Online retailer ASOS recently made history by being the first online store aimed at young people with its very own plus-size division for men.
Online, you can find dress shirts and bomber jackets and T-shirts all up to a size XXXXL. For plus-size men, it's a major step towards fashion recognizing them as consumers.
Still though, a question remains looming over plus-size male modeling: What constitutes and really defines a plus-size male model?
It's a question that was answered for plus-size female models early on. Plus-size clothing starts at a size 12 or 14, so those models did for the most part, too. But while plus-size female models and women's clothes remain boxed in by this size minimum, plus-size male models (and plus-size clothing targeted at men) don't have a standardized size minimum — or really any definition at all.
As a result, it's up to the clothing companies and modeling agencies to figure that out on their own, and as we quickly learned through various interviews, a number that remains elusive in its exactness.
Over at ASOS, the sizes for the plus-size men's section goes up to 4XL with it's pants sizes beginning at a 44-inch waist, so that means men who are that size or over are definitely plus-size. Over at the plus-size brand MVP Collections, clothing comes in sizes up to 6XL and jeans come in sizes 38 to 50. Over at the big and tall brand Oublier, shirts and pants go up to a 5XL.
