Slim pickings in a weighty world

Daryl Routhier puts his pants on one leg at a time, but apparel retailers consider him out of the ordinary.

Over the last decade, stores have responded to America's expanding waistlines by increasing their inventory of larger sizes, and by shrinking the selection of clothes designed for lean men. Shopping for pants, especially, "can be a nightmare," Routhier said.

The 30-year-old South Harwich personal trainer is 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighs 174 pounds, and has a 30-inch waist. Because his thighs are thickly muscled, trousers that hug his waist are tight around the legs, and those with ample legroom plunge to his hips. "Usually I have to get a 33- or 34-[inch] and wear a belt," he said. Jackets must be altered "so they don't make me look like I'm in a box," and shorts with elastic waistbands are necessary because "otherwise they just fall off of me."

"I don't get too much sympathy," Routhier said.

Douglas Courtemanche, manager of the Men's Wearhouse store in Hanover, said he has heard similar stories from fit customers -- but not as often these days.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 64 percent of Americans, about 129.6 million, are overweight or obese, and the numbers are rising. The National Institutes for Health warns that men whose waist circumference is 40 inches or more are at increased risk for obesity-related diseases. Some "big and tall" stores sell pants with waistlines of 70 inches and wider.

"There are no 'small and short' stores," Courtemanche noted as he brushed his hand across a row of 38-inch waist dress pants on a recent afternoon. "This is now the average. . . . It's kind of sad. A 34 is considered small."

The Hanover Men's Wearhouse is typical of the chain's 509 stores in the United States. It stocks 1,200 pairs of pants, the majority of them in the 36- to 44-inch range, Courtemanche said. Only about 50 are size 31 or under, he said, and most of those are sold to men who are "vertically challenged," not workout fanatics.

Statistics are comparable at the four Miltons men's clothing stores, said owner Dana Katz, where 36 is average. "The scales have shifted to the right, which is the larger end of the spectrum," he said. "It's actually a bell-shaped curve, with 29 to 31 on the left and 40 to 44 on the right."

Sizes 34 to 38 account for about 65 percent of the company's sales, said Katz, whose stores are located in Braintree, Chestnut Hill, Natick, and Saugus. "I think 34 used to be most popular, back in the mid-'80s," he said. "Today, I would say we get more people not being able to find smaller sizes than larger sizes." Some items are not even available in sizes below medium, he said.

Stores that cater to younger customers tend to offer a wider range of narrower waists, but often sell only casual clothes. At the Harvard Square Abercrombie & Fitch, where abdominal muscles are practically corporate logos, "32-34 is the average," said clerk Dawn Harris. "We go up to 36, with the occasional 38. Most college guys around here are in shape; as they get older they get wider."

Older also means more established careers, and trim men -- not just those built like armored vehicles -- find the thinnest selection of clothes on the racks of stores specializing in business attire. Success may not go to a man's head, but it probably will show in his midsection, retailers say. There is not much demand for pants with 30-inch waists and 32-inch inseams in America's board rooms.

According to a recently released study by [TC]2 (pronounced TC-squared), a North Carolina company that helps develop technology for the apparel industry, waist sizes for men age 36 to 65 average 38.7 inches for whites, 38.2 for Hispanics, and 37.1 for blacks. The company used a three-dimensional scanner to measure the bodies of 3,691 men.

"This is a representative sampling across the US. This is what people really look like," said Karen Davis, a marketing and communications specialist for [TC]2.

It is not what James Villepigue looks like. The author of "The Body Sculpting Bible for Men" said he has spent hours in vain scouring stores for clothes to complement his high-definition physique. Villepigue, 32, is 6 feet tall, weighs 230 pounds and has a 33-inch waist. "I have to buy 36- or 38-inch [pants] and go to a seamstress to have them brought in," he said. "It's frustrating. . . You might as well stay fat -- that's almost the message" manufacturers are sending.

There are options for men with fat-free waists, besides gaining weight or custom tailoring. Some stores, like Miltons and Filene's, and high-end boutiques, sell suits from popular makers such as Calvin Klein that have separate-sized jackets and pants, so broad shoulders do not result in extra fabric around the waist. They also feature "athletic cut" suits, which can drop as much as 10 inches from the shoulders to the waist, instead of the average 6-inch reduction.

"A man shouldn't feel like he is left out in the cold because he is taking care of his body," said Robert Rutkauskas, Filene's vice president and fashion director.

Villepigue said the prospect of fitting into smaller sizes might motivate "averaged-sized" men to exercise and modify their diets. The long-term health benefits of an improved lifestyle outweigh the added shopping aggravation, he said, but a man should set realistic goals. "You don't know if you're going to look like somebody from a magazine cover," he said.

Somebody like Routhier, perhaps. Last month, the personal trainer was selected from 1,700 entrants as the winner of Men's Health's first-ever "Be a Model" contest. The magazine's online voters decided he fit perfectly into a pair of swim trunks.

Mark Pothier can be reached at mpothier@globe.com.