Short Shrifted

The NY Times just did a summer trend piece on guys rolling their trouser bottoms. Although not targeted to a shorter audience, I thought this quote brought it home to guys like us, who have to hem everything:

This is an easy way to get around shortening your pants,” said Josh Peskowitz, the style editor of Esquire.com, who had rolled up his pants that very morning. “It’s noncommittal.”

Especially when I take it out of context and let it stand alone like that.

Anyway, I beat the Times to the punch by a full week. As the pic above proves. (I’m just barely holding onto my coolness here, in the face of fatherhood)

That’s me on vacation up in Portland, ME, around the 4th of July. I’m chasing my 16-month-old daughter up a hill at Fort Preble. Awesome, wild, crazy seaside-stormy half-baking-sun/half-angry-clouds-and-pelting-rain weather that day.

Anyway, forgive the rear view. But it does show off my lillywhite ankles. That’s how I roll.

The NY TIMES on HOW TO ROLL:

“Getting the roll right is harder than it looks, and the experts differ on technique. Tom Julian, [a fashion consultant and the author of two men’s style books with Nordstrom] suggests rolling one inch of cuff three times for cotton canvas trousers, and a single two-inch cuff for dark jeans.

“For slightly looser pants, like chinos, Mr. Peskowitz advises creating a peg by pinching the fabric slightly at the front during the rolling process. Starting from the bottom, you flip once, making as small a fold as possible, then twist the front of the pants leg by about an inch, then roll twice more while holding the pinch tightly. The pleats should stay in place.

“‘You want to make sure that both are pointing inward — for the left side, fold it to the right. For the right, fold it to the left — to stay symmetrical,’ he said. ‘I just figured that out a couple of weeks ago.’”

–NYT

Last month we received a Reader Question from a 5-foot-4 guy who’d been burned ordering a Made-to-Measure suit. He said:

I recently made the mistake of ordering an MTM suit at a major NY store. Off the rack, I wear an Extra Short. Although I had discussed the issue with the MTM director, when the suit came in, the jacket was too long because it was cut as a Short. The store is going to do the suit over from scratch, but I’m afraid that they will simply shorten the jacket. What should I look out for?

Well, he just checked in to let us know how things went:

The store got it right the second time. I now have a suit that fits just right. Thanks to everyone for their input on my original question.

Lessons he learned:

1. I would say the most important thing is that YOU must know how your suit should fit. If you’re not in Jimmy Au’s, you’re on your own.

2. Know what size you would take off the rack. If it’s an Extra Short, discuss with the salesperson whether their custom manufacturer has an actual Extra Short pattern. (It’s important to remember that MTM is not bespoke.) If you wear an Extra Short, have the salesperson include that info on the receipt.

3. Order the suit well before you need it. Leave time for a do-over.

I never cut and past anything on this site, but this is an exception. Jimmy Au’s, a specialty clothing shop for shorter men in Beverly Hills, is coming to NYC for a few days later this month. (see my review) Since NYC — shockingly — doesn’t have any retail options exclusively for short men, this is a great opportunity for those of us in the metro area to check out their options. If you’d like to attend Jimmy Au’s NYC Trunk & Road Show, please note that it’s appointment only. So give Jimmy and Alan a call — and tell ‘em Short Shrifted sent you. Read on for the press release:

For those of you who have never been to our Beverly Hills store, this is a chance to experience a little taste of the selection and fit of a garment that is specifically designed for men of shorter stature. Multiple sizes and styles will be available for you to try on in order for you to get a feel for what our collection is about.

The Road Show will feature items from our Ready-to-Wear collection including suits, sport coats, dress slacks, leather jackets, casual pants, casual jackets, premium jeans, sport shirts, and dress shirts.

The Trunk Show will feature, for the first time, our Made-to-Measure program; including all Jimmy Au suit types in both Short and Extra Short sizes. The program will include hundreds of swatch options, many imported from the finest mills of Italy, like Loro Piana, Ermenegildo Zegna, Barberis, Reda, E. Thomas, Angelico, Trabaldo Togna, Zignone, Amaretta, Fintes, Puro, and Garlanda. All are made with Bemberg linings.

Order three items or more from our NYC Trunk Show and receive a 20% discount; making it a made-to-measure garment at an off-the-rack price. All MTM orders placed after the trunk show will only be available at the regular price.

The Private Trunk and Road Show is BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. Call us at 310-888-8708 during regular business hours (listed below) and set up an appointment. There are limited appointment slots for fittings and viewings. We’d request that you make an appointment only if you are committed to attending.

JIMMY AU’S FOR MEN 5’8” AND UNDER
Beverly Hills, CA
310-888-8708
www.jimmyaus.com
11am–7:30pm Monday – Friday
10am–7pm Saturday
12pm–5pm Sunday

Geeks and rock-n-roll. They’re like the two sides of the same LP. Record collectors, audiophiles, fanboys, roadies, guitar techs, studio wizards, RollingStone scribes, and at the top of the heap: your Buddy Holly types. Nerds, the lot of ‘em.

So here’s how this tune goes: I was nerding out on an industry insidery T-shirt forum. Trying to figure out just what goes into getting a T-shirt sourced, sized, and made. And as always, I was on the lookout for shorter-fitting shirts.

All that obsessing and geeking out paid off. I found an obscure string on the subject that lead me to this uber-hip font of cool: Young Lovers.

Rock-n-roll.

They’re not cheap, but this Australian T-shirt label boasts limited editions — and they ship to the US. Their fitted silhouettes and rocker designs looked pretty cool to me. And the pix on the site matched the description in the forum: short hemlines. So I tried a few pairs to see for myself (Full disclosure: Young Lovers provided me several garments for the purpose of this review).

THE FIT: YL’s instrux say to “Tumble dry low. The tees are 100% cotton tee shirts so expect a little shrinkage. To lessen this, try hang drying your tees.” I generally dispense with this kind of advice when it comes to T-shirts. I mean, it’s a T-shirt. No muss, no fuss: it goes in the dryer. Plus, as a short guy, I want them to shrink.

I wasn’t disappointed. Size Small arrived with an 18-inch chest and 27-inch hem. After washing and tumble drying, it was 17.5/26. The Medium started at 19/27 and ended up 19/25.5 after drying. Not an exact science — every shirt’s gonna be different. But I was happy with the results: somewhere between a Threadless length and the even shorter shirts that Graniph produces. And, of course, waaay shorter than the overlong and ubiquitous American Apparel…

So I was surprised and confused when I took a look at their FAQs and saw this: “All of our T-shirts are unisex, based on Men’s sizing. They are some of the softest, best fitting T-shirts you’ll find anywhere. If you’re familiar with American Apparel 2001 tees, you’ll already know the fit.”

What the?? I could tell by the length and the quality of the fabric that my Young Lovers tees were not AAs. So I asked Luke Nuto, a designer at Young Lovers what gives. He told me:

“Some of our tees are printed on a cut that is a longer AA style cut and some on our custom made shorter tees. (There were 2 different production runs.) Your readers can send me an email before they order. I will personally reply to let each of them know which cut they will be getting to make sure it’s the perfect fit for them!”

Lesson learned. If I had nerded out too much before approaching them (and actually read their FAQ), I probably would have just given up. This is actually a great reminder:

Always ask.

If you walk into a store or are shopping online and don’t see something in your size, ask. Sure, you might be disappointed. But you never know what they have in the back room.