Abram Sauer of Esquire brought a tape measure into men's clothing stores and compared the actual waistline of pants to the label. Here's what he discovered:
- Alfani's 36-inch "Garrett" pants were 38.5 inches
- Calvin Klein's "Dylan" pants, labeled as 36 inches, were also 38.5 inches
- A 39-inch pair from Haggar was labeled as a 36-inch waist
- Dockers 36-inch "Individual Fit Waistline" pants were actually 39.5 inches
- Old Navy size 34 dress pants were actually 39 inches
Since most men only know their waist size from the label of the pants they wear, they might not know that their health is at risk. "A recent report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that men with larger waists were twice at risk of death compared with their smaller-waist peers," writes Sauer. "Men whose waists measured 47 inches or larger were twice as likely to die."
Sauer proposes a reasonable solution: a "year-by-year shaving of quarter-inch by quarter-inch until, in 2021, men's pants finally correspond with the label numbers."
[via The Browser]