A while back, I was listening in to a tech podcast of some kind with the ever famous podcaster Leo Laporte, as well as one of my favorite characters, Chicago Sun-Times technology columnist Andy Ihnatko.

Andy, for some reason, had made a point to mention about his favorite new pants.  Sounds weird, I know, but I was intrigued.  Upon a little more investigation, it revealed some pretty interesting information as well as an observation I should have already made.  That observation is that manufacturers of tactical clothing for police and military are forced to carry a wide and varying amount of sizes to appease the needs of those government agencies.  And they also sell them to the general public.

Andy Ihnatko was specifically mentioning a company by the name of 5.11 Tactical and what he referred to as his Internet Tactical Pants.  You can take a look at their selection by clicking the following link:

5.11 Tactical Big and Tall Section

Andy Ihnatko, explaining the origin of the “Internet Tactical Pants”:

Look at all the crap he packs into those in this video!  Unreal.

Further exploration of 5.11 Tactical’s website reveals a pretty decent big and tall section, although some amount of ordering and trying things on may be necessary to figure out what your actual size is with these folks.  I haven’t ordered from them yet, but I intend to, and I plan to let you know how it goes.

A few things of note:

Pants aren’t the only thing they sell…  5.11 Tactical appears to have a selection of Polo Shirts ranging up to 5XL-Tall as well as other shirts, undergear and other big and tall items.

Some of the pants, specifically the ripstop nylon variant of the Tactical Pant, come in sizes like “XXXL” rather than standard waist inch measurements.  Your mileage will definitely vary with these, so do your research.

The 5.11 Tactical pant in most big sizes is only available with an unhemmed inseam/length.  This can be challenging for those with a “normal” inseam of 32″ or less, however this could be seen as an opportunity to get that custom fit by having them hemmed at your local tailor.

Personally, I see this as an advantage…  I ride motorcycles and pant legs tend to be too short once I’m sitting on the bike and feeling the wind hit my ankles because my pants are not long enough to reach down there once seated on the bike.

All needs aside, this looks like an excellent new source for Big & Tall clothing that fits an active lifestyle (or particular career) and I hope to be trying their products out soon.  Once I have an idea of how their sizing fits me, I hope to report back and give a review once they’ve seen some action.

Categories: Apparel / Clothing, Big & Tall Lifestyle
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