As a heftier gentleman, I find it very hard to find clothes that not only fit me well, but clothes that look good on me at the same time. Once I find a brand or a store that tends to have items that fit me well, I will not stray from them. However, this sort of limits me and I sometimes get left out of a few fashion trends. This is a problem a lot of bigger men face. You often skate the line between your clothes being skin tight or looking like you belong in an early 2000's rap video. And when you find what you like you have to stick with it. Sometimes this means you can't shop at popular stores because their stuff simply does not fit you.
So, I decided to give a grade to five popular stores based on the way their larger sizes fit larger men. Now, these grades are mainly for tops or accessories, seeing as how these stores don't really carry larger sizes for pants.
1. American Apparel
Grade: B
The only thing preventing American Apparel from being an A is the thin material on a lot of their clothes. Thin shirts are not a good look on big men.
2. Express
Grade: B-
Express has a lot of stylish, less casual items that are perfect for any man who needs to dress up a little bit. If you stay away from the slim shirts, you should be OK.
3. Forever 21
Grade: D+
Forever 21 is sadly the pinnacle of ill-fitting clothes for bigger men. They have a lot of nice looking items, but if you're anything larger than a medium you may have a problem with the fit of their clothes.
4. H&M
Grade: A-
H&M does a solid job of not only making stylish, affordable clothes, but they also have a pretty nice fit no matter what size you are. Most big guys usually stay away from thin shirts, and that's the one thing you should definitely do here.
5. Urban Outfitters
Grade: C
Urban Outfitters is the quintessential hipster store. And there definitely are big hipsters in this world. Their clothes seem to fit somewhere in between H&M and Forever 21. That makes it hard for me to shop there, since I'm not trying to drop $40 on an OK-fitting "vintage" button down.
The main problem here is there are not a lot of clothing companies catering to bigger men. The market is moving in the right direction when it comes to clothes for plus-sized people, but popular stores like these need to keep moving to help bigger men feel fresh in whatever they are wearing.
