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Little by little, I have been (re)teaching myself about the terminology of men’s clothing.

It started with collar styles on dress shirts…
This article helps with equal amounts of information and snark. I like that combination.

Tonight, I was sorting through the sport coats I have recently acquired from my thrifting and putting them up in the newly shelved closet.

Although I have no proper suits (and am not likely to have them…) I got to thinking about the drop of the suit. Since I began shopping at the DAV, I have become very aware of the changes as per measure and fit in the clothing industry over the years. Since Thrift stores carry clothes of all manufacture and time frames, the perfect fit can range a broad spectrum of sizes. Although the snugger side of my range is my ‘night-time’ apparel, I buy the full range from 31 to 36 inch waist in trousers. 31 and 32 are insanely tight on me but 33 through 36 can all fit my perfectly depending on when the slacks were produced…

Back to drop.

I remember buying a suit back in college. The term drop came into the conversation. A suit’s drop is the difference between the jacket size and the trouser size, namely the difference between the chest and the waist. Back then (if I recall correctly), the standard drop was eight inches. An athletic drop was nine inches. I was a standard drop. I didn’t mind. At the time I got very little exercise and was not fit at all, so I am amazed in thinking back that I ever fit a standard drop.

Currently, I am an athletic drop, only I am still an eight inch drop. The standards have changed. This article defines the current standards (link removed, no longer active.). According to the article, a standard suit drop is only six inches, an athletic is eight inches. It also lists a portly drop as 4 to 0. That seems a rude word choice to me. (I had to shop in the husky boys department growing up. I still suffer from that.)

Anyway, that makes a two inch increase in girth in just fifteen years, less than a generation. And on top of that, athletes have gained an average inch to their midsections. And the men’s fashion industry grows fickle as we grow. They hide the gain and mask the differences. I have known for some time men’s pants sizing is off by an entire size. A thirty-four inch waist pant will fit a thirty-six inch waist, comfortably.

In this, I am not one for denial.
For the record, I have a literal thirty-six inch waist, a forty-four inch chest. I am six foot five inches and currently weight in the neighborhood of 215 pounds.