Fat Athletes! part deux
in
Okay, I forwarded your feedback on to my athletic wear contact and he asked for more specifics. So let's talk about exactly what features we would like to see in certain items, like sports bras, shorts and t-shirts. Obviously fit is a big deal for all of us, but what specifically needs to be different about the fit? It's entirely possible that we may be able to get this company to make us exactly what we need, so really think about what that would be and let me know.
PS: If any of you are members of other fathlete groups, please either get their feedback and post it here or have them email me at carrie at fatrights dot org so we can include their needs as well.
Thanks!
Fat Lectures at UCLA | Reason number 3,767 to not shop at Whole Foods
Posted by CarrieP on January 25, 2010
I think the issues are related to body variation, so I don't know that my particular comments will be helpful.
For me, performance fabric shirts would be nice, I'm not sure how far up in size they go, I've not had much luck finding them in women's sizes past a large or XL. They would have to be more fitted on the top, wider on the bottom, not as long as an extra large man would wear. If I put on a 2X or 3X shirt, they are generally too long but too narrow, so it bunches at the hips and pulls across the belly. The neckhole is so large that half my shoulder will end up showing--this seems to happen with many of my shirts. Sleeves that are extra wide for my upper arms are fine, but I prefer them a little more tapered as they get closer to the elbow, or else I actually catch my sleeves on things. And the shirt would have to be narrower in the shoulder than a man would wear, but nothing too high up on my neck, because anything that rises past my collar bone onto my neck makes me feel like I'm choking.
Any kind of lycra/spandex or microfiber type of bottom needs to have ample room in the butt. I hate when the pants pull way up in front, but then the back waistline dips down low. I notice the same thing happens with my daughters' pants.
Sports bras with underwires and that don't give you that "uniboob" look!
GenXer
One of the things that always gets me as a guy is that almost all shirts assume that my waist is smaller than my chest. If I fit my belly, then often the shoulders go down to my elbows. This also goes for jackets. Also, the arm holes on big and tall shirts and jackets tend to be weirdly sized, generally far too large. What this means is that rather than the sleeve moving with my arm, the entire side of the shirt or jacket moves with my arm. It's really annoying.
For long pants that can't be altered, like ski pants, I just need shorter sizes for a given waist. I've been skiing for years with a bunch of baggy pants around my ankles.
Another thing, find some way for pants to stay up. I know it was funny on America's Funniest Home Videos when a fat guy's pants fell down (not really, but when he got hit in the balls... now that was funny... ok, so that was a miss too... I'm sure something about that show was funny... hmm... Bob Saget maybe?.. or not), but in reality, it's quite annoying. I would spend hundreds of dollars on cool looking sports pants (or jeans, for that matter) that I didn't have to constantly pull up.
And for a last suggestion, if you have any control over this, for some reason, a lot of big and tall companies feel the need to put a label the size of a sail on my shirts. The trend these days is to screen print the info. I want that too.
And a suggestion after my last one... longer shirts, possibly with vents on the sides. I tend to try to avoid the plumbers crack, and apparently having shirts down to your knees is considered cool.
I posted a link to this entry to the fathletes community on LiveJournal and people there had some feedback.
http://community.livejournal.com/fathletes/79975.html
Thanks Siobhan!