Where to shop for men's riding clothes

[AMWookey]

Posting this in off course to hopefully get the widest demographic. Where do guys who ride shop? My hubby is always bitter that there are so many options of quality breeches or show shirts from me to choose from (and bargin shop for, since we do appreciate quality but having two riders who show is pricy)

We debated even starting a blog or writing articles about this in case there are other people out there with this problem. If I want a new pair of breeches, or curious about a shirt or brand of boots, I do a search, find COTH discussions, find a blog, find a review article. If my husband wants to know, he has to somehow find a store that sells it, go see if its in driving distance, or order and hope for a good return policy.

He had a Male coach for awhile, who always had the same problem, but with him showing hunters, and being the typical Male rider shape, it was easier. Mine played international volleyball for years and while he doesn’t have the height of most (played defensive position in the back), he had tree trunk legs for most of his life. Now that he primarily runs/rides, he still has muscular quads, just not as bad as before, and a small waist. Breeches like struck, that are supposed to fit guys like him? He had to go up 2 waist sizes for it not to be indecent.

It’s not that he needs to be a fashion plate. He just wants to find options to try. He wants to know which brands are good, which fit for certain body types, etc.

Is there anyone or anything filling this market space? (Which is decidedly small)

[McGurk]

Totally, totally misread the title of this post. :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

My answer was going to be “Are you sure you really want one? They’re an awful lot of trouble to keep.”

ETA: The OP changed the title of the post from “Where to shop for men?” to “where to shop for men’s riding clothes?”

[AMWookey]

@McGurk

Totally, totally misread the title of this post. :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

My answer was going to be “Are you sure you really want one? They’re an awful lot of trouble to keep.”

Were you expecting it to be one of those poorly written spam ones??

[McGurk]

No, I has expecting a serious, heartfelt post from a COTHer living the rural farm life who was having trouble meeting people to date.

I was half expecting that wonderful joke about the husband store. You know -

"A store has just opened in New York City that offered free husbands. When women go to choose a husband, they have to follow the instructions at the entrance:

"You may visit this store ONLY ONCE! There are 6 floors to choose from. You may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to go up to the next floor, but you CANNOT go back down except to exit the building!

So, a woman goes to the store to find a husband. On the 1st floor the sign on the door reads: Floor 1 - These men Have Jobs

The 2nd floor sign reads: Floor 2 - These men Have Jobs and Love Kids.

The 3rd floor sign reads: Floor 3 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids and are extremely Good Looking.

“Wow,” she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going. She goes to the 4th floor and sign reads:
Floor 4 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Good Looking and Help With Housework.

“Oh, mercy me!” she exclaims. “I can hardly stand it!” Still, she goes to the 5th floor and sign reads:
Floor 5 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Gorgeous, help with Housework and Have a Strong Romantic Streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the 6th floor and the Sign reads:

“Floor 6 - You are visitor 71,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that you are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store.”

Dear OP, I am so sorry for completely derailing your thread. I agree, this is a real problem. Most of the male professionals I know have roughly the same body type - tall, thin, hipless. My recommendation is to shop at stores for foxhunters, as that sport tends to have more men, and men that fall outside the body type.

Horse Country in Warrenton might be a place to start.

http://www.horsecountrylife.com/

[Trakehner]

Fun, isn’t it? I was looking a the Dover Saddlery catalog…there was a guy on the cover and a whole 2 pages of guy riding stuff (and 80 pages of women’s stuff). I called the headquarters and was actually told, “we’re not interested in the male trade”. Well, never a Dover customer again. Men may not buy as much riding togs as women, but they aren’t only 2% of the market.

He can try foxhunting stores (e.g. Horse Country Saddlery in Warrenton VA…yes, they have a website). There are also reenactor websites…these can have some beautiful britches that are US and European designs of older cavalry patterns…and, they’re really not that expensive.

There are also some English/German websites that have a good selection of men’s riding stuff.

He’s going to have to go custom when it comes to boots and chaps (I do too…Dehner makes a very good line of boots for guys who actually have calves…they make boots (regular and field boots for motorcycle officers)…they would have stuff that would fit him. Also, Dehner makes a 3-buckle field boot (they’re what Ronald Reagan was usually seen wearing, they’re pre-WWI artillery boots and are adjustable and very comfortable.

Good luck…internet is his friend.

[McGurk]

Duplicate post, sorry.

[McGurk]

Sorry, Trakehner got in ahead of me with the rec for Horse Country.

[FitToBeTied]

I find that when I am in a tack store or at an event, I always look for britches whether I need them or not on the off chance that I might find (1) men’s britches and (2) my size. Then I pretty much buy them out. I found one pair last spring and I only use them for fox hunting.

On boots I would have him look at the Dehner Patrol boots but buy the off the shelf version if he can. Dehner sucks at custom. The Patrol Boots are durable and made more for a guy.

[CanteringCarrot]

Yeah, it can be difficult to shop for a man/be a man shopping for Equestrian clothing.

I’d check out some of our European tack shops. Male riders are very common here. More than I remember in America.

Divoza has a selection of men’s clothing and they ship internationally, for example.

[AMWookey]

He lucked out in a random tack shop in Zephyrhills, Florida and found a pair of Tredsteps that fit him really well. Deeply discounted because they were a size they couldn’t get off the shelf. We ration his use of those (rides in ariat half chaps) because we know we got lucky.

He is kicking himself that he didn’t buy more breeches when he was in England. Work needs to send him on more trips overseas obviously.

[GreyDes]

Shop the UK stores online. The dollar is reasonably strong and you won’t pay VAT.

Amira Equi and Redpost are two to start with.

Does FITS still offer Men’s breeches?

[GreyDes]

FITS does have a Men’s knee patch breech. I haven’t seen these in person, but may be worth checking out. I have the women’s full seat breeches and the fabric is very stretchy. https://fitsriding.com/collections/mens-collection/products/mens-hudson-woven-knee-patch-breech?variant=16352776257595

[2DogsFarm]

@FitToBeTied

Dehner sucks at custom.

Something must have changed in the last 15yrs…
I’m still using my custom paddocks from Dehner - circa 2002 - both for riding & Driving.
They have even been worn as streetwear, so comfortable,
This is my 3rd pair of customs from them - 1st 2 lasted 10yrs+ each & zipper* death was the fail.
I went to slip-ons & never looked back.

*only Dehner carries the correct length zipper, got tired of sending boots to Nebraska for new ones.

@McGurk :lol:

[173north]

Send him my way! I have a big international clientele and so stock more men’s wear than most US tack shops. It’s still not an enormous variety as men are maybe 15% of our clientele, but I’m always adding pieces and am happy to order in anything I don’t stock.

Between Ariat, Ego7, DeNiro and Parlanti we can always find a tall boot to fit men, too. Happy to PM you my email!

[Mango20]

It’s frustrating! My 17 year old son has a mix of men’s and women’s breeches. He is not the “typical” tall skinny rider, he’s 5’6" and an “athletic” shape with waist size of 28 or 30. Men’s boots are too tall for him, and until now we’ve been lucky that some sale price off the shelf womens’ size 11 boots fit him pretty good. I look for men’s stuff on consignment whenever I visit a consignment shop. That keeps the overall prices lower, since men’s stuff new is more expensive than women’s, for whatever reason. He’s also still young enough to like to have “fun” colors, but they’re nearly impossible to find for men. He outgrew his favorite orange breeches, which he wore until the fabric gave way.

A new Pony Club mom once asked me “where do you shop for boys’ clothes?” for her 9 year old son. I said “in the kids’/girls’ section”. In kid sizes, you have to sift through a lot of pink and purple and sparkles, but the boys can still find something at a reasonable price. I could buy him TuffRider jodhpurs for $20, or ones marked for boys for $80. He didn’t have his first pair of male-specific riding pants until he was about 15.

[SnortyPants]

I can’t imagine a good tailor worth his/her salt can’t nip a pair of breeches in to get the waist fit you want.

[walktrot]

Keep an eye on Tack of the Day. Men’s clothing and, occasionally boots show up on the Weekly Specials page.

[Guilherme]

I’ll suggest What Price Glory again. https://onlinemilitaria.net/shopdisplaycategories.asp

It’s military style clothing from past years but the breeches are modestly priced and of extremely good quality. My cotton breeches average length of use is six years, riding 3-4 times per week. I’ve got a couple of pair of wool “dress breeches” for the hunt or show ring that are now 8 years old with little sign of wear. They also have good quality shirts from different eras.

Did some Googling on this topic and found one website that looked pretty good with multiple pages of offerings. I quickly saw that this place grossly inflating it’s male oriented offerings, as many of the “linked” items were not links to a source of breeches with multiple choices in size but to a page where there was ONE “orphan” pair. Didn’t spend much time here after that.

I’ve found a couple of patterns for men’s breeches and my wife is looking amongst her sewing circles for someone who might be willing to try to make a “bespoke” pair. We’ll see how that goes.

G.

[RAyers]

I shop the usual Dover and other places. I do realize that men will pay a premium for quality. I stick with brands such as Animo, Ariat, Dehner, Pikeur, etc. Things like white ties etc. I get from formal rental shops and dressage outlets (stock ties).

I like the Animo and Pikeur fit and durability. They are true to men’s sizes and hold up well. Of course I ride in jeans and half chaps (ariat men’s) for daily work.

I am built like a brick. I am short but wear large shirts for my shoulders and neck.

[PonyPenny]

Buy from Europe. Prices will probably be cheaper. Talk or message male trainers and riders on where they buy their clothes. Most will be happy to help you. Follow some riders on Twitter and as questions.