My Struggle With Finding Inexpensive Clothes For Tall Men

For the last 6 years of my life, mostly since I have stopped growing, finding clothes that fit me has always been a giant pain. I have spent hundreds of dollars on clothes that I thought would fit me, but either came too small, too large or shrunk in the dryer. Im about 6 foot 4 inches and a weight that falls between extra large and large. Finding inexpensive and good clothing for someone my size is almost impossible but I have a few tips if you are in my situation.

Suits and shirts have always been the worst for me no matter what. I used to try and shop for the various sizes but in the last year I ended up finding a saving grace, indochino. Indochino is basically a custom tailored suit and shirt company that will measure you if you are in their area (I saw them in NYC) or you can measure yourself and send the dimensions in online. They are inexpensive enough where it doesnt kill your wallet, although they might not be of extreme quality. However with many new designs each season, you cant go wrong for a perfectly sized shirt. They also have deals daily so you never actually pay full price.

Pants and jeans are usually the easier ones for me but I usually have to order longer sizes online. Getting the fit right I find is often the hard part for me. If I want something too slim it might not fit and if I want something a bit more relaxed, it might end up being way too relaxed. For actual pants there are a variety of places that have good stuff. Lulu lemon has great fitting longer pants that do last a while, but you definitely pay a premium for them. I would probably just head to a place like century 21, Marshalls or TJ Maxx just so you can see what types of variety they have.

So onto the main event which is t shirts and regular shirts. These two are by far the hardest and most annoying to actually buy because you often dont know what you are going to get if you order online and online is usually the only option. I only shop the tall sections for shirts and depending on the store, I might get a shirt that is slightly taller or one that is down to my knees. The first thing you always have to be careful about it buying 100% cotton shirts. No matter how well they fit for the time being, they will almost always shrink.

The best way to stop shrinking is to hand dry your shirts and never use the dryer, but this is a huge inconvenience for most people. The second option is avoiding shirts made completely from cotton completely. Look for a mix or a material that doesnt shrink as easily. Once you wash it, you cant usually return it and are stuck with the shirt. The best store I have found seem to be old navy and the gap, primarily because they offer many things on their website in tall options. Polo and Banana Republic also offer tall sizes, but they tend to be more on the expensive side.

I hope that if you are tall like me and have had these types of problems, that this might help you a bit. Also if you have any idea of which places I am missing please let me know in the comments because I always am looking for a larger selection of clothes. Hopefully one day we can shop in physical stores and not have to order exclusively online, but Im not so sure.

-Calaber24p