Menswear's Waistland

The majority of American men need plus-size clothes. Why is the fashion industry still ignoring them?

- ELIZABETH SEGRAN

Like most larger men, Bruce Sturgell has spent a good portion of his life wearing some variation on ill-fitting khakis and tentlike polo shirts. “It’s the fat-guy uniform,” says Sturgell, founder of Chubstr, a fashion blog for plus-size men. “I hate it so much.”

Sturgell, who has a 46-inch waist, has struggled since his teens to find stylish clothes that fit. Many menswear brands don’t go beyond a 40-inch waist, even though the average American man measures 40.5 inches around, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since Sturgell launched Chubstr 12 years ago, men’s fashion has become a little more inclusive, he says: Brands like Nike and Target’s private label Goodfellow & Co. now offer shirts up to 5X and pant sizes up to 42 or 4XL, and use bigger models in their ads. Meanwhile, online brands with names like Johnny Bigg have cropped up, offering more on-trend styles and elevated looks. But, still, the pickings are slim. Plus-size menswear makes up an estimated 12% of the U.S. men’s apparel market, and is just a fraction—0.6%—of even the global plus-size clothing market.