Why are inseams so long?

Have women's inseams in stores increased in length over the past decade ?

I am an average height, 5'6"ish, but have never found it as difficult to buy pants/jeans with inseams that are the right length.

For instance, I recently ordered the J.Crew Paley pant in petite and found them to be too long (past my ankles), as long as my old regular sized Paley pant.

A pair of 3x1 skinny jeans that arrived, made for women 5'4" and under, and claiming to have a 28" inseam, are also quite long.

I don't bother trying with flares or bootcut, cropped or otherwise, regular or petite, because of the length.

Is the expectation that women wear heels daily prevalent among designers and distributors?

7 years ago

Shopping

22 replies

Latest reply was from Jenn

Alexandra

(website)

Veteran

The manufacturer might be taking into account shrinkage and the marked length is after washing. That's often the case when different colors in the same style seem to fit differently in the fitting room - they're expected to shrink to the same dimensions in the wash.

7 years ago

Karie

(website)

Veteran

I have noticed that lately most pants don't seem too short on me (I'm 5'8"), so I'm loving the longer inseam. I also love that J Crew and BR pants usually have good sized hems so I can let the hemline down if I need to.

7 years ago

Anonymous

Because some of us have such long legs and for years we were forced to buy pants/jeans/slacks that were ~1 inch too short. We finally rebelled and refused to buy any pants that were too short.

7 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Yes, Sterling!

I am wearing a pair of jeans today that requires a little bit of rolling, and I'm not complaining. Too many times I've tried on jeans and pants that fit well...until I look down and see I'm ready for a flood. Pants can be hemmed, but you can't add fabric when you're a long-legged lady.

7 years ago

gradfashionista

(website)

Veteran

Ideally, there would be average, short, and tall inseams, but I've found that what counts as "short" has also increased in length to the point of being of being average. While you can hem skinnies ad infinintum, if you're inseam is 27-29", you can't hem most flares and bootlegs without radically changing the silhouette.

7 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Maybe this accounts in part for skinnies moving into the "classic" territory. Shorter types like me can alter without destroying the line.

I'm glad if trousers are long enough for taller women; I've always had to shorten trousers and factor it into the cost. But I agree it can be very frustrating if it spoils a flare. In some cases it doesn't seem to matter, though. I still have a pair of GAP Long and Leans; they were billed as boot cuts but despite the fact that I had to hem them quite a lot, on me they read more like a flared jean than a true bootcut. It's all a question of proportion and on my smaller body, even the truncated flare seems relatively wide.

7 years ago

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

I am 5'3.5" exactly and could never buy petite pants or jeans as they were too short. I am short from the waist up, and proportionately a bit longer from waist down. Now I look for petite lengths as they are perfect on me, not needing any alteration, so you may be on to something. If you are very petite, like 5', you may always need to alter even petite lengths.

7 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I'm 5ft 6 and never need to hem anything, so I don't have the same impression as you. The cropped lengths fall at a perfect length most of the time too. AND I don't wear heels that often either. I'm lucking out, I guess.

I still find most skirts and dresses shorter than I like to wear.

7 years ago

catgirl

Veteran

I'm barely 5'2" and it's super annoying even though I have a long inseam. Betabrand just started carrying some of their pants in a "short petite" length of 28" after numerous complaints.

7 years ago

Staysfit

Veteran

What? I haven't noticed this at all?! I'm just shy of 5'9". IMO it's easy to hem an item and make it smaller. It's very hard to find items with allowances to make them longer. I bring almost everything to the tailor. If you think an off the rack garment is supposed to be made to fit you, than you need to have the same measurements as the fit model it was desigigned for.

7 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Angie, you're so lucky!

Denise, do you find the rises are proportionately okay for you? That's often one of my sticking points with petites, the other being the length. In the past, petites were always too short, just as you found. And we're the same height.

If rises are increasing along with petite lengths, I need to try that route because it's a rare regular jean or trouser I don't need to hem. In a few cases I get lucky with the crops -- if I pick what is meant to be a shorter cropped length it might be exactly right as a longer crop on me.

7 years ago

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

Suz, I've had great luck with BR this year! As an erstwhile queen of premium denim, I really appreciate that BR has petite cropped jeans sizes. Everything I've gotten from them over the past year, one coat (that famous citron green one) and two pairs of jeans, fits me really well. I do have a long rise for a petite, as well as long thighs (and short calves), but find nothing to complain about their sizing or the petite rises. What I especially loved is I could get that released hem look at the right cropped length. I do find that I might need the bigger of my two sizes in petites though.

7 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oh, that's so helpful, Denise. I did that with those released hem crops but didn't size up and they felt a bit snug in the rise and I wasn't reaching for them, so I passed them on. But that's such a good trick -- to size up in petites. I used to do that with petite tops and jackets now and again and it worked pretty well.

We have really similar proportions, it sounds like -- I'm long in the rise, long in the thigh, but short in the calf. No wonder we like a bit of a heel, right?

7 years ago

gradfashionista

(website)

Veteran

Staysfit, I don't expect items to fit off the rack (especially in the waist) but I noticed a change in inseam over the years. Fifteen years ago, Reitman's jeans were just a tad too long for me and needed to be hemmed about an inch; even if they weren't hemmed, they could still be worn. I never needed to seek out petite options. But around ten years ago, their inseams started to become much longer, to the point that I could not longer cuff or hem items without ruining the bootcut or flare. Keeping in mind that the longer inseam doesn't reflect the the average height (or sales demographic, from the locations I visited), the change puzzled me. I clearly have a shorter inseam and longer rise than many others, but I'm wonder about why the inseams seem to have changed--changing consumer demographics? Heel heights? The attitude that everything can be hemmed but not lengthened? Or something else?

ETA: Interesting -- http://www.latimes.com/fashion.....story.html

7 years ago

Nebraskim

Veteran

I'm with Sterling and Janet. I am 5-8 but have 32.5 inseam for PPL. So 31s are no-goes for me. I always try to buy talls (34-35 inches) and pay to have them altered. I'm finding that most pants today are way too short (esp ankle-length pants). I have poison eye for flood pants and I will NOT buy nor wear ankle length pants. I guess none of us ever find perfection on the first try.

7 years ago

Barbara Diane

Veteran

Grandfashionista, that article is interesting. And what about the idea they are making "short" styles for the average size woman. Shouldn't they call those average, and the size they've been making talls?

I'm guessing that the size of the tallest women is definitely increasing. When I was in school, I'd guess the tallest women were 5'9". Now we have young female cousins that are just over and under 6'.

7 years ago

Author Linda

Veteran

I'm 5'7 with long legs and for the first half of my life pants bought off the rack were often too short and left my ankles showing. To this day, I have trouble seeing ankle pants as anything other than off. The recent longer inseams suit me just fine. More options.

7 years ago

Alexandra

(website)

Veteran

The industry standard is 35"? Since when? I'm 5'5.5" with a short torso/long legs figure and I've always had to look for the Long inseam because the Regular is too short. I haven't shopped for jeans in the last few years but if the inseams are really that long now, maybe I should check them out soon.

7 years ago

Diana

Veteran

I remember back when premium denim was just beginning to be a big thing, in the late 90's/early 00's, and everyone was wearing bootcuts, the premium denim brands often had a 34-35" inseam because you were expected to wear them with 3-4" heels. So many people seemed to have the 7 for all mankind bootcuts that were way too long and so they constantly stepped on the hem, because apparently we were all willing to pay for premium denim but not to get them hemmed? Lol. Anyway, then skinnies got popular and inseams got shorter bc you don't need to make them 4" longer to accommodate heels. Now my hunch is that since wider legs/flares are coming back the inseams are longer again.

7 years ago

VioletMyra

Active Member

I have a 33 inch inseam and buy jeans and chinos from Lands End as they hem to my requirements. Here in Australia getting an inseam, for women, past 30 inches is rare.
Best wishes to all.
Denise

7 years ago

RobinF

Veteran

Since I am only 5'2" I almost always have to hem pants, sometimes even petites or short lengths. Luckily I can do it myself or I would have very few pants. However some really can't be hemmed nicely. Jeans especially have a certain shape or type of hem that is difficult to change and have still look the same as the original. Hopefully the longer lengths are increasing you taller ladies options but still leaving options for those of us who are shorter.

7 years ago

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

I'm 5'9" (short legs for my height, but still...). I had to have a pair of regular length pants hemmed this past week. That never happens!

7 years ago

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