Have you recently gone to buy a t-shirt in your usual size, only to get in home and find that it doesn’t fit? If you have then you’re not alone! While many of you may think that it is simply a case of those of us finding this problem having eaten too much of late, there are more and more people discovering this problem.
Using my dad as an example. He is a rather large man who has almost always worn extra-large size t-shirts. There has only been one period in his adult life when he was able to fit into a large size, but that didn’t last for too long.
I have noticed recently that when I go out to buy a new t-shirt, more often than not I need to find a double extra-large size in order for it to fit my dad comfortably. Now I must admit, when this first happened, I thought he had simply put on weight, but all his usual clothes fit and other new clothes such as jumpers, jeans and the like fit with no problems.
This phenomenon is not just limited to a few stores. This has been found to be the case in many high-end street stores and large superstores. There is just no good reason this seems to be happening but it can make shopping a much more involved process than it really needs to be.
Of course, it could all be in the imagination, but there is a pretty good way to check. Next time you go shopping for a t-shirt, take one of your own t-shirts from home that you know fits you well. When you are in a shop, hold up the two together, one on top of the other. I have done this many times and found the new t-shirt to be physically smaller, especially under the arms and around the chest area. If you are buying online, you can compare the measurements of your old, tried and true t-shirt to the size charts made available at the online store.
Now, I realize that for many of you reading this, my revelation may not have much of an impact on you if you are a size small, medium or large. But when you are an extra-large size like my dad, there is not really anywhere else to go with the size, as many manufacturers simply do not make shirts or design in double extra-large size.
Maybe it’s just paranoia, maybe we all have been eating too much in recent months, who knows? All I know for sure is that what used to be a simple trip in to town to get myself or someone else a new t-shirt seems to be a thing of the past. This is also means that because manufactures take shortcuts and less thought goes into those imported tees, we have to be the ones that make the extra effort in finding our correct size.