Unfinished trousers? My sartorial pet peeve.

[Ivan Kipling]

Thurston, my inseam is a 30, but if I buy ready to wear trousers, hemmed to 30, they don't fit right. I think I must be very long waisted. What works better for me, is to buy a 34, and have it hemmed upward. Much more comfortable. Much easier, for me to sit down.

 

[mcmillin]

long delay in posts, but let me say...I am a JoS. A. Bank manager - and ALL (or all I can think of) of our finished pants come in 29, 30, 31, 32, and 34 inseams. There are even 33" inseams in some. Just have your Sales Executive order them if they are not in stock in your store.

 

[Gradstudent78]

Jcrew has some of their chinos that you can buy unfinished.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

I had a professor who was about 6'2" tall, and skinny. I knew he bought OTR pants and left them alone because he would always hang them low so that the touched his shoes. (he couldnt find any longs i suppose). He pairs them with those tent-like RL yarmouth shirts, 1 size too large.

 

[Dewey]

Another 31" inseam here -- actually seems to me that a lot of cheap chinos tagged 32" are only 31" or 31.25". Not that I recommend stocking up on the Dockers or the Old Navy. Also Lands' End hems to the quarter inch.

But none of this is any help if the trousers will shrink by an undetermined amount, even in the cold wash / line dry.

I like to buy the Bills khakis, wash and dry them three times, and then iron and hem. That's about as close as I can get to consistently perfect in length with cotton pants. Because of the shrinkage factor, most trousers start out a little long, go through a period where they are perfect, and end up a little short. If I am too finicky about the perfect break when new, they wind up too short too quickly.

Wool trousers are another story, but who buys or sells wool trousers in pre-hemmed lengths?

 

[Henry Boogers]

Originally Posted by mrchapel

This begs an interesting question; why do companies insist on only making even lengths? Although some do offer the casual odd number, it seems to be a rarity. Surely not everyone is either a 30 or a 32, etc. In that case, there's a 2 inch gap in that sizing. Is this perpetuating the problem of mass produced RTW clothes that simply do not fit?

Both the manufacturers and the retailers have pushed for this over the years to reduce inventory required. Although the gap between sizes is 2" that means that the greatest disparity that will exist is 1" (ie: a 33" choosing between a 32 or 34"). One inch is barely enough for most shoppers to concern themselves with, or at least it's a small enough concern to not outweigh the benefits of reduced inventory.

I prefer unfinished pants and buy them almost exclusively, but will otherwise buy about 2-4" too long and have them brought up to fit.