Have you recently gone shopping for a t-shirt in your usual size, only to come home to find that it doesn’t fit you? If so, then you are not alone! While many of you may think that it is simply a case of us finding this problem from eating too much lately, more and more people are discovering this problem.
I’ll use myself as an example. I am a fairly large man who has almost always worn plus size shirts. There has only been one period in my adult life where I was able to fit into a size large, but that didn’t last too long.
I’ve noticed recently that when I’m out shopping for a new t-shirt, most of the time I need to find a double extra-large size to fit comfortably. Now I have to admit that when this first happened I thought I had just put on weight, but all my regular clothes fit me well and other new clothes like sweaters, jeans and the like fit me just fine.
This phenomenon is not limited to a few stores. I have found this to be the case in many high street stores and large supermarkets. I have no idea how or why this seems to be happening, but it can make buying a much more complicated process than it really needs to be.
The only reason I can think of is that by making t-shirts smaller, producers can save money by using less material. Now please don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking to start any new conspiracy theories or give any particular company a bad reputation, I just wanted anyone who has had the same problem to know that they’re not the only ones.
Of course, it could all be in the imagination, but there is a very good way to check it. The next time you go shopping for a t-shirt, take one of your own t-shirts from home that you know looks good on you. When you’re in a store, hold the two together, one on top of the other. I have done this many times and found the new shirt to be physically smaller, especially under the arms and around the chest area.
Now, I realize that for many of you reading this, my revelation may not have much of an impact on you if you are a size small, medium or large. But when you’re a size plus like me, there’s nowhere else to go with sizing, as many manufacturers simply don’t make shirts or design in double extra large.
Maybe it’s just paranoia, maybe I’ve been eating too much in the last few months, who knows? All I know for sure is that what used to be a simple trip into town to buy myself a new t-shirt seems to be a thing of the past. This also means that because manufacturers simply want more money to create larger t-shirts, larger people end up paying a higher percentage of each garment they buy.