Dec 142010
Most men’s pants are sized with two numbers: waist and inseam measurement, in that order.
- Measure your waist by wrapping a tape measure around your torso wherever you want your pants to fall. Keep a finger or two between the tape measure and you, so that you have a bit of breathing room and space to tuck your shirt in.
- If you’re going the classic and respectable route, measure at your proper waist, where your body creases when you lean to the side. Tip: find your belly button. That’s your waist level.
- Younger and trendier men often wear their pants lower, along their hips. This is a riskier way to go, as you may show off parts of yourself intended for private use, but if it’s really where you want your pants to fall, use that measurement.
- A smart man will never leave his gut hanging out over his pants. Don’t give in to pride and insist that you wear the same size jean you wore in college–let go of your delusions and buy pants that fit.
- Measure your inseam by taking a tape measure up your leg (or letting someone else do it) and running it to where you want the crotch of your pants to lie. That height is your inseam. Make sure to measure along your leg and directly perpendicular to the floor on up.
- If you’re squeamish or wimpy about being measured, take the pair of pants that fit you best and measure the inseam (and waist) there. It’s just the seam that runs on the inside of the leg.
- Better to purchase pants that are a little too long, rather than a little too short. A tailor can shorten anything, but said tailor can make very few things longer.
- You should end up with dimensions, in inches, that look something like 30×32. That is your pant size.
- To get fancier, if you want to calculate the rise of your pants, it’s the distance from the crotch to the waist. It will dictate how high your pants sit. Many pants will come in low- , medium- and high-rise options. If your pants are above your waist, that’s high rise, at your waist is medium and below your waist is low rise.
The rare exception of casual pant will be sized S -M -L -XL . Usually this type of sizing is only used for casual pants like sweatpants or hiking pants . If you know your waist and inseam measurement, you should be able to tell which size S-M-L-XL to pick.