New specialty store a perfect fit for ‘not so tall’ men
NEW YORK — Short men need fashion love, too.
The big and tall have their own specialty clothing stores, as do the plus size. Meanwhile, guys the size of Daniel Radcliffe (5 feet 5), Tom Cruise (5 feet 7) or Bruno Mars (also 5 feet 7) might find themselves pawing through the offerings in the boys’ department.
But in March, the menswear brand Peter Manning, which designs for guys 5 feet 8 and shorter, expanded its online business (www. petermanningnyc.com) and opened a store in Manhattan.
“You’re not going to go into the petite store for guys,” said Jeff Hansen, the brand’s co-founder and chief executive (and, at 5 feet 8, a customer himself). “This category is a real challenge to market.”
Thus, a semantic sleight of hand was necessary, he said: “We developed this concept of ‘not so tall.’ We also added a ‘not so tall, not so skinny’ line.”
For men who have spent a lifetime wearing ill-fitting, off-the-rack clothes, the store will seem an improbable wonderland: jeans that don’t bunch at the ankles; suits that fit without tailoring; dress shirts that don’t feel like dresses; polos in a range of colors, not just the last extrasmall left, in fuchsia.
Pants under a 30-inch inseam aren’t generally sold in traditional stores. But Peter Manning offers shelves of chinos, jeans and corduroys that top off at 30 and go down to 26 inches — what might be called Danny DeVito (4 feet 10) ready-to-wear.
Even the ties have been shrunken a bit.
The shop has a lounge area with a bar cart, fitting rooms and salesmen who wouldn’t be mistaken for basketball players.
“A lot of our guys have never really known what it’s like to wear proper-fitting clothes,” Hansen said. “We get him fitted up and looking good, and he walks out of here feeling like a million bucks.”
The label has so far focused on core pieces at a moderate price ($98 for a button-down shirt; $450 for a blazer), with an all-American style similar to that of J. Crew or Gant.
George Stephanopoulos (5 feet 7) and Michael J. Fox (5 feet 4) are both customers.
Style hasn’t been sacrificed for fit.
“At our old showroom in Brooklyn, we’d have guys who are 6 feet-plus duck their head in and go: ‘Hey, I love that field jacket. Can I buy one?’” Hansen said. \
“We loved chuckling to ourselves and going, ‘Hey, sorry. Doesn’t fit