What is Longer Length Clothing?
If you’ve been out shopping any time in the last year you have probably noticed that some mens fashion stores and boutiques are now stocking a range of tops that are longer in length and when tried on in the dressing rooms will likely finish below the top of your pant line. This style of clothing often referred to as longline tees or tall tees, was popular in the nineties specifically amongst urban and hip hop communities wanting longer length plain tees and then eventually spread to the snowboarding, skateboarding and basketball circles. Whilst previously reserved for tall people as well as more alternative cultures, tall and longer length clothing has found it’s way in to mainstream male fashion. Longer length clothing as well as being perfect for anyone over 6ft for the added length is not just restricted to tees, hoodies and sweatshirts though. Finally clothing labels are starting to realise that we as a society are only getting taller and are now starting to provide longer length jeans and trousers, button-ups, suits, polos and even singlets and tank tops.
Who is Wearing Longer Length Clothes?
Longline T-shirts and longer length clothing is obviously predominantly worn by tall people as it’s elongated design definitely suits their build more. From rappers to sports players, tall clothing definitely doesn’t discriminate. Apart from people that are vertically gifted, longer length tees and tops have also been adopted by many high fashion brands as part of their new collections in 2014/2015 because of their versatility and layering options. With this means that a whole list of celebrities and basically anyone that can afford your high-end fashion brands are getting in to their longer length clothing at the moment, whether it’s simply tall tees, droptail tees, extra long under t-shirts (that are used essentially as a base layer garment to layer other clothing on top of) and even the tunic style oversized tees that are getting around at the moment.
Tall clothing also appeals to many different alternate cultures, again because of it’s versatility and that it’s such a simple idea in theory (adding some extra length to a t-shirt for instance) but stylistically just works so well. Extra-long clothing and oversized stuff will more frequently be worn by snowboarders, skateboarders, Bmxers and even free runners (parkour) because of it’s non restrictive nature and that it can add great ‘steeze’ or style to what they’re doing.
Trend or Fad?
Generally the difference between a trend and a fad is how long it will become popular for. A fad will often be popular for one season (if that) and ultimately have a short life cycle where as a trend is something that may last over several seasons and will not just be restricted to one industry but will cross over multiple industries, whether it’s fashion or music and become more accepted by the mainstream. Common examples of fads are often found in the dieting world where new diets may become old news in a matter of months, soon to be replaced by something else. Trends on the other hands are generally created by what are known as “trend-setters”. Whilst it may be a cringe-worthy term there are definitely people and companies leading the way in trend setting. A common example would be Apple products as they’re more often than not setting the trend in electronics.
So when it comes to fashion who are setting the trends and how long will they last? It really depends what circles you’re in to who you would consider a trend-setter in the fashion world. When it comes to longer length clothing most of the trend setting happened in the streetwear world that draws most of it’s influences from the hip-hop community. Kanye West would be an example of an ambassador for tall clothing, often seen wearing oversized t-shirts, tall tees, drop-crotch pants and longline tops from high-end fashion labels.
So are these tall tees that labels are producing going the way of other recent fad clothing items like the onesie? Or will they be around for a while to come? Whilst it may sound bias coming from a label that specialises in longer length apparel for tall people, take is from us that they’re here to stay. Let’s face it tall tees are nothing new, they have just simply found their way in to mainstream fashion at the moment with the amount of hip-hop and 90s influences that are in fashion right now. Does this mean I should stop wearing tall tees? Absolutely not, fashions come and go but the practicality of longer length clothing is here to stay. Not only does it mean that as a tall person you are less likely to have to show off midriff or have your shirts be too small after putting them through the wash, but it also just doesn’t feel right ever putting on a ‘normal’ size t-shirt after getting use to wearing tall tees or longline tees. We for one are excited by the rise in availability of tall clothing, for so long it was really hard to find and very restricted to the likes of big and tall stores that stocked out of fashion items. Now it’s relatively easier to find a plain tall tee or a loud printed tall tee alike, with more competition the standards are raised and it’s essentially opening up a whole other category of clothing to shop from.
Where Can I Shop Longer Length Tees & Apparel in Australia?
We recently wrote an article of places to buy tall and longer length clothing in Australia, you can check it out here.
Otherwise feel free to check out our range of:
- Tall Tees (currently 9 different colours to choose from in a range of cuts)
- Droptail Tees
- Tall Hoodies – https://plus2clothing.com/product-category/tall-hoodies/
- Tall Singlets & Tank tops
We are constantly expanding our range of tall clothing and have stockists Australia wide if you want to go in to a store and try some of our stuff on. You can check out our list of tall clothing stockists here. Alternatively feel free to browse our shop page and enjoy free postage Australia wide when you spend over $70.
