Men’s fit preferences in outdoor performance clothing: A qualitative investigation

Abstract

This article inductively examines men's fit preferences and practical fit issues in outdoor performance clothing to reveal how they are influenced by men's Body Mass Index (BMI) and height. Four focus group interviews (FGIs) were conducted with 21 men and the qualitative data was analysed using the grounded theory approach. Men's BMI influenced the following themes/sub-themes: fit (pant crotch, seat, hip fit; shirt proportion and fit; pant waist fit and pant leg fit) and sizing (inconsistency across brands; and within a brand). Pant crotch, seat, hip fit were frequently discussed by both normal and overweight men; whereas, shirt fit and sizing inconsistency were more of an issue for the overweight men. Men's height influenced issues in length (sleeve length; body length; and leg length) and sizing ('Big & Tall' sizing). Tall men discussed length issues the most; whereas both regular and tall men discussed that they did not need the 'Big and Tall' sizing, but rather they just needed extra length in the sleeves and body.

Men’s Bodies and Clothing Consumption: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-analysis

“…Therefore, analyzing them is more complicated than that in a quantitative way. The other three remaining articles (Sohn et al, 2020;Rahman & Navarro, 2017;Stewart et al, 2014) applied mixed methods, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Using a mixed method assists the researcher in achieving a better understanding of the issue and decreasing the research limitations (Creswell & Creswell, 2017).…”

“…In this period, only one study was published each year. This means that four articles (Sindicich & Black, 2011;Chattaraman et al, 2013;Stewart et al, 2014;Barry, 2015) were published in the third quarter of this twenty-one-year period, contributing to 40% of all articles. The constant trend tripled to three articles in 2016.…”

“…However, in this study, two quantitative (Sindicich & Black, 2011;Li et al 2016), one qualitative (Barry, 2015), and two mixed-method studies (Sohn et al 2020;Stewart et al 2014) utilized questionnaires. The following popular data collection tool was related to interviews (n = 4) which were used in one mixed-method study (Stewart et al, 2014) and three of qualitative research (Barry & Martin, 2016;McNeill & McKay, 2016;Barry, 2015). These studies also used Article a voice and/or video recorder for gathering their data which enabled them to transcribe the participants' responses precisely.…”

Whole body shapes and fit problems among overweight and obese men in the United States

“…Individuals may vary in their fit criteria, but the authors also found that men with higher BMIs prefer a looser fit for their jeans, dress shirts and polo shirts; as men's BMIs increased, they also preferred higher waistlines (Chattaraman et al , 2013). Later, Stewart et al (2014) used the developed scale by Chattaraman et al (2013) to examine men's fit preferences in outdoor performance clothing. In their study, overweight men tended to frequently mention about the fit of their pants in the crotch, seat and hip areas, as well as the fit and sizing inconsistencies of their shirts (Stewart et al , 2014).…”

“…Later, Stewart et al (2014) used the developed scale by Chattaraman et al (2013) to examine men's fit preferences in outdoor performance clothing. In their study, overweight men tended to frequently mention about the fit of their pants in the crotch, seat and hip areas, as well as the fit and sizing inconsistencies of their shirts (Stewart et al , 2014). Recently, Guo and Istook (2021) developed a 7-point scale of perceived fit preference from wearers (from −3: terrible to 3: excellent).…”