An End to Tall Women’s Shopping Nightmares

Stefanie Drew wants a pair of leather pants. “I saw some at Zara a while ago and was like, ‘Oh, my God, these are beautiful,’ ” she says. “But I can’t wear them.” That’s not something you’d expect to hear from Drew, who’s 27, a size 6, and dresses like someone who can tell you a lot of stories about going to Coachella. In other words, she’s Zara’s ideal customer. Except for one thing: Drew is 6 feet 2. That sizes her out of pretty much everything in the store, as it does at other retailers she wants to shop at, such as H&M, Forever 21, American Apparel, and even the small boutique where she works in Toronto. “If I bought pants there, I’d just look like I was walking around waiting for it to flood,” she says.

Most discussions about fashion’s refusal to acknowledge diverse body types focus on plus-size women, who struggle to find brands willing to cater to their frames. But tall women may be even more underserved. “You wouldn’t think so, because models are all so tall,” says Clary Hilliard Gray (6'1"), who runs a fitness studio in Charlotte. “But most stores don’t sell that many clothes to supermodels.” Or to tall women who don’t walk runways: Women who are 5'8" and taller make up only 5 percent of the U.S. female population, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. And making clothes to fit them takes more than just adding a few extra inches to existing patterns. Buttons need to be moved. Jean pockets may need resizing. “A cute flair may look good on a petite blouse, whereas on me it’ll look like I’m wearing a dust ruffle,” Hilliard Gray says. For most brands, changing designs for such a small pool of potential shoppers isn’t worth the effort. “When everything got tough during the recession, retailers took a step back from ‘tall.’ Now you almost never see it in stores,” says Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst for NPD Group.