I know this is a weird question, but I need some suggestions.
Do any of you have tall but super thin kids? If so, where do they shop for clothes? Little S had a massive growth spurt recently. He’s only 12 and already 5 ft 8 in!! But he’s barely tipping the scales at 105 lbs, fully clothed! Nothing fits this poor child.
He raided his brother’s old clothes that don’t fit anymore before we left for vacation and found some old Hollister T-shirts (men’s small). That worked pretty well, but none of his brother’s old jeans or shorts fit (mostly slim fit 28-30 in waist). As in, fit two of him in one, not fitting! LOL
He found a pair of Under Armor golf shorts in the kids section that fit ok-ish. Even those are falling off his hips and are just barely long enough.
At 5 ft 2 in, this is not an issue I have any experience with. LOL
It is very difficult. I had some luck with American Eagle for my son. When I found jeans that fit him, I would buy a lot! Of course, if your son is still growing, that makes it even trickier.
I’ll have to try them! When we moved early May, I did a huge clean-out of his closet and dresser. But he’s grown so much in the last not even 3 months that we need to do it again.
We have time before it gets cold enough for jeans here, but I feel like shorts should be easier and it’s just not working out that way!
LOL YES! And I posted here a couple of years ago about it, mostly about pants. You can probably find it in my posts or maybe search “thin.” There were some good stores and sites for pants recommendations. My tips are: Online always has more size selection, size 28 W pants are typically not carried in stores. If a 28 is still too big, Old Navy pants tend to run long, and can go up to size 18 (kids) with the adjustable waistband. This is what got my tall super thin kid through high school…Old Navy slim adjustable waist jeans kids size up to 18.
Athletic shorts can be easier because you can use the drawstring and length is not as much of an issue. Athletic pants never worked for my tall skinny son…they had a drawstring, but were way too short. Khaki joggers (Old navy again, and their up to 18 kids sizing) worked, because they have a drawstring and elastic at the ankle so you can get away with them being a little higher.
We haven’t tried any of these yet, but I found these sites too: AmericanTall.com has a Tall size Small (many tall shops start at M, I found), justgear.com allows size selection by length, and www.tallslimtees.com
I used to get my S (who had no interest in clothes) clothes in Target. Target has come a long way over the years ,and many of their young teen items do not look too “Target-y”
H&M.
My D20 is 6’2” and until recently had a 26” waist. ASOS was our go-to, they have a ridiculous amount of sizes available. They have men’s as well. Definitely has a bit more of a euro look, though.
I have been told that Lululemon has clothes for tall skinny guys. (I was told this by a tall skinny guy).
Levi’s 510’s worked for my super slim S when he was in his teens. I had to order online, but I could get the length he needed. He wore them in khaki, too.
A&F and Lulu is as skinny as it gets. I would look there. My son isn’t as tall as yours yet - but he is also around 105 lbs, and he eats 5000 + calories a day.
This is all really helpful. Thank You!
I have a 6’3", 140 lb son. It’s a challenge. When he was 12 he wore a lot of draw string pants/shorts. For jeans, Boden (mail order) has button adjustible waists for that age that worked really well. Once he’s at a 28W, American Eagle is good for khakis and pajama bottoms. Express for dress pants. I’ll have to check out Lululemon, thanks for the tip, @kiddie.
It has been a while but my son was also very slim as a middle/high school student and was not a shopper. I used to order cargo pants and jeans from Dickies. They carried a 30 inch waist and they fit well (not oversized/sloppy like some cargo pants). I also would order from Lands End which carried 30 inch waist pants and you could choose the inseam.
30 inch waist isn’t really a challenge though, the skinny boys are too skinny for 30. That is the challenge. My DS sends me pics of him on his internship and he should be in site kit but looks like he is still in his jeans, so I suspect the carhart et al don’t get down to his size LOL.
Yeah, he tried on a 28 waist and it literally fell to the floor. :lol:
The cargo joggers are what some of the kids wear. It solves the growth spurt problem pretty well since over the course of the school year they look perfectly fine as they shorten.
We had good luck with our very slim kid at Gap and Kohl’s. Both carried a great selection of slims in several styles and many sizes.
We also had good luck at JC Penney…but aren’t they closing?
Another vote for American Eagle, and you may need to order online.
Gap has more sizes available on line also. Express was good for dress shirts if you happen to need them. You may want to try multiple sizes from on-line, and then return what you don’t want to the store. I used to wind up with 20 or more pairs of pants when shopping for my 2 sons, and was only looking to keep a few for each.
Lulu has nice pants, if you’re willing to part with over $100 per pair, for a kid still growing.
One of my sons was close to 5’11” and weighed less than 120 when he went to college.
ETA - AE is advertising from size 26 waist. I don’t see that small at GAP any longer and I don’t see any at Lulu either. I remember my son worn slim from the GAP at some point, so maybe a kids size slim would work? (And be cheaper too).
This was all super helpful, I really appreciate it… but looks like it may be moot. Little S’s school district just did a complete pivot and went full virtual for the entire semester. S’s response was “I’m gonna need alot more pjs!!”
:neutral:
Coming from a teenage boy, oversized looks good. If he’s slim, let him try on baggy stuff. The street clothes nowadays, which are catered to the skinnier crowd, are very in style. I usually buy from depop or thrift stores (fast fashion is harmful to the economy), but the main takeaway should be to let him discover the clothes that he feels most comfortable with.