Buying your First Trousers

Trousers can be one of the trickiest things to purchase for a new reenactor. Forget what you think you know about your size. You are probably wrong! The only way to get proper trousers is to take a tape measure and measure around yourself at your natural waist. THIS IS NOT WHERE YOU WEAR YOUR BLUE JEANS! The tape measure should be wrapped horizontally around you at the level of your belly button. I know you think you wear a size 36 pants but when you actually take the measurement you will probably find that you need a pair of 42s or some other equally ghastly size. One major contributing factor to the size dilemma is that clothing manufacturers lie about the sizes of their clothes. If you actually measure a pair of blue jeans you will probably discover they come out to be between 2 and 6 inches LARGER than the tag reads. That is because of vanity — no one wants to admit they have gotten fat. We look for brands of jeans that fit out body style. When we do this we are actually searching for brands of jeans that LIE TO US in just the right way to fit our bodies. This is called Vanity Sizing. This website provides the information quite clearly http://www.ties.com/blog/pants-size-comparison I compared many brands of pants and found that EVERY SINGLE pair was larger that the listed size with the average being 2.5 inches larger and they ranged up to 4 inches larger. When all is said and done, put your ego aside and buy the size you measured.