Essay: Sizing up race shirts for women
Oct. 27th, 2013 09:49 pmThere's been a lot said online about women's shirts for conventions and races. I'd like to chime in on that.
Not every woman likes to wear, work out in, or walk in form-fitting clothes. I personally like things that are on the loose side, and I will happily wear unisex shirts. I personally cringe whenever I hear that a race will be offering "women's cut" shirts, because I know it's probably going to mean that I'm going to be making a trip to the T-Shirt Exchange booth. I just don't fit them.
One of the issues with "women's cut" shirts is that they aren't actually cut to fit, well, a lot of women. I am not going to get into the "real women have curves" cliche because "real women" come in all shapes and sizes, but the point remains that many of us have passed puberty and do have breasts, hips and buttocks. A lot of women's cut shirts are way too small to allow them. They typically cling to the bust area, cut into the arms because they're too tight across the chest, ride up around the hips, and generally look ghastly and unflattering. It's not about weight as much as it's about the way the t-shirt is cut, and the fact that the garment isn't made to accommodate the chest or hip areas. It's like trying to put on a pair of jeans that aren't designed for humans with butts, or shoes that aren't made for people with toes. I suppose the logic is that women are naturally shorter and weigh less than men. Well, yes, statistically, but they also usually have larger chest and hip measurements than men, and their clothes need to reflect that.
Sizing is all over the place, too, so when you see one of these "women's cut" shirts at a race you have no idea what you're in for. What usually is clear, though, is that if it's for the ladies it will be smaller than the men's stuff.
Both of these shirts (2012 LA Big 5K unisex and 2012 Rose Bowl 5K) are marked "Large."
These two are marked XL (2013 LA Marathon official merch and Firefly Run 2013).
So are these (LA Cancer Challenge Ladies' shirt 2012; LACC unisex shirt 2013).
Here's the XL LACC shirt next to the L Rose Bowl shirt. Both are "women's cut." The Rose Bowl shirt is supposedly one size smaller, but is larger.
Confused yet?
What you can see pretty clearly in these photos is that the "women's shirts" are far smaller than the men's or unisex shirts in their respective sizes. This isn't uncommon. One article about this gave an example of how women's cut shirts do not actually accommodate larger chest measurements.
Taking ThinkGeek's sizing info as an example: men's tshirts are sized from 36" chest measurement (size S) to 56" chest measurement (size XXXL). Women's tshirts are sized from 32" (S) to 42" (2X). The largest available women's size has a chest measurement between men's M (40") and L (44"). A woman whose bust measurement (including her breasts, which obviously protrude to an extent not seen on cis men) is equivalent to a men's XL (48") will find that a woman's 2X is 6" too small for her.
In case you're curious, the average bra size in the United States is now a 34DD - which aint' gonna fit into a shirt that only accommodates a 42" chest size.
The only company I've ever found that makes "women's cut" shirts that actually accommodate breasts and hips is Old Navy. Old Navy's shirts actually fit over the chest and hip area and are flattering. Here's an Old Navy XL shirt next to the XL LACC 2012 shirt. That orange shirt is not at all baggy, mind you. It simply fits well, it's neither too tight nor too loose, and it provides ample room in the bust and hip departments.
This is a dilemma that isn't going to go away. Every race and event orders their shirts from different vendors, and there are many variables involved there - distance, price, ability of the vendor to meet the race's needs. However, I'd put in a desperate plea for race directors to truly look at the sizing when they order "women's cut" shirts, to allow female runners and walkers to choose whether they want a women's cut or unisex shirt and to respect that their racers come in all shapes and sizes.
Not every woman likes to wear, work out in, or walk in form-fitting clothes. I personally like things that are on the loose side, and I will happily wear unisex shirts. I personally cringe whenever I hear that a race will be offering "women's cut" shirts, because I know it's probably going to mean that I'm going to be making a trip to the T-Shirt Exchange booth. I just don't fit them.
One of the issues with "women's cut" shirts is that they aren't actually cut to fit, well, a lot of women. I am not going to get into the "real women have curves" cliche because "real women" come in all shapes and sizes, but the point remains that many of us have passed puberty and do have breasts, hips and buttocks. A lot of women's cut shirts are way too small to allow them. They typically cling to the bust area, cut into the arms because they're too tight across the chest, ride up around the hips, and generally look ghastly and unflattering. It's not about weight as much as it's about the way the t-shirt is cut, and the fact that the garment isn't made to accommodate the chest or hip areas. It's like trying to put on a pair of jeans that aren't designed for humans with butts, or shoes that aren't made for people with toes. I suppose the logic is that women are naturally shorter and weigh less than men. Well, yes, statistically, but they also usually have larger chest and hip measurements than men, and their clothes need to reflect that.
Sizing is all over the place, too, so when you see one of these "women's cut" shirts at a race you have no idea what you're in for. What usually is clear, though, is that if it's for the ladies it will be smaller than the men's stuff.
Both of these shirts (2012 LA Big 5K unisex and 2012 Rose Bowl 5K) are marked "Large."
These two are marked XL (2013 LA Marathon official merch and Firefly Run 2013).
So are these (LA Cancer Challenge Ladies' shirt 2012; LACC unisex shirt 2013).
Here's the XL LACC shirt next to the L Rose Bowl shirt. Both are "women's cut." The Rose Bowl shirt is supposedly one size smaller, but is larger.
Confused yet?
What you can see pretty clearly in these photos is that the "women's shirts" are far smaller than the men's or unisex shirts in their respective sizes. This isn't uncommon. One article about this gave an example of how women's cut shirts do not actually accommodate larger chest measurements.
Taking ThinkGeek's sizing info as an example: men's tshirts are sized from 36" chest measurement (size S) to 56" chest measurement (size XXXL). Women's tshirts are sized from 32" (S) to 42" (2X). The largest available women's size has a chest measurement between men's M (40") and L (44"). A woman whose bust measurement (including her breasts, which obviously protrude to an extent not seen on cis men) is equivalent to a men's XL (48") will find that a woman's 2X is 6" too small for her.
In case you're curious, the average bra size in the United States is now a 34DD - which aint' gonna fit into a shirt that only accommodates a 42" chest size.
The only company I've ever found that makes "women's cut" shirts that actually accommodate breasts and hips is Old Navy. Old Navy's shirts actually fit over the chest and hip area and are flattering. Here's an Old Navy XL shirt next to the XL LACC 2012 shirt. That orange shirt is not at all baggy, mind you. It simply fits well, it's neither too tight nor too loose, and it provides ample room in the bust and hip departments.
This is a dilemma that isn't going to go away. Every race and event orders their shirts from different vendors, and there are many variables involved there - distance, price, ability of the vendor to meet the race's needs. However, I'd put in a desperate plea for race directors to truly look at the sizing when they order "women's cut" shirts, to allow female runners and walkers to choose whether they want a women's cut or unisex shirt and to respect that their racers come in all shapes and sizes.
