There's more to BIG mens clothes than
just adding more centimetres
Buying big men’s clothes in Australia.
Bricks and Mortar stores: I’m kind of a mystery shopper if you will. I’ve spent a lifetime going into different big and tall stores, In Australia, London, Auckland, Paris, Rome and all over the USA. Actually apart from London, the other countries ranges looked like they targeted guys 55+. I’m looking for younger trendier clothes and that seems hard in men’s big sizes.
Every State in Australia has a specialist big men’s clothing store. Some stores seem to carry a better range than others, although most of these stores have excellent staff. I’ve noticed that the Big and Tall stores in Melbourne and Sydney seem to be far more expensive than Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth. Perhaps the stores that are in the CBD of Sydney and Melbourne have extremely high rents or they try to buy International brands? Hmmm that’s what the internet is for if you live in either Sydney and Melbourne. I’ve noticed the other individual stores in the regional areas seem to be cheaper than say Sydney or Melbourne but often their range is a bit limited. There is a store in Wollongong and another in Newcastle that tries hard and there even is one in Darwin. The biggest chain seems to be Kingsize Big & Tall. They have a heap of stores in Brisbane and Perth and one in Victoria…but its way out in Dandenong. I’ve been to the Dandenong store a few times; the guys were big blokes too. I have also shopped in the Southport store, the ladies there treated me like a Rock Star!
Badly designed or fitted big mens clothes, casual or formal, on us big guys look ridiculous. The key to good looking big mens clothing is the initial design and template. Big mens clothes need a specific cut to tailor to our shape - just enlarging a regular fit serves to leave everything out of proportion. Arms too long or hanging off the shoulders, neck lines either way too small or disproportionately large leaving you looking like a 70's pop star reject or a seat in your pants that would make a clown blush.
Skinny dude but nice suit!
The sizing issue always presents a problem when ordering online. How do you know you are getting a correctly designed clothing. Well, the truth is you just can't know - but the guiding rule I use is to stick with specialist retailers who have been around a while and know what they are doing. In my experience, buying from the 'regular size' retailers results in complete infuriation, especially if you need to ask them a question about fit or sizing. Little blondie more interested in playing with her hair, texting on the mobile phone and making goo goo eyes at the in store skater boy - all while trying to give you sizing advice you on the phone, rarely makes for informative conversation. Mind you we are not advising retailers to not hire pretty things, we all need a little eye candy at the shopping centre ;)
The specialists at least deal with big men everyday of the week. Some are better than others and if you find one that is a winner and looks after you - STICK WITH THEM.
My favourites in Australia are Kingsize Big and Tall and Bigguy.com.au. In honesty, these guys seem light years ahead of most of the competition and as a rare bonus, both seem to have knowledgable and friendly staff at the end of the line.
I personally like to stick with Australian based companies as well... yeah yeah yeah I know we are in the global shopping age and blah blah blah and it might be a little cheaper elsewhere but if the damn things don't fit or you need to exchange a size or return something I like to know I don't have to set the alarm clock for some mythical hour of the morning to get a return code or something ridiculous. Besides that I need every minute of beauty sleep I can get, theres a lot more of me to love.