Help my husband turn (sartorially) Japanese.

June 14, 2010 6:47 PM

Help my husband find some clothes to fit his average-height, slim physique. While in Japan.

My husband is about 2/3 of the way through P90X and and is getting in great shape. He was initially excited when his pants started to get loose, but now they are seriously starting to sag and that style is just not working for an engineer in his mid-thirties. His loose pants are 31 waist (Eddie Bauer, mostly) and it is pretty hard to find grown-up pants smaller than that (31s are hard to find as well) here in the U.S.

He is on his way to Japan for two weeks, and I had the brilliant idea that Japanese people are smaller than Americans, and maybe he could find some clothes there.

He needs a 32-33" inseam and mostly needs business casual clothes for work - chinos and (narrowly cut) button-down shirts. He has a fairly conservative style. He will be in Tokyo for a day, and is then spending the next two weeks in Amagasaki. He speaks a tiny little bit of Japanese.

I told him to find a Uniqlo store. Where else should he shop?

posted by jeoc to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (7 answers total)

He shouldn't have any problems with clothes. I'm 5'11" and can find Uniqulo pants and shirts that fit fine. If he wants to buy shoes and has feet larger than a U.S. size 9 or so, then that will be an issue, but for clothes, no problem.
posted by zardoz at 7:03 PM on June 14, 2010

When your husband gets back to the U.S., he can check out J. Crew and Brooks Brothers. My husband can get 29 waist at J. Crew (don't know if these are in-store-- he mostly shops online) and buys both J. Crew shirts and the slim-fit shirts from Brooks Brothers. For polo shirts, he has found that Lacoste has a good fit.
posted by scarnato at 11:47 PM on June 14, 2010

Just FYI, J. Crew no longer has stores in Japan, but Brooks Brothers and Lacoste are still doing business here, if he wants to go that route. But they are certainly more expensive than Uniqlo. What's your husband's budget?
posted by misozaki at 1:25 AM on June 15, 2010

As a 31, I've found that Perry Ellis and Lacoste really do end up being my defaults for new clothes that fit. Incidentally, for slightly less traditional but great fit button downs, I popped over to H & M and found some great fits.
posted by Hiker at 3:33 AM on June 15, 2010

Muji's clothing section is great for slim-fitting business casual type basics. Comme ça du Mode might also have what you're looking for, and both are major retail chains that will have stores nationwide. Both occupy around the same price range as Banana Republic does in the US.

Going to the men's floor of department stores will also be fruitful. You should not have much difficulty finding men's pants with waist < 30 at most retail shops.
posted by C^3 at 10:14 AM on June 15, 2010

Uniqlo is okay, but the clothes are definitely casual. Muji has some more interesting (and more professional looking clothes), but what he should do is check out the men's section of any department store - Shinjuku would be a great choice because it's easy to get to, there are lots of stores to choose from, and it's a destination in and of itself.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:14 PM on June 15, 2010

Response by poster: Cheaper is better in terms of price. Banana Republic and J Crew are probably too expensive.

He's actually having a tough time navigating around the area - I think it is hard for him to find places and figure out where he is going. He was in Osaka yesterday, and looked at some clothing stores, but thought the things he was looking at were too expensive.
posted by jeoc at 10:33 AM on June 19, 2010