Can we just pause for a moment and acknowledge that a name like “Fuller Fillies” is insulting as heck?
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I wish boots would come in wide and extra wide widths in the FOOT part. I have always had slightly wide feet and finding boots was difficult. Once my feet widened from arthritis, I could not find boots at all, either tall or paddock boots.
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I go up and down. Right now, I’m up. If I’m shopping online, I can NEVER find sizing that actually equates to inches in the places it counts, like waist, hips, rise and inseam, so finding a good fit is shooting dice.
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Yup, boots here too. Even at my not plus-sized size, I couldn’t find boots with wide enough calves. Seriously, posting for for hours gives you some wicked calf muscles lol. And a lot of breeches/ tights that do fit, don’t have enough rise- I’m not big into advertising plumber’s crack
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I’m not even a plus size and I’m only 5’6" and I’ve had trouble finding boots that are tall enough and wide enough for me… after ironically never being able to find boots tall and skinny enough when I was a kid.
I remember Fuller Fillies. I would agree on the assessment that most of what they sold was on the short side. I’d also say that it never seemed to be high quality - everything had an entry level feel about it. It didn’t feel serious, like it was meant for serious, capable, competitive riders. I’m sure OP could find some old catalogs or advertisements where their stuff was listed, would be interesting to see if she got that same vibe.
Again, I’m not plus size, but I hate the implication that if you’re large you won’t appreciate or need high quality items made of high quality materials and with quality tailoring. Large ≠ poor. Large ≠ incompetent. Large riders want to look good, like they belong, just like every other rider.
I am sure that the person who created that line had no intent to give that impression; she was probably just trying to make it affordable. But IMHO, it was just not successful. Showing isn’t affordable anyway.
One of my own personal pet peeves in this area is sun shirts. I am a size 12 and I wear a medium polo shirt from Land’s End. My favorite riding sun shirts are from Kastel Denmark and Romfh - and they are both XL. Vanity-wise I don’t give a ###. But what does piss me off is that I really wanted to get shirts like this as gifts for friends – friends who are active, athletic riders – and this is the biggest ### size they make? Large people don’t need sun protection?
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Fuller Fillies is still in business, they just don’t have, as far as I know, a US retailer. You can, however, shop online and have stuff shipped from the UK. https://www.fuller-fillies.co.uk/
I tried a couple of pairs of Fuller Fillies breeches back when SmartPak(?) sold their stuff, but the proportions didn’t work for me. I’m more “apple” than “pear,” and their breeches were cut more for the pears. Plus, the crotch was baggy.
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Yes, this, 100% I will never ever regardless of my size buy something called “Fuller Fillies”
I have the boot problem…no matter how thin I have been in my life finding boots that fit my calf, are not bagging in the ankle, and are tall enough is a horrid headache. I have to buy new boots before I show next (because it has been so long my show boots are now quite devolved to schooling only lol) and I am DREADING it
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Boots and a jacket that will fit a 40D chest. Even at my smallest, I needed a jacket 3 sizes bigger for my shoulders and boobs
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Thank you everyone, I really appreciate the help you’ve given me!
I find the most annoying problem is proportions, as others mentioned. I also have this problem with women’s street clothes, and buy juniors or misses. I wear a 12-14 in street clothes, but was miraculously able to buy a size 13 juniors dress for New Year’s. Haven’t done that in a while! My biggest gripe - shirts, in particular, are just too dang short. I have long legs and a short torso, so it really annoys me that shirts are even short for my short torso. Arms are usually a bit snug, as well.
Interestingly, this past year, I’ve had the opposite of a problem with show jackets - they’ve been too big! I had to exchange a Kerrits one TWICE to get the right size, going down two sizes from what the measurements said I’d be (started at 1X, tried XL, ended on a Large. IDK why there was a 1X and an XL option, isn’t that the same thing? The option is no longer shown on the website I ordered from). The large is still a smidgen big, but a medium would be too small. I’ll just have to get it taken in if I ever lose enough weight. Requested the same size, Large, for a new Equine Couture jacket for Christmas (burgundy - I’m obsessed!), and it fits perfect. I was SHOCKED both times.
I’m a size 34 breeches, the largest you can typically get without going to something like Fuller Fillies, I think. But definitely NOT low rise. Nope nope nope. Those aren’t fitting in a 34.
I don’t have a problem with boots other than trying to sell gently used ones. At least for Ariat’s, I wear a size 7 (small feet!, I’m 5’7’’), Tall and Full calf. So not quite wide, but wider than average. Apparently, everyone else with size 7 feet have slim calves :lol:
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My personal pet peeve with boots if you look at the sizing charts, is that the calf widths increase only as the foot size goes up. So while a size 11 XW calf might go to 18 inches, the size 7XW in the same boot might only be a 16 inch calf. Why???
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Boots are impossible!! My calves are just shy of 17", but I’m also tall. When you can find that size calf in a tall boot, it’s usually the widest size - and it’s only offered in one height which is never tall enough.
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No. It’s not nearly as insulting as all the other brands of riding clothes that ignore the existence of full-figured horsewomen.
OP, there is a thread, I think it’s in the hunter/jumper forum, about womanly-sized riders. You may find some interesting posts there about clothes.
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I’d love to find these in plus-sizes:
- [B]Non-custom tall boots.[/B] The shaft shapes off the rack are wack. I have small feet, small ankles, wide calves, and regular knees. Three pairs of boots –– all custom.
- [B]Vests, jackets, hoodies, etc[/B]., that flare out enough and don't get stuck under my butt while I ride. Two-way zippers that can be undone from the bottom up.
- [B]Cool shirts for summer riding[/B]. Wicking material in styles that aren't form fitting
- [B]Non pull-on breeches.[/B] Would love to find zipped, stylish, breeches that fit different body shapes. As a short apple with slim legs, it's hard to find breeches that fit both at the waist and around the legs. I can only fit into Tropical Riders or customs like Anstaadt Das.
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That is actually how Kerrits does their sizing and no, it doesn’t make any sense. The XL and 1X are different sizes, with the 1X being bigger. It should go right from XL to 2X.
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In street clothes the proportions are different between the M-L-XL sizing and the 1X-2X-3X sizing. Generally XL and 1X are not equivalent. Some makers even have a 0X which I guess is a sorta roomy but not huge size. So Kerrits sizing makes sense to me.
Of course there’s vanity sizing now too which means that an XL these days would be a 1X or larger in the old days.
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/fashion/news/a44774/women-clothing-sizes/
Reason 9,999 I have to try things on before I buy!
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This!
Proportions are definitely different. Same with regular sizes vs. W sizes (18 vs 18W, for instance)
In equestrian clothing, even if you can find breeches that fit, try finding them in WHITE! What, plus-size people are not supposed to compete in shows? Yeah, I know white is not absolutely required, but in a sea of white-clad stick figures at a dressage show, I don’t want to stick out for both my size and the “wrong” colored clothing.
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As mentioned there are so many issues with finding clothing that fits.
For me, show jackets are never wide enough in the bust. Once I get a jacket big enough to fit around my bust its super loose around the stomach and needs to be taken in, or else it looks too messy.
Boots. I am currently trying to fit my fat calves into a pair of Ariat Xwides. Its a crappy processes. These are the largest boots I can find. Im hoping once I get them broken in and stretched that they will fit. If not, a cobbler is going to have to add an extra panel.
Low rise breeches are the work of the devil. I need a pair of breeches that come up over my tummy and tuck everything in. And with a bust shirts arnt that long, and with low rise breeches of course they cant be tucked in!
Has anyone else had issues with breeches getting stuck on the calves? A couple pairs I have, have extra stitching in a design or something around the calf, and its a struggle to get this over the largest part of my calf.
Its pretty shitty that so many equestrians have to go through this process of not being able to afford custom and just dealing with things that don’t fit right. Its such a demoralizing process.
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Agreed. I’m willing to drop the money on Animo or Charles Ancona clothes if they made larger sizes. They are missing out on a lot of $$$ by ignoring the ones that aren’t built like 12 year olds at almost 30. Hell I’d even pay the plus size “premium” some brands add to their plus sizes. I know that the patterns are different and usually don’t move as fast so they cost more to produce. I’m not even that large, but the sizes in equestrian clothes especially are insane. I think the largest Grand Prix jacket is sized at like 16 but actually fits like an 8 or something because they use sizing from the 1940s. Us chunkers deserve nice looking riding jackets and breeches that don’t looks frumpy.
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I can wear off the rack breeches, I just have to find regular rise. No one in the size range we’re discussing wants to wear low rise.
Boots and half chaps? I can squeeze in the Tredstep half chaps with all the elastic in the 17/17, but the calf is snug. Instead of tall boots, I wear Ariat paddock boots and the Ariat Men’s smooth leather half chaps - the extra large calf regular height. That’s an 18" calf and 17" tall.
I would love some extra tall or extra stretchy boot socks.
Jackets are a freaking nightmare, shirts only slightly better. I have a 44" chest and broad shoulders and the best I have come up with is a men’s 46" jacket and then have it tailored.
I think someone made the key point from a business perspective above - it’s difficult to make this an online or catalog business because sizing is not consistent and we’ve all been burned.
The market is probably large enough to be sustainable IF you could do it as internet or catalog; but probably not sustainable for a local shop that just carried plus sized equestrian clothing.
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