Help me find clothes for my very thin 14 year old son

[Meriwether]

I took my 14 year old shopping today. It was not a success. He is 5'5 and almost 90 pounds. He has a long torso and long arms but narrow shoulders. He has no butt. No butt at all. Last year he wore 14 slims with the adjustable waist from Old Navy (Sorry. Dd gets her jeans from Target). The adjustable waist made them fit okay, but the butt was noticeably baggy on him. We tried 16 slims today, and they were embarrassingly baggy. His 14's are getting short, so I need to find something soon. Size 14-16 long sleeve shirts are too short on the arms but anything bigger is very baggy. Surely someone makes clothes for this body type. I just haven't found them yet.

Edited September 12, 2018 by Meriwether

[gardenmom5]

Try online.  Super skinny extra scrawny sized, (2dd didn't gain weight until she was 5'9")  are usually special order.   

Be sure and do flat front pants -no pleats, and no relaxed fit.

Try a skinny Jean cut.  (Not the same as slim)

 

Edited September 12, 2018 by gardenmom5

[Starfish]

You could also try a slim cut jean which are made in regular and slim sizes.   You'll find those more readily in stores.  Depending on where you live, your Wal-Mart or Tractor Supply may have cowboy cut Wranglers in stock.  They're usually a more slim fitting jean.   I'm no help with the long arms.  Ds' sleeves were perpetually short until he was older and could wear a larger size.  He seriously had to grow into his arms ?

[laundrycrisis]

JC Penney Arizona Flex Slim Straight jeans come in 26x36.  They don’t stock the small waist tall length jeans in the stores, but you can order them online and have them shipped to the store for free.  You can order multiple sizes and when they come in, try them on and immediately return the ones that don’t fit.

[sarasue7272]

I order slim sizes for my son online. Children's Place works best for him as far as pants/shorts. They go up to 16 now. Skinny fit has never worked, those basically are super slim legs and regular waist/hips. He tried on a pair last year and they didn't fall off, but the fabric at the waist did not touch his body at all - just stood up all the way around! 

My son still has to adjust the waist a good bit on slim pants so they can appear a bit baggy. He is short in the torso and long in the leg so shirts generally cover it up. I feel like he gets a better fit with children'ts place than old navy though.

[madteaparty]

H&M, Boden (in each skinny fit) and then uniqlo maybe? 

[MEmama]

We are having luck with Patagonia. They sometimes have XXS and XS, which seem to affect the waist and leg width, but are still long enough (DS wears 26/33-34). 

Decathlon is finally available in the US https://www.decathlon.com/. The US site carries a decent number of of athletic pants in that size (in the past we've stocked up when in Europe). I expect they will carry more as their popularity increases here.

Seconding H&M. Also American Eagle for sweatpants, but alas not their regular pants.

[hippiemamato3]

Abercrombie & Fitch runs really small (and comes in slim.)

[Arcadia]

What is his chest and arm length measurements? How long a torso? Also waist and inseam needed?

Quiksilver and Joe’s jeans fit my kid with a flat butt. Joe’s jeans has the longest inseam that I can get off the racks at stores for DS13 to try for fit. DS13 does men’s small slim fit for long sleeve tops because he needs the arm length and shirt length as well as the narrower shoulder width.

For affordable everyday smart casual shirts, my husband has luck with Forever 21 but he is just slim build, normal torso, normal arm length. 

ETA:

H&M shirts has the longest sleeves among all the shirts my husband bought off the racks. He has American Eagle, American Rag, Forever 21, Gap, Quiksilver, Banana Republic, Mossimo Supply, St John’s Bay.

Edited September 12, 2018 by Arcadia

[Meriwether]

Thank you everyone. We don't have many of these stores locally, so I will have to look online. We think he can get by with a 27 x 30 and a belt if the butt isn't cut too big, we are going to try ordering a couple jeans from different brands and see what they look like. It may involve some return shipping, but hopefully we'll find a brand that works. I haven't measured his arms and torso but they are both long compared to his shoulder size. My husband has the same problem. As an adult he wears an xl for the sleeve length and torso length even though he could wear a large otherwise. 

[kbutton]

Listening in. I have one of these kids, but he's not as old yet. He'll be having a massive growth spurt in the next year or two, and I'm concerned about keeping him covered. He's really into ancients, so maybe a Roman toga...I have been clipping the elastic with slits in it out of his adjustable pants when they're destroyed (I pass on skinny stuff that's not destroyed to people with slim kids) so that I can maybe attach it to adolescent or men's pants in the future, lol! I've never seen the right elastic at a sewing store.

On the men's side of things, some stores now carry Tall sizes in Large. My husband is a medium but has super long arms and legs (short torso). Tall clothes used to be restricted to larger sizes, but LT is a real thing now, even in some pretty traditional stores, so you might find something for your hubby without undue trouble.

[Storygirl]

15 hours ago, kbutton said:

Listening in. I have one of these kids, but he's not as old yet. He'll be having a massive growth spurt in the next year or two, and I'm concerned about keeping him covered. He's really into ancients, so maybe a Roman toga...I have been clipping the elastic with slits in it out of his adjustable pants when they're destroyed (I pass on skinny stuff that's not destroyed to people with slim kids) so that I can maybe attach it to adolescent or men's pants in the future, lol! I've never seen the right elastic at a sewing store.

On the men's side of things, some stores now carry Tall sizes in Large. My husband is a medium but has super long arms and legs (short torso). Tall clothes used to be restricted to larger sizes, but LT is a real thing now, even in some pretty traditional stores, so you might find something for your hubby without undue trouble.

?

I have a skinny guy, as well, though he's not going to be as tall. He can still wear the boys' size14 pants with the elastic waistband, but he's going to grow out of kids' clothing soon. Buying pants for him has been challenging, and is only going to be more so, once he has to wear men's sizes and the elastic is no longer an option. I hadn't thought to try to repurpose it!