One Size Does Not Fit All

[Furrama]

snip

I feel your pain. I went to the ballet shop the other day, and they had not ONE tutu in a male cut, and their pumps only went up to size six! SIX! I'm already reduced to wearing an ill-fitting velveteen/mesh one-piece that certainly was NOT designed with an adult man in mind. When will they realise that a full 50% of the population are men, many of them in plus-sizes, and start making ballet and floor gymnastics apparel accordingly? I blame all the female chauvinist pigs in their 19th Century ivory towers who think that all men should be confined to trousers. If this situation doesn't improve pronto, then I feel that my local branch of Junior Dance World may have just lost a loyal and long-suffering customer.

I bet you look damn good in a tutu. I imagine you to look like this: http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n167/AngelTakio/PrincessYami.jpg

 

[mrblakemiller]

On the front page of the Escapist...
Is an article about a person who is mad...
Because she can't find cool women's size T-shirts...
That have comic book superheroes on them...
In the one store she talks about visiting.

I'm not trying to be mean, but I just have to say it.

Wow, you can write about ANYTHING on the Internet, can't you?

 

[Therumancer]

I went to Universal last year and visited that same shop, and bought several T-shirts, and your right... this was noticed when my stepmother was looking around.

I will point out though that a lot of the other things for sale like messenger bags, coffee mugs, graphic novels, pins, etc... are all pretty equal oppertunity. Picking on the T-shirt selection, even if that WAS a good portion of their inventory, seems a little petty.

That said, to be entirely fair, whether it's at the casino where I worked, or other places I've visited, girls don't generally seem to be a big market for T-shirts to begin with. I think this has a lot to do with the differance in selection outside of a department store, just about everywhere has less of them, and for that matter I see less girls browsing T-shirts to even notice. In the time you were there how many other girls came in and made note of the same thing, or even just browsed them with interest trying to find one like you did? I'm sure the people who work the store have seen plenty of people do it overall, but in proportion to those that visit it?

It might help I think if more girls were interested in the whole souveneir T-shirt thing, at least as far as wearing them goes (as opposed to putting a band T-shirt on your wall or whatever). I understand the arguement that "well maybe if there were more of them, more girls would be interested" but really when you wind up with businesses already over-producing shirts and needing to dispose of them or ship them off to discount joints, it's understandable that faith is in short supply. Really, I think increased demand needs to exist.

See, things would be differant if there were multiple ladies coming in every hour of every day and complaining about the T-shirts in that marvel store. I'd imagine they MIGHT get one or two a day, if that.


As far as the "insulting" blazons, well that seems pretty typical. It's not insulting so much as ironic to be honest. Like it or not you'll find variations on that just about everywhere in a number of themes, because that's what sells. Generally speaking shirts like that are worn to goof off when your out with someone more than anything, and yes it DOES say something when that's all you see... but that something is that they are being as generic as possible since they figure they are more likely to find someone interested in wearing a shirt like that for the lulz for a day of fun, and in greater numbers, than a geek girl who is also interested in buying and wearing a T-shirt. Those shirts are in the same basic spirit as say parents buying the "Thing 1, Thing 2, etc..." shirts for their kids for the day from the Doctor Seuss island... which is probably even more disturbing if you want to try and read into it literally.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Oh yeah?
I feel with you since I can't get a single My Little Pony shirt from that store in my vicinity because it is only women sizes. I know, the internet. But why can't a grown man wear Rarity on his chest?
You shut up, brony haters. This is about principles.

The difference being that the new MLP show is under a year old, and appealed to an audience that I'm sure even the creators of the show (let alone the faceless corporations that make the decisions) would never have predicted. Give it time and I'm sure there will be some men's cut shirts available through one store or another. Meanwhile, Marvel has been around for decades, with plenty of foreknowledge that plenty of women enjoy the super hero fandom just as much as the boys.

Incidentally, are there pictures of these shirts? We have the Iron Man one on the article, but it'd be amusing to see the others.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Wait wait wait wait wait wait WAIT.

Russ Pitts is your husband?! ...or I've got this totally wrong XD

Anyway, yeah, that's stupid. I've never actually bought a 'geeky' shirt... but it's on my to do list

Yes, he is, and yes, he's a superhero.

I totally did not know that.

*adds to massive box of random trivia that will prove to be of no use outside Internetland.

OT: I'm kinda confused on something. Are girls not able to wear guys t-shirts? I mean, I get that you want them made for girls, but is there a different style that prevents it or something?

/knows next to nothing about clothes.

Women's Tshirts are cut differently than men's to allow for our chests. We can wear boy's cut, but it makes us look boxy and larger than we are. It's not quite so bad if you're not as well-endowed, but it's still not ideal.

 

[applesandoranges]

edit

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

greatly written article, and i did notice that myself a couple years back when i went to universal studious/islands of adventure, they did not have a good stock at all for girl based stuff compared to the guy stuff.

is it really that hard to get a female cut shirt with a badass "BAM""POW!" uppercut punch of an xmen character or such? (rhetorical question, farley...)

i'm sure the designer of it was some random dood/uncomical woman who made those shirts, which was a fail to begin with, and they have failed to sell them at all so they just say "oh there isn't a market there, oh well!" when in fact there is, they just have shit stock.

 

[Penguinishka]

Went on a t-shirt search the other night and ran into this problem. I hardly found any Boba Fett t-shirts that didn't look like crap, but there were none specifically for ladies. I really do understand the demographic line of reasoning, costs money to make money, blah blah blah. I would pay money for the kind of shirt I want. I'm not asking for a cleavage shirt even, just a flattering, non baggy one. *sighs*
However, I don't think it'll continue to be a problem for long. There are more girls than boys in the world. Girls will pay embarrassing amounts of money for ugly bags just because it has some fancy initials on it. When they do the math, all my nerdy girl fashion problems will be swept away in a tidal wave of crazy marketing
I will have a sweet Boba Fett t-shirt by god!

 

[ADDLibrarian]

Yes, I agree that is a SUCKY representation of "women's" hero shirts. Very sad. Then again, I just don't limit myself to the "womens" styles. It's a shirt, it fits on my body, I wear it. I actually prefer NOT to get the "womens" fit of shirt- a bit to clingy for me. I'm a big girl and I like roomy stuff. So what you'd consider the "boys" style, I consider "hey, a shirt that fits meh, woot".
EDIT: Woah, found the motherload of women's superhero shirts methinks:
http://www.superherostuff.com/characters/Babydoll/Babydoll.html

 

[Furrama]

Actually most T-shirts are gender neutral. Those are the ones that make women look a bit boxy, and are usually what is sold for college shirts and given out as organization shirts.
Men's cut shirts have alot of space in the shoulders and none in the chest with really long sleeves, while women's shirts usually have a lower neck and short cap sleeves.
You can tell the difference between gender neutral and a shirt with a particular gender, because gender neutral is usually a perfect square, with no fit at all. It's also usually a much thicker fabric, while a fitted shirt is thin with a lot of stretch. I like gender neutral shirts better than women's shirts, but it's impossible for me to wear a men's cut shirt.

Also, the JCPenney Teenage boys section is my favorite place for T-shirts. Only $10. I got one with Yoshi recently.

I agree. I don't like "womens" shirts because the fabric is too easily worn out and too thin. I like the unisex shirts much better.

Plus all the "for ladies only" shirts are just as terrible as the "for man people only" shirts generally, and in regards to the message or art. The girls shirts are all about pink and slutty girl power, and all the guy shirts are full of slogans about hating being in a relationship or they have some "make me a sammich and get me a beer" line that I detest.

 

[MaraJade03]

Oh yeah?
I feel with you since I can't get a single My Little Pony shirt from that store in my vicinity because it is only women sizes. I know, the internet. But why can't a grown man wear Rarity on his chest?
You shut up, brony haters. This is about principles.

Try A Hot Topic, I went there to get a Adventure Time shirt for my cousin, They had Bronie Shirts for guys, One actually said Bronie and I think it had Rainbow Dash on it. We found a nice Adventure Time shirt too,it was only in guy cut, but she got it anyways.

 

[Vault101]

*sigh* Id love to have more geeky t shits but unfortunatly they are har dot find arround here..and downright impossible in girl cut

 

[Iron Lightning]

Seriously?

This isn't important in the slightest, even when compared to the trivial bullshit we normally obsess over on this sit. Stop complaining until you have something to complain about.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Could just get the guy's shirt in whatever is closest to your size.

And the shirt saying your boyfriend is a superhero is not meant to remind you, it's to show all the other girls out there what the score is.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

Can't women wear the same shirts as men?
EDIT: Oh, never mind, just read someone else asked earlier in this thread.

Other than that, I can agree on the point made in this article.

Not that I would ever wear such shirts myself though.

 

[Sparrow]

I know geeky women exist, I just seem to be unable to find any of them. Where are you all hiding?!

On topic, finding geeky shirts is tough enough for me as a guy. Can't imagine how tough it is for women.

 

[Something Amyss]

This too. God forbid acknowledging gay people exist! D:

Gay people exist?

I kid, I kid.

Though I can just imagine the outrage on Fox News.

"Is Marvel Training your son to be a homosexual?"

 

[Keith K]

I've always thought of a T-Shirt as a unisex garment.

 

[Something Amyss]

I can see the problem, though as a 6' tall and proportionately long-limbed woman I usually end up buying men's shirts anyway, since very often women's shirts are too frickin' short and/or small for me. Or too narrow across the shoulders and billowingly huge everywhere else. But that's a general issue I have with clothes shopping anyway. :/

My mom and aunt are the same height and have similar problems. My mom gave up on women's fashion years ago and dresses in male clothes and to hell with the fit issues, and my aunt has basically worn black tees and jeans for years.

Which is weird, because the only thing I can't find in my size is shoes, and that's mostly because I'm a mutant >.<

I'm also 6'5" but it's mostly the mutant thing. Damn Hobbit feet!

 

[Something Amyss]

No, they throw away a potential market because that potential market is TINY.

Well damn, if you say so, it must be true.

Honestly, the demographic is larger than you give it credit for. Will it ever wrest away the male lead? No. But come on, don't be silly.

Actually, be silly if you want, but at least wear a funny hat when you're doing it.