Thursday March 7, 2007 1:35 pm Eastern Time
By Jan Paschal

NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) - OK, guys, you know who you are. You stand 5 feet 8 inches tall -- or (gasp!) less -- in your socks or bare feet.

When it's time to shop for clothes, it's clear that the U.S. apparel industry gives guys of your stature the short end of the fashion stick. "I carry shirts in a 14 (inch) neck and a 30 (inch) sleeve," said Gary Anders, the owner of Napoleon's Tailor, "the clothier for the man 5 feet 8 inches or under," which has two stores -- one in Milwaukee and one in Chicago. "You're not going to find below a 33, maybe a 32-1/2 sleeve, or below a 14-1/2 neck, in most stores."

The lack of selection -- in retailers and clothing choices -- is not due to a shortage of potential customers, in Anders' opinion. He estimates 30 percent of the U.S. male population -- perhaps as many as 37 million American men -- could shop at Napoleon's Tailor or its counterparts -- if they chose.

"Most short men are used to wearing baggy or loose clothes," he said. "They're in denial." That denial has a trickle-down effect, discouraging men who need clothes in this size category from buying them. That, in turn, makes it a challenging business for apparel makers and retailers who specialize in the shorter-man sizes. "If you're talking about stores that cater exclusively to shorter men, you'd have trouble getting to 10," Anders said. "I can't be a customer of Levi Strauss," the jeans maker. "They want a high-volume clientele. I have to go to a manufacturer with excess capacity that will do a special cutting."

Muldoon's Men's Wear, Inc., in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, about an hour east of Minneapolis, carries clothing for "big and small, short and tall" as well as regular sizes -- a strategy the 52-year-old family-owned business began years ago to compete with department stores, owner John Muldoon said. Online, Muldoon's -- famous for the flashing shamrocks on its home page -- shows customers what's in stock in certain items and sizes, Muldoon noted. "We carry Bill Blass jeans, a nicely made jean," in short-rise and short-inseam sizes, said Muldoon, who estimates 10 percent of his brick-and-mortar store's business is in the short-man category, while 60 percent is big and tall men's clothing, and 30 percent is in regular sizes.

"If someone's looking for short-man sweaters, I send him to Napoleon's Tailor," Muldoon said.

SHORT INSEAM ALONE WON'T CUT IT

One of the worst shopping problems shorter men face: Finding a pair of slacks or jeans with a shorter rise. Anders, of course, stocks dress pants and jeans in a range of waist and inseam sizes proportioned for short and extra short men. "Men will fix on a number, a waist and inseam size," he said. But, he noted, a 32 waist, 28 inseam -- if it's not cut for a shorter man -- is not that different from a 32 waist, 32 inseam. It's just 4 inches shorter. "When a shorter man puts on a taller man's pants, the crotch is too low, the butt's in the thigh, the thigh's in the knee and the knee's in the calf," said Anders, who stands 5 feet 5 inches tall in his socks. "They need a shorter rise," which describes the waist-to-crotch segments of the front and back sections of a pair of pants. Whatever you do, don't call Anders or his customers short. "It's those other guys who are overly tall," Anders jokingly told Reuters.

Barry Goodstein, of Milwaukee, an associate publisher of Travelhost Inc., a Dallas-based privately held corporation known for its magazine placed in hotel rooms, said wearing clothes in the right size is an experience every man of shorter stature should try. "When you put on clothes that fit you properly, it is amazing," said Goodstein, a Napoleon's Tailor customer. "All of a sudden, you aren't wearing bulky sweaters. When you put on a pair of jeans, the rise is proper. It takes some adjustment. You feel better -- even a short Jewish guy like me. I'm 5 feet 5 inches and a fraction." And, of course, once Anders converts a shorter man to clothes that fit right, he's careful not to walk into Napoleon's Tailor wearing something baggy or scruffy. "Oh, Gary will embarrass you. He'll say, 'What's that you have on, that old schmatte?' which is, of course, Yiddish for rag or junk," Goodstein said.

A SHORT STORY

Napoleon's Tailor, which Anders and his wife Brigid started in 1994, is one of only a handful of stores nationwide that specialize in clothes for men of shorter stature. (To check out his inventory, see: http://www.napoleonstailor.com. For information, call: 800-233-9522.) "My wife wants to get credit for naming the store," Anders said. "We came up with the idea after years of having trouble finding clothes to fit me. We didn't want to call it Gary Anders' Short Man Shop. We didn't want to use the 'S' word" and "make it the butt of jokes" among taller people.

Napoleon, by the way, "stood 5 feet 2 inches tall, according to the short version of the Encyclopedia," Anders said. "He was short by military officer and aristocracy standards." And although some biographies of Napoleon peg him as slightly taller than that, if the brilliant French general and emperor were to walk into his store, Anders would have a 14/30 shirt and a sportscoat, probably a 36 extra short, in several styles ready to show him.

Short Persons Support, a Web site that offers advice to people of shorter stature, lists 14 clothing and shoe stores nationwide (see: http://www.shortsuppport.org). It notes catalog and Internet retailer Lands' End, Inc. (NYSE:LE - news) and Brooks Brothers, the home of the tailored boardroom look, carry some clothing in shorter sizes. The short-man specialty stores include the Jockey Club Ltd., of Santa Ana, California.

An important aside: The ShortPersonsSupport group's Web site also lists a "Who's Who of Short People." But curiously, it doesn't list Andy Rooney, the CBS "60 Minutes" news correspondent. (As a woman and a journalist who stands 5 feet 1 inch, I've had a secret crush on Rooney ever since we shared an elevator ride in 1985 at a journalists' convention in Phoenix. After all, he's one of the few giants of the news business I can see eye to eye with. So Andy, if you're reading this now, this one's for you, baby!)

Confidential to readers who notice this column is not quite as long as the others: I was told to ... keep it short.

(The Shopping column runs weekly. If you have questions, information or comments related to shopping or this column, please send them to Jan.Paschal(at)Reuters.com)