Large Size Clothes Shopping in Taipei

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
#1

I’m a US expat living in Hong Kong, who will relocate to Taipei.
I’m about 6’1," broad shoulders and have a US Shoe size 13 / EU47.
I’m big. But not quite “big and tall” big. At least by US standards.

Can anybody tell me if it’ll be hard to find clothes in Taiwan?
All the threads on this forum about this topic are are several years old.

Generally, in Hong Kong I don’t have a problem finding shirts, jackets and pants.
Selection is a bit limited, but not too bad. FWIW: A Uniqlo XL / XXL shirt size will fit me.

Shoes are very difficult to find in HK, but not impossible. I mostly buy shoes on my trips to the USA. But given the current troubles, a visit to the US seems a long way off.

#2

Yes. And you can pretty much forget about shoes.

#3

You’ll most likely not having any problems with finding fitting short clothes. Long clothes, especially sleeves of shirts, jackets etc. are often cut shorter than their western counterparts.
Shoes will be a problem. I’d recommend to buy more than one pair if you manage to find fitting shoes. Sometimes (Adidas/Nike/etc.) can order larger sizes.
If you need formal clothes, fitted (and even bespoke) suits are quite affordable here.

#4

How big boned are you? :wink:

6’1", by itself, shouldn’t be a problem, depending on weight - I’m 6’ and can buy clothes in Taipei no problem (180lbs). and the young’uns are pretty tall, such that I don’t seem particularly tall there these days (30 yrs ago, as a teen there, I felt like a giant).

There’s uniqlo, and plenty of western brands at the big masks of you have to. Shoes might be tougher…

#5

If you are more on the slimmer side, you will also have problems with cloths as the stuff you can buy here for tall people is mostly for tall and fat people. At least that is what I found when I tried to buy jeans

#6

180 puts me at 24.4 bmi. I definitely haven’t had the same experience as you.

#7

I am a little taller and a little slimmer, so maybe that makes the difference. Was first so pleased that I found something length and waist wise and only subsequently noted that there is more to fit than length and waist

#8

Young people in Taiwan now are considerably taller, and the general population is also much fatter than they were ten to fifteen years ago, when the information you read may have been written. It is common to see men, even woman taller than 185cm in Taipei. The average is probably around 170cm, but that is heavily brought down by the ageing population, who are much shorter than the youth.

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#9

I’m 6’2 about 215lb and uniqlo fits me.

#10

Once you know your type of shoes, Amazon ships free to Taiwan just like Hong Kong so no worries on the shoes

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#11

They dress like a woman but I can assure you they’re not.

#12

Thanks everybody for all the replies. Sounds like I’ll be able to find pants and shirts in Taipei.

@Poundsand 6ft 180lbs sounds awfully slim to me! I wouldn’t say I’m fat, :flushed: but I’ve definitely gotten a middle age spread over the years. :confounded: My pants size is 36x32, and some months that 36 is a little more snug than others. :laughing: Let’s just leave it at that. :wink:

@chichow8: Good to know about Amazon. I actually haven’t tried mail order because my feet are also irregular and hard to fit. Even in USA, where I could try them on, I have to reject about 5-10 for each shoe I actually buy. Is Amazon that forgiving? To do this via mail-order sounds like a huge hassle. But maybe I should try this option. Yeah, getting shoes is a nightmare for me, even in the US.