Try Equestrian Collections too.
Fields Fabric carried 4-way stretch, breech fabric last time I was there. Several traditional colors to choose from. They also sold the breeches patterns, so you could get someone to make breeches that fit him correctly, for you. They have a website.
Purchasing, I always bought 2 sizes up from sonâs measurements when he was young. We got ladies breeches with front zippers. Guys do NOT want the painted-on look as girls did, and he was not sloppy looking or constricted with the fit, using larger size numbers. None of them were ever big on him. I think they measure finished breeches all stretched out!! I myself, buy larger sized breeches than my measurements, because I want them comfortable, smooth, not stretched to the max. We later found his larger clothing in Hunt suppliers.
Guy clothing cost more because the fabric, workmanship, overall quality, is MUCH higher than womenâs clothing. They wonât buy junk.
He has found that he likes a certain Horze breech, we watch for it on sale. Tailoredâs fit him well, but we are eventing now so I am not really worried about spending the money on those. He also got a pair of pikeurâs in England for a song that he loves.
He prefers the technical fabric, and i ended up buying a lululemon white golf shirt as a good enough short sleeve show shirt. I have been looking for a couple technical shorts, found some back in Canada, havenât found them here yet.
Maybe now that we are eventing in a location that has more guys, he will make friends with other guys who ride and they can figure it all out together, lol.
If he doesnât quit whining Iâll take him bra shopping and that should make him count his blessings.
Better men"s britches material is the 2-way stretch stuffâŠthe 4-way is too much like panty hose. There were some britches I tried on that I wouldnât leave the changing room. Guys shouldnât ride in yoga pants sort of material (actually, women shouldnât either).
Shirts and jackets arenât problemsâŠboots and bitches are the achilles heel for kitting out males of any age nowadays. Very sad.
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I know this problem! For my functional-but-not-particular-extravagant tastes:
For the big ones: Dover is not quite a dead loss but pretty close, and their menâs section has been getting smaller and smaller. Smartpak is a little better, especially in middle-of-the-road sizes, but not great. Adams by contrast is super-helpful; theyâre not a stocking dealer for a lot of stuff but they generally list everything that exists and usually get stuff quite quickly from their distributor, so for instance sizes that Iâve actually had Dover and Smartpak tell me didnât exist at all were right there on the Adams site. (They were also more than happy to special-order me Ovation breeches that werenât on their web site, and actually sat with me for a while flipping through the Ovation dealer catalog looking for stuff that might work for me.)
Other than Adams, though, nobody seems to want to stock or even deal with much in gentâs riding clothes, so I go direct and shop with whoever makes it. Horze (horze.com) makes a big selection of menâs stuff, and if you keep an eye on their endless, endless sale email you can often pick it up at a really nice price. I also like Tuffrider (breeches.com) for basic breeches, but they seem to be cutting back on their offerings, sigh. RJ Classics (rjclassics.com) has several show coat options for men, too.
Fuller Fillies is great for half-chaps for larger calf sizes, though hard to find in the US since Smartpak dropped the line. I never did find a good answer for off-the-shelf tall boots since about when I aged out of eq, but for that I went custom from Kroop and am deliriously happy with them and I hope I never need new boots again.
He isnât whining lol. He has been an athlete his entire life, he is used to wearing clothes that help athletic performance, and just like I am particular about what he rides in, as most women are, so is he. I am just trying to see if there is other websites we missed, or review blogs or whatever. I count my blessings every day that I have a spouse that shares my same passions, so I try to lower his frustrations with the industry where I can.
And for the record, I am difficult to buy bras with because your standard offerings donât fit (nothing that fits in the band is big enough in the cup) and he comes shopping with me every time to offer support since he knows itâs my least favorite thing in the world. I donât want my things bouncing around on display when I ride⊠guess what? He doesnât either! :yes:
That was the struck for my SO. The owner and creator of the brand happened to be in the booth when he was trying them on at the Royal, and he was so insistent that he would find the pair to fit him, that it wasnât possible that another dude wouldnât like them. He was super nice, and so helpful, and who knows, maybe now, a couple years later, there is a style that would fit him. All I know was after he left the change room once, saw all the eyes on him, he didnât come out again !
I donât know where you are, but Saddlery Liquidators in VA has the largest stock of menâs breeches Iâve ever seen in person. Itâs a clearance store, so most of them are terrible, but itâs worth a look if you are nearby.
My personal solution is to go to international level horse events, shop the trade stands, then once you have a brand you like mail order future items. Iâm buying from http://shop.goodfellow-reithosen.de/index.php?page=categorie&cat=2 because I like German style, but donât like the prices of the brands that have international distribution. Europe has a lot more menâs riding wear. I donât think mail ordering random brands is a winning strategy but most of their mid level stuff is not distributed internationally.
We are in NC now, we used to be in Ontario.
That is how we found out he liked Horze breeches. We were in Fort Lauderdale for a wedding, so extended our stay to hit up WEF, and he specifically went to vendors with guys on staff. One of them showed him the horze breeches and we bought 3 pairs bc they were such a great price. We also went to the consignment shops in Wellington and Ocala.
Hoping my work and his allows us to get to Rolex this year, and if I donât have to head back to Canada for work, we will be able to head to Florida again to see my folks and do some shopping, and be around for some of the big events in NC this spring.
Then maybe he will do some reviews of some breeches and jackets. Help out others with the same problems!
This is such a tough spot for tack stores. I work at Maryâs in Del Mar; we carry Pikeur, Horze, TS, Schockemohle, Tuffrider, etc, which is a good range of price points for breeches. We also carry show shirts, ties, jackets, boots, etc. However, if we have too much in stock it seems to sit there forever. Sometimes men are a challenge to fit in breeches and boots but these days most have no qualms about choosing a womenâs version.
I know itâs hard to fit the boys, it took me awhile to outfit my own son when he was 14. Childrenâs hunt coats are supposed to be unisex but the styles are getting much more fitted now to look like scaled down versions of the ladies coats. This makes it difficult for the boys as well as the girls who arenât slender.
AMWookey - if you ever need help finding something or looking for a sale, message me. We often have items that arenât on the website yet and I can let you know what we have in store.
Adams Horse Supply has a pretty good selection.
Schokemohle has a good selection but can be a bit pricey with vat and shipping.
Also check out Robinsons. UK stores and catalog but have some reasonable price options.
