Here is a rack of shirts in our local Blain's Farm &Fleet store. Lets see... there are about three "small," then a couple dozen medium, then lots of large and extra large. And lots of extra extra large. And...
... then comes the "extra extra extra large," and finally the ones for which there are no preprinted signs so they had to use a Sharpie to designate the "extra extra extra extra large" shirts.
I don't know if this is true elsewhere. It does seem to be typical here in south-central Wisconsin.
Well, those are the clearnace items, ie the ones that didn't sell. I wouldn't use this to infer that people are, on average, getting bigger from this though obviously the manufacturers did just that.
ReplyDeleteI can guarantee people in general are Considerably Larger than they were in the '70s. Morbid obesity was quite rare then, I'd marvel at looking at pictures of old time circus "Fat Freaks." Today, one can easily see someone as large (or larger) on any busy street in any city of the USA- and obesity usually trends upwards in non urban areas.
DeleteAs a XXXl woman in Ca, I can say not common at all. Majority of stores don't carry my size at all, if they do there's generally 1 or 2 racks. Even Wal-mart doesn't have a very big plus-sized section, oddly enough.
ReplyDeleteGahhh! Blain's.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Green Bay where we had a right and proper Mill's Fleet Farm. Better store, bigger, wider variety of selection. Now I am in Southern WI and only have Blain's avaiable. Just. not. the. same. When we go north I always plan for a stop at one of the Mill's Fleet Farm stores and if I am lucky it is the jumbo one in Appleton. Or you can do a flashback visit to West Bend to see what Mill's stores looked like back in the day. :)
Blain's has been remodeling their stores over the years but even after that they still have the original small footprint.
I live in New Zealand, and up until recently, I lived in Auckland, which is known to have the largest population of Polynesian people, and the average size of a Polynesian man is quite large, as am I, at just over 6 foot and just under 125 kilograms (mixed metaphor ?)
ReplyDeleteStill, I have problems finding clothes that fit me, be it searching in discount stores such as K Mart, The Warehouse or the like (we don't have Wal-Mart here).
Same goes for shoes, why, when the national average is size 10, can I not find much choice in a size 12, when I can find them at all.
You would imagine that buyers would be aware.
I wonder if there is a store for us normal sized people of which I am not aware.
As a size Small male in a thrift store I can often try on every Small shirt they have. It makes the choosing easier.
ReplyDeleteTopic reminded me of a forgotten Coasters classic, "Shoppin' for Clothes," not so much a comedy song as a social commentary:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XetJMlt3-l4
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