The lack of selection and particularly among higher quality items is particularly frustrating. I show in the hunters, I had a terrible time finding acceptable quality show clothes. Show breeches are particularly hard to come by - some very poor quality/too thin/poorly made, some only in a limited range of sizes. The SmartPak Hadley breeches have been a godsend for me. I agree with the post on the last page that a lot of the higher end brands are missing out on a segment of sales by not offering more sizes, we would even pay the premium that is often charged for the extra sizes. I’d love to have the range of options other riders have.
Show coats were also an issue. RJ Classics saved the day, but I basically had one coat to pick from. Thank goodness I genuinely liked the way it fit. They have of course discontinued that one and replaced it with something that doesn’t fit the same and has the sausage casing effect of some of the new thinner unlined coats! Fortunately while they were available I bought all 3 colors in the one I liked, because I know how this goes.
In show shirts, again the options are very limited, and in some of them the proportions are just so off - I had to have the sleeves massively cut down in one plus size option because you could have fit 3 arms in the sleeve of it with as wide as they made it! Thankfully I found that an XXL in the stretchy Noble Outfitters Allison shirt fit me well. So of course it now looks like that is discontinued as well.
In boots, I had to go custom. At 16-16.5 inches, the widest point of my calves are .25-.5 inches over what most off the rack boot brands consider the “XW” option. But, the few “plus size” calf options tended to be too big, especially in the ankle. My tack shop pulled out their catalogs and went through every sizing chart and could find nothing likely to fit me, so that told me all I needed to know. And ordering custom was a nightmare - expensive and time consuming because they made them wrong and it took months to get them to make it right.
There are so few options that I’ve learned that if I run across something that I like and it fits, I should immediately buy every color they have and stock up, because a) they don’t stock many in the larger sizes so they sell out b) no guarantee I will find another option when they sell out and I need something else and c) it seems like they inevitably get discontinued!! It is very frustrating - you have to shop in advance, and try to anticipate what you will need. And if a zipper breaks or something goes wrong at a show you had better already have backup with you because you can never buy something at the mobile tack store units, they won’t have extended sizes. It takes a lot more effort to find what you need, and sometimes it is simply not available even online because they sell out. It shouldn’t be this hard!!
