Smart casual extra long trousers and jackets for tall men at Boden

Boden has been a trusted supplier of smart casual wear since it was set up in 1991 by Johnnie Boden, who was apparently inspired by high quality mail order clothes that he saw while working on Wall Street. Boden's range of upmarket mail order clothes are available at Boden USA, Boden UK and in Europe. Clients are reported to include Angelina Jolie as well as English politicians David Cameron and Boris Johnson (not to mention the buzz that Michelle Obama has ordered a catalog!). Although none of those examples are tall men, Boden does have something to offer those seeking smart, extra long trousers for tall men.

Most of their men's trouser range, including jeans, has a "Long" fitting with an inside leg of 35" (89cm), but if that's not enough, a number of styles come with an unfinished inside leg of 39" (99cm) which they will hem to give you 38" or maybe 38.5". The styles to look out for are the vintage chinos, relaxed flat fronts and original chinos. They are available in waist sizes from 30" - 44" (76 - 112cm).

Boden also have a range of casual and semi-formal jackets that would suit men at least 6" / 183cm tall. These have a body length of 33" / 83cm and a sleeve length of 36.5" / 93cm.

Check out the collection and decide whether to join the ranks of Boden Man!

Esprit - Extra Long (36 inch) Tall Jeans for the Spirited

I had walked straight past Esprit stores many times thinking it looked full of trendy logo T-shirts and distressed denim. But after hearing that they stock long trousers for tall men, I kept an open mind, and this weekend in an effort to delay grocery shopping as long as possible, I decided to take a look in my local store.

To my surprise they stocked several styles of jeans with a 36" leg and waists from 32" to 36". My taste in jeans is not too adventurous, so the Soul straight leg jeans with soft dark blue denim that they had in stock would have been my choice.

For the more stylish denim afficionado, though, Esprit's shops and online shopping site include a bewildering array of options for 'short form', 'vintage', and 'ultra low rise' forms that sound more like descriptions of architecture than clothing. Most of them have a lower waistline, and there is a range of slim or regular widths.

Beyond jeans, the web sites (at www.espritshop.com in the US, www.esprit.co.uk in the UK and other sites in other European countries) offer a variety of cotton trousers in plain or striped designs and lengths up to 36" long inside leg. The US web site will offer online shopping for the men's collection only from February 2010.

The only item I bought was actually a plain white T-shirt, which was unusual in that the large size fitted me even though I am 6'5" (195cm). The lengths on their large T-shirts and tops are 70-73cm depending on style, a few centimetres longer than the standard T-shirts I have which have a distressing habit of coming untucked when I stretch.

They don't have long sizes, and no leg lengths greater than 36", so Esprit are probably not much help to people above 6'6" or so, but for the majority of tall men, their selection includes contemporary fashion that is often difficult to get hold of in tall sizes.

Pictures (left to right) of Soul, Dragon and Groove jeans, courtesy of Esprit.

Lands' End : Sales includes tall range

Lands' End has established an excellent reputation in its forty years as a mail order company, although it now sells over the internet as well as through outlet stores. Both their UK and US collections have sections for tall men's clothing.

I particularly like the Lands' End UK
web site because the men's collection has separate 'Tall' sections highlighting extra long trousers, shirts and jackets so that you don't have to go through the usual process of looking at the details on every item on the website to find the few that offer a tall option.

Right now Lands' End have reductions on tall shirts, including a good range of polo shirts in different styles and fabrics with short or long sleeves, including their most handsome polo shirt with "hand picked Peruvian pima cotton". The tall fitting gives an extra 1.5" (3.8cm) of length to suit men up to a height of 6'3" (190cm). They also have reductions on some jackets, including a range of fleeces in different styles and some waterproof and winter jackets.

The tall selection of trousers doesn't look big at first sight - the web site has a small selection of chinos and corduroy jeans with waist sizes from 34" (chinos) or 36" (cords) up to 44" and lengths right up to 38" (96.5cm) inside leg and you can get exactly the inside leg length you want to the nearest quarter inch. You can even order unfinished trousers with a 40" inside leg (a generous 101.5cm!).

However, you can still find long trousers in their 'normal' section - they have around 12 different styles, most of which go up to a 36" inside leg with waist sizes from 32" up to 44" which is a pretty good range. By taking the unfinished trousers, you can get a 38" inside leg, which can still be hemmed to give around 37-37.5" inside leg.

There is free delivery in the UK on orders over £50, and delivery in Europe is reasonable. For the US you will need to go to www.landsend.com but you can also find Lands' End concessions in many branches of Sears.

San Francisco - great for a short winter break, not so great for long trousers.

It was a pleasure recently to escape the frozen weather blanketing Europe for San Francisco, where the temperature was a relatively balmy 54'F/12'C. Having a little time to spare, I managed to fit in some sightseeing and some window shopping.
A couple of hours' stroll in the verdant Golden Gate Park was the perfect antidote to the grey, bare scenary of home right now, and I visited the de Young Museum, which I can highly recommend for its collection of artworks from American, African and Pacific cultures. Until April 2010, it's also the temporary resting place of the treasure of the globe-trotting pharaoh, Tutankhamen.

I started my shopping looking for some casual long trousers, and the experience reinforced my feeling that for a tall man expecting to get a decent selection in "normal" shops is a waste of time. The staff in Banana Republic were straightforward: "we don't stock anything longer than a 34" leg in store, you have to go to our web site". At Docker's, the message was the same, but with the charming explanation that when it comes to tall men "the demographic doesn't support" keeping a stock in the store. At Macy's, they had some Levis in various sizes, including 36" and 38" inside leg and waist sizes from 32" upwards. The helpful assistant said that Levi's were the only brand of jeans in the entire store that stocked 'tall jeans' and even these were only available in the most popular styles, such as 501 and 505. I found nothing in Bloomingdales or Barney's.

Dispirited, I made my way to the store I thought would offer the best chance of success: Rochester Big & Tall Men. The shop is at the intersection of Mission and 3rd streets, just five minutes walk from Union Square (five minutes for tall men who know the way, that is). The assistant was very helpful, and after establishing that I was 6'5" / 195cm but with a chest and neck of around 42" and 16-17" respectively, she led me through the large store to a very small cupboard, containing 5-10 shirts and two T-shirts. "Here's what we've got!", she said proudly. This particular store did not stock trousers with a waist less than 36", although the assistant did think they would have had some suits in my size (you can also check out their web site). That was the final straw. Defeated, I headed across the road to the conveniently located Peet's coffee shop and plotted my next steps.

The conclusion was pretty clear: as a tall man with an inside leg of more than 34", vsiting stores is fine to work out which style you need, but after that, you're best off going straight to the internet when you want to buy something. There is a (small) range of suppliers that have a range of long trousers for tall men, and I'll be summarising some of these in a new post very soon - sign up for updates via email or RSS, or visit again soon!

January Sales: getting shirty

Every year as the effects of the Christmas turkey wore off and the sales started, I used to travel to Jermyn Street near Picadilly in London, the UK's best source of high quality shirts and ties. I would spend a happy few hours scouring the many shops for shirts suitable for a tall man, and on a good day, I would get enough high quality shirts to see me through the year for about the same price as non-reduced high street shirts. This success would then be celebrated, perhaps by a well deserved afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason (one of London's last traditional department stores) or visiting an exhibition at the nearby Royal Academy.

These days, happily, many of the same excellent shirts are sold over the Internet, including a variety of body and sleeve lengths for those with long arms, as well as other stuff such as long trousers and ties. As the sale offers start to fill the mailbox, I wanted to share some of my experiences and some links.

Charles Tyrwhitt

One of my top picks right now is the Black Label range from Charles Tyrwhitt. According to the company, the range "introduces a more modern edge to Charles Tyrwhitt formalwear. As well as contemporary square cuffs, the formal shirts have a new collar shape, to be worn with or without a tie", and the shirts also come in a slim fit. Fashion 'experts' point out that vertical stripes and a slim fit will accentuate your height - to which I say that there is nothing wrong with looking tall as long as you look good! And of course, it doesn't matter whether the shirt is striped, chequered or plain, the key is that the fit is good, the collars and cuffs are firm and the fabric is excellent (and even irons well - I know from bitter personal experience that this isn't always the case with pure cotton shirts). More to the point, in the sale until the end of January, you can get a rather nice blue striped shirt for half the price I paid last year! The company also do classic fit shirts, all with a variety of sleeve lengths, and some good trousers in a long 38" unfinished leg, which you can have finished to your choice of length.

But back to basics for a moment. If you go to a 'typical' high street shop and a buy a shirt with a 16" collar, it will generally have a 34" sleeve, and if you are lucky there may be an 'extra long' version with a 36" sleeve. But if you are tall and slim, you may find the normal sleeve slightly too short and the extra long rather too long (to check your perfect fit, read our measuring guide). Slim fit shirts, which have become more popular in recent years, give another option for tall and slim men who don't want to look bulky in a wide shirt. The beauty of a specialist shirt shop is that they will have a variety of sleeve lengths for each collar size, and these are ideal for someone who is tall and slim. For me a 16" collar and a 35" sleeve is perfect, and means the shirt is normally not too baggy either. Trust me: find exactly the right sleeve length for your height and you'll never look back!

There are a number of shops that have a good range of shirts with different sleeve lengths both in store and sold over the internet. Each one tends to have a slightly different combination of collar and sleeve sizes (e.g. their 'standard' sleeve length might be 34", 34.5" or 35"), so it's worth checking a few once you have worked out your ideal sleeve length. There's also a range of prices from roughly high street to distinctly high end!

TM Lewin

For a wide range of styles and sizes, TM Lewin is well worth visiting. They offer good value for everyday business and casual shirts as well as accessories.

Other stores with shirts for tall men

At the pricier end of the spectrum you have the likes of Thomas Pink, which now boasts around 75 stores worldwide, including a number of cities in the US and UK. Smaller stores may not have the same range of sleeve lengths, but everything is available via their web site.

Also at the upper end of the market is Hilditch and Key, which remain more traditional. Slightly less pricey, but still with a wide range of high quality shirts for tall men, you can try Hervie and Hudson, Hawes and Curtis or TM Lewin. Below are the links, along with delivery regions.

• Charles Tyrwhitt
  
• Thomas Pink
  
• TM Lewin
  
• Hervie & Hudson
  
• Hilditch & Key
  
• Hawes & Curtis
  

In future posts, there is surely more to explore in the numerous options for shirt cuffs, collars, patterns, and styles not to mention the choice of tie. I am also aware that this post has been a little UK-centric. There are plenty of good US and European shirtmakers that cater for tall men which I'd like to explore in future posts. Please feel free to suggest any topics below, but for now . . . Happy Shopping!

The link between height and success in life and love

The release of a biography of Hollywood actor Warren Beatty and his seduction of "12,775 women, give or take" offers an irresistable chance to comment on the more serious question of whether all taller men are paid better, rise further up the corporate ladder, and fare better in the relationship stakes.

Warren Beatty was 6'2" (188cm) tall at the height (sorry!) of his prowess (in case you're interested, the book " Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America" can be ordered now - if you read it let me know what you think - I won't be rushing to get my copy). He himself was eclipsed by Basketball player Wilt Chamberlain who is said to have seduced 20,000 women. Wilt Chamberlain was 7'1" (a whopping 216cm) but I am not suggesting there is a direct height/seduction correlation. Whatever you think of these particular claims (the numbers are given a cold shower of reality here) the association between height and success in the office and between the sheets is widely acknowledged, but how does the evidence stack up?

Widely quoted is the fact is that for every inch above average height someone could expect to earn an additional $789 per year, research drawn from studies involved around 85,000 people. Another group of researchers looked into the reasons that tall people appeared to be paid better. They found that height at age 16 is more important than adult height. Indeed, for every extra inch of height a man had at age 16, he could expect to earn an extra $850 as an adult. They proposed that this was due to increased self confidence that came from being taller and participating in more clubs and sports in school (statistics buffs can find the original articles in the Journal of Applied Psychology and the Journal of Political Economy).

But height may not just affect how well you're paid - it may also affect how high you climb on the corporate ladder. Journalist Malcolm Gladwell did an informal survey of the heights of CEO's of Fortune 500 companies, and found that they are "virtually all tall", with an average height of just under 6 feet, versus an average height of 5'9" (175cm). Even more telling, 30% of the CEO's were 6'2" or taller, versus 3.9% of the overall US population. Similar studies by Australian academics apparently reached similarly encouraging conclusions for all tall people with serious career ambitions. Just as encouraging for tall people as these facts was Mr Gladwell's explanation of our unconscious decision making: "We see a tall person, and we swoon"!

Talking of swooning, we come to perhaps the most encouraging research (assuming you're tall): the conclusion from a paper in the well-respected scientific journal Nature that "there is active selection for stature in male partners by women". This translated into the fact that married men in this study of over 3,000 people were significantly taller than bachelors perhaps "due to shorter men being disadvantaged in the search for a mate". A similar study in the UK also concluded that tall men have an advantage when it comes to competing for women.

I may never compete with Warren Beatty in the seduction stakes, but I believe it's time to spruce up my wardrobe in time for the pay rise and promotion that must surely be coming my way . . .

Clothing tall men : is it an activity so complex it needs a web site?

After all, despite a height of 6'5" I have managed to dress vaguely respectably for many years - at least since those teenage days when my school trousers never seemed to reach below my ankles. But for someone with a 36" inside leg and a waist that I am just about keeping to 34", it has always been an ordeal to find clothes that fit and which are fit to be seen in public.

In the US, the UK or Europe, a trip to the nearest mall or high street typically offers little for the 5-10% of men who need longer than a 34" leg or a shirt with long sleeves that doesn't resemble a tent. Meanwhile, despite endless internet sites, there is not much help out there for men who are tall but not "big", just a lot of elasticated waist bands and artificial fibers.

However, if you know where to look, you can find high quality business and casual clothes for tall men. On this site, I will share the brands that I personally have found to offer a good selection of quality clothes for the tall man who is also (pick your term of choice here) 'slim', 'thin', 'lanky' or 'elegantly proportioned'. If the occasional personal note slips in, please forgive me - this is a blog after all, and written as a hobby not a profession.

Everyone who visits this site who has faced the same challenges is invited - encouraged even - to add a comment, send an email or sign up for updates. It's the only way to create a truly useful site, and the only way I'll know that I'm spending my time on something more useful than sitting in front of the TV in my extra large slippers!