an open letter to clothing manufacturers

I write this letter to make you aware of certain realities that, by all evidence I have seen and heard, you do not currently know about.

I believe that you are aware that there are two different genders, male and female, as separate headings for men’s and women’s clothing appear in stores and catalogues. That is good. However, certain differences about their anatomical differences seem to have, up until this point, eluded you, and that is what I wish to expound upon.

Girls and boys develop in different ways. Although they start out fairly similar in build, almost asexual, at puberty this changes. I do think you are somewhat aware of these differences as women’s and men’s underwear do have unique features. However, you seem to be under the impression, that while girls do start to develop differently, this development halts at about age sixteen. I wish to inform you that after this point, women do continue to develop, and that this development impacts on their needs in clothing.

Specifically, women develop hips and thighs. This is biologically necessary, as we are the ones to carry and bear children. In the birthing process, a baby actually passes through a woman’s pelvis. Thus many women will tend to have somewhat of what is referred to as a “pear shape”.

The typical woman’s pants, however, seem to ignore this biological reality. Recently shopping, I came across dozens of pairs with roughly the same description: “straight hip, narrow thigh”. I realize that this style is wonderful on Kate Moss and certain anorexic 12 year olds. However, to those of us with the above mentioned “pear shape”, trying on a pair of these pants is about like trying to stuff a fully inflated balloon into a tube sock. So we generally try to compensate by going up to a bigger size that will fit our hips.

Once the bigger size is on, another problem becomes apparent. The waist is much too large, sticking out from the smalls of our backs four inches or more. Now I don’t want to assume that this is accidental on your part. Perhaps you meant for that extra space to exist in order to allow for stowing personal items or small mammals, thus eliminating the need for purses and/or pet carriers. Let me assure you that we are not adverse to carrying the items we must transport, and would rather not have all those around us aware of the style and colour of underwear we have chosen.

Another reality I wish you to be aware of is that much of the clothing you manufacture ends up in North America. We have not had a famine here, well, for many, many years, if at all. In, fact, much of the population tends to be overweight, making size 12 an average size for women. However, from the virtual explosion of clothes in small and medium sizes, it would appear that you are under the impression that size 2 is average and once a woman passes 140 pounds she ceases to buy clothing except on a bi-annual basis. Allow me correct this misconception and say that those of us in larger sizes to still need to have clothing for protection from weather and modesty.

Having set all this straight, I trust you will now make the necessary corrections.

Yours sincerely…