09:35 – Our order from All American Clothing arrived the other day: one pair of jeans and a pocket t-shirt for me and two casual shirts for Barbara. I haven’t tried on the jeans, but I’m wearing the t-shirt now. They didn’t have tall sizes with pocket, so I ordered a regular XL. It’s a bit shorter than I prefer but it’s nicely made with good material. And, despite being made in the US, at $11 it’s cheaper than the equivalent foreign-made shirts from Lands’ End or Bean.
Barbara tried on the two shirts and said they were much too small. I suspect they’re actually the nominal size, but few companies nowadays size clothing honestly, particularly women’s clothing. I remember when this started, 25 or 30 years ago. What had always been a women’s size 10, for example, suddenly became a size 8. This size deflation has continued over the years, to the point where I’d guess what is properly a women’s size 10 is now called a size 6, if not a 4.
Apparently this size deflation has started to happen in men’s clothing as well. After I mentioned ordering jeans from All American Clothing, someone commented that he’d continue ordering $15 jeans from Costco. Until then, I hadn’t realized that Costco even sold jeans. So I visited the Costco site and looked at their Kirkland jeans. Several reviewers commented that they ran huge. One measured the waist of a nominal 32″ pair and found it was actually 35″. The pair I ordered from AAC has a 38″ waist, which I suspect will be an honest 38″. (My chest is 48″, and the nominal XL 46″ to 48″ t-shirt I’m wearing fits comfortably but without much extra chest room.) I guess that means if I order a pair of Kirkland jeans they’d better be in a 36″ waist, if not 34″.