How come I'm a smaller size in jeans?
I'm in the market to buy some new pants and so I measured a few of my current pairs to get a good idea of what fits me well.
I've noticed that my jeans (specifically Levi's 514 and 502) have 40 inch waists, and fit very loosely - I physically require a belt or else they'll slide right off.
However I have a pair of what I assume to be black heavy chinos (but to be fair might be black jeans) from RM Williams that fit me quite well at 42, and a pair of (very recently made) MTM chinos that fit perfectly, and when measuring them I get a close to 42 inch waist.
Is this something to do with the Levi's 514/502 pattern specifically? Have I just worn them in for so long that they've basically stretched? Is denim just a more stretchy fabric than whatever cotton's used in my other pants?
3 Replies
The jeans you have may be vanity sized compared to the chinos you measured.
The important thing is don't go by tag size when buying pants. Check the size charts and buy the size that matches the measurements you want.
*as an addition I don't trust tag size for any clothes I buy. I always check size charts regardless of if it's pants, shirts or tees etc
Similarly, one of the other may be higher rise, designed to sit at the upper waist instead of the hip. This changes the sizing
Chino weaves are also usually a tighter weave; denim is a loose weave that stretches out about 1-2" in the waist.
Levi's is also notoriously inconsistent so measure the Levi's waist vs your chinos