Shopping for Clothes in the USA vs Argentina
I am 6 foot 5 and living in a land of short people (Argentines are short compared to Americans on average) makes my life difficult for shopping. At first, I used to walk in, browse around, and then see if I could find my size in something I liked. I would usually be shopping for something I needed (as most males do) and therefore not take long… but I got extremely frustrated as I could not find *anything* in my size.
Countless times I have walked into shops in Buenos Aires and I don’t even look at what they have, I just walk up to the people working there and ask if they have anything, any garment whatsoever in my size. Then they say what size are you? And this question nearly led me to yell and several of them. What size am I? I am a) standing right in front of you b) you work in a clothing shop and help people try stuff on for a living and c) I am clearly the biggest!!
In the USA I take nothing less than an XL and in one of my favorite brands, Hurley, I am XXL or XXXL. I have been this size since age 15 or 16 and back then I might be able to take a Large “Tall man”, needing the extra length, which I found a few times in t-shirts especially.
But in Argentina, even in Buenos Aires, a city of 12 million people or so, there is nothing for men my size. No shirts, no shoes and no service. I would have to imagine, given the amount of people alone that there has to be a market for this. Where do other tall Argentines get their clothes? I guess maybe I am overestimating this as I can only see the world from my perspective. Now that I think about it, I have usually been the tallest guy on all the basketball teams I have played on. And those are city league teams with x-pros and young guys who want to be pros.
So I will continue to do all my shopping in the USA for now. 😦
Expat Argentina 
Hey man, how are you? I’m big too — 6 foot 4, and used to be overweight my whole life, so I know what you mean. Sadly in this country the bigger people are left behind in this matter, and service is ALWAYS awful for us.
I used to buy in Kevingston, because most of their clothing are made for rugbiers, so it’s bigger than the other brands. The other rugby brand is Waiting. Kevingston is a little bit pricier but worth it because of the materials used, which are great. Waiting is a little bit cheaper, and it’s good.
And in shoes, I ultimately settled with my Puma footwear, which are size 46. The good thing is that you can get those for less, since nobody buys them. The bad thing is that they’re kinda heavy, and you might find them uncomfortable. I did at the beginning, but I got used to them. Search for some Puma-only store in your area, I bet they have some big shoes there.
I hope you can find some proper clothing, since I can understand perfectly what you’re going through. It sucks.
MatÃas
Matias! Thank you so much for the comment! Are you Argentine (I am assuming yes because of your name??)? It is so frustrating and I literally stopped all shopping in Argentina for clothing as I have only bought one item successfully in 7 years of living here. It was a Giesso wool winter jacket. And yeah, my feet are 47 so the Pumas might not work but thanks for the advice!
Hi Daniel, yes, I’m argentinian! I know that Puma makes up to size 48 shoes, so you should give that brand a try. The last time I went shoe shopping they offered me up to size 47, which they had in stock, and the salesman told me that they even made size 48, and that they could order them for me. Puma also makes bigger shoes than other brands, you might find that the 46 size works for you (I’ve had other 47 size shoes before and they were much more smaller than my 46 Puma).
I don’t know Giesso. Was it in Buenos Aires? You should definitely try Kevingston: http://www.kevingston.com/locales.html . Now I try to avoid shopping there because I really can’t afford it anymore, but maybe you can. If you like polo shirts and that kind of clothing, that’s the shop for you (I don’t like that kind of clothing so much, but hey, at least I was able to buy something that suited me).
I sincerely hope that you can get something you like and fits you well! I used to dream of going shopping in the States because I know that the sizes are MUCH bigger over there!
Im 6’3″ and i use XL…
Thanks for the comment!