Why do four different brands of shirt ...

[Delaware Blue]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

And why is Honig's the farthest off in their sizing?

Actually, I'd say Honigs is the closest to a "normal" size. I wear a medium in a casual shirt and the Honigs' medium fits me the same as a medium "street" shirt by Dockers or Manhattan. With Honigs, I have to go up a size to get a shirt that fits over my chest protector. I believe both Cliff Keen and Dalco tell you their shirts are oversized to fit over a chest protector and to "size down" for a shirt to wear on the bases.

Shirts by Official's Choice are ridiculously huge, but then they're changing the industry one umpire at a time...except for this umpire.

[Kevin Finnerty]

I'm going by the standard shirt meter too, and of my dozen or so golf shirts, every single XL is bigger than the Honig's. Honig's are minimum a half size smaller than a normal shirt. I need a 2X to get a tighter fit than a 1X Cliff Keen.

Should it not be basic to have the shirt be the size that it says on the label?

[BretMan]

I've used 3 of the 4 shirts listed (have never had a Dalco) and would agree with Kevin's opinion on how they fit, relative to each other. The Honig's are on the tight side, the Cliff Keen's are in the middle and the Official's Choice fit like a freakin' tent! (Actually, that is one thing I do like about the OC shirts).

In the clothing world, labels like "Medium", "Large" or "Extra Large" are somewhat meaningless. There is no industry standard or benchmark sizing guide that says, for instance, a large must be 40" across the chest, or medium will be 36" long. Each manufacturer measures, cuts and assembles clothing to their own standard and the difference between different makers can be frustrating.

Sure, you can just buy the next bigger size, but the unfortunate thing is that you usually have to buy a shirt first before you know if it's going to be a little tight or a little bigger.

Do you see the same odd sizing in umpire pants? I wear a 36" in jeans or Docker-type pants and have slack at the waistband. A 36" Cliff Keene, or my old +POS pants, are on the snug size- almost uncomfortably so. A pair of 36" Fechiemer's I tried on, I could hardly even button! Another lesson learned the hard way- I now buy my umpire pants a size or two bigger than my day-to-day pants, but I had to buy those first pairs to find that out I needed to do that.

[canadaump6]

It probably depends on the stretchiness of the material.

[SAump]

Lay the shirts flat, measure the width from armpit to armpit, and multiply times two. Sizes should vary from 34-36 small, 38-40 medium, 42-44 large, 46-48 XL, 50-52 XXL, 54-56 XXXL, and up.

[zm1283]

I bought large Official's Choice basketball shirts last summer and they were generously sized, but they have shrunk some from being washed and dried. I have Dalco baseball shirts. I wear a large in a regular shirt most of the time, but my base shirts are mediums and plate shirts larges.

I have Sansabelt basketball pants and Smitty baseball pants all in 34s and they fit perfectly.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Echoing what Bret said, I once ordered and tried on a pair of Fechheimer plate slacks. I made the mistake of ordering them in my actual size. Stupid, I know.

Such stupidity cost me $29.00 to try them on ($8.00 shipping to me; $11.00 to hem them; $10 shipping back to the supplier). So of course, I eventually turned to Honig's, the place that has shirts that run too small and slacks that fit beautifully.

[JR12]

Had the same problem with Flechiemer. Not even close to buttoning. Smitty, +pos and CK were on the money.
OC shirts, besides running large is the MLB blue and the creme are no where close to the other manufacturers. I now have an OC and another brand of each, just so I'll match my partner.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

Echoing what Bret said, I once ordered and tried on a pair of Fechheimer plate slacks. I made the mistake of ordering them in my actual size. Stupid, I know.

Such stupidity cost me $29.00 to try them on ($8.00 shipping to me; $11.00 to hem them; $10 shipping back to the supplier). So of course, I eventually turned to Honig's, the place that has shirts that run too small and slacks that fit beautifully.

I'm not sure what I'll do this season. I've lost some (OK, more than some) weight -- I'm in a size 38 jeans and an XL polo shirt, although I am getting through basketball season with one pair of 40 pants that I "Welmer" every trip just about and an enormously huge 3XL shirt (talk about shirts that run small - basketball shirts, in my experience, do this, but I would probably be fine in a XXL and a bit snug in an XL).

I'm thinking about heading up to Davis in Appleton where I can try stuff on, but I hate, hate, hate their dark gray pants (umpire Dickeys). I'll probably just guess on premium pants sizes from Honig's and not get a hem put in them and if I have to reorder, so be it. I'm also hoping to drop another pants size by April, so I'm going to wait a bit.