletons. It's what will unravel all this gender self-ID bollocks in hundreds of years time when they all get dug up and sexed correctly.

StopFeckingFaffing · 07/02/2023 16:30

Men have their collar, chest, waist and leg length catered to - off the peg.

It pretty much impossible to get mens trousers longer than 34inch off the peg and most men's stuff is the same as women's in that it assumes if you have long limbs you are also fat and vice versa. As the wife of a 6'4" man whose height is all in his limbs rather than his torso and is also really skinny I can confirm it is absolutely not possible to buy clothes off the peg that fit properly!

taniapear · 07/02/2023 16:32

I have a disproportionate? size waist to hip size so can't wear pencil or straight skirts as they're too tight on the hips if they fit on the waist and gape at the waist if they fit on hips. I've become adept at altering the waist with elastic and sewing in a tuck from online tutorials.

SoupDragon · 07/02/2023 16:32

Whitefly · 07/02/2023 15:56

Men have their collar, chest, waist and leg length catered to - off the peg.

So, not pelvis. Just the same variety as women's clothing (collar is large.y irrelevant in women's clothing).

Men's trousers have 2 different measurements just like women's.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 07/02/2023 16:33

My ds is 6ft 4. He wears 36” leg trousers. Loads of places do them.

Catspyjamas17 · 07/02/2023 16:36

I've ended up buying men's chinos and cords recently. I get 31" leg (a lot if women's trousers are sold in one length - 29" only and they try to get away with adding turn-ups and calling them "ankle-grazing" - I don't want draughty ankles, particularly in winter!) just go up a waist size than I would need in women's (34" instead of 32") as it seems to allow more room for my bottom, but they fit well and are much better quality.

StopFeckingFaffing · 07/02/2023 16:38

My ds is 6ft 4. He wears 36” leg trousers. Loads of places do them

That's interesting. Boden is only place I have found trousers long enough (they do an unhemmed version which is super long) but most shops never seem to have anything longer than 34" unless it also has a large waist. Where do you buy your DS's trousers from?

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 07/02/2023 16:39

He buys them!

Levi
Gap
Next
Top Man ( I think)
M and S do them too
Asos

Quisquam · 07/02/2023 17:04

DD was invited to a wedding in India. We went to a street with Indian clothes shops all the way down it. It was a revelation! For instance, she chose a lengha for one day. The skirt was extra large. The shop got their tailor to take in the skirt and top, as made to measure. Then, she chose a sparkly ball gown type dress, which was also too big. They got their designer and tailor to take out some of the fullness of the skirt; and make the upper part, made to measure. That was all for free.

Then she decided to get a sari from another shop. We just bought the lengths of material; and they sent us to a tailor to measure her to make the top; and a ready to wear sari with a zip; already pleated!

It was fantastic!

DuchessOfSausage · 07/02/2023 17:05

Not impossible, just not easy. XP was a 35 inch inside leg and found only a few brands stocked jeans.

Original poster
Whitefly · 07/02/2023 22:44

ASOS hourglassrange

Tops and bottoms, yipee!

Thank you!

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread