Abram Sauer of Esquire uncovered a disturbing truth: you haven't actually maintained a 36" inch waist all these years. Men's fashions, like women's, reflect vanity sizing:
I enjoyed many of these pants, as I mentioned, but I'm still perturbed. This isn't the subjective business of mediums, larges and extra-larges — nor is it the murky business of women's sizes, what with its black-hole size zero. This is science, damnit. Numbers! Should inches be different than miles per hour? Do highway signs make us feel better by informing us that Chicago is but 45 miles away when it's really 72? Multiplication tables don't yield to make us feel better about badness at math; why should pants make us feel better about badness at health? Are we all so many emperors with no clothes?
Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Image: Esquire
What there isn't is a conspiracy to make people think they are skinnier than they are as they age. I would be embarrassed if I wrote that or if I fell for it.
However, it's absolutely true that clothing manufacturers have come to the realization that by fudging the measurements of clothes, they sell more. People get a high when they try something on that supposed to be a size or two smaller than they wear, but actually fits them. Logically, people shouldn't care about a number which is ultimately meaningless, yet psycologically they do care about it. It's the same with weight loss: If a person goes on a fast for 3 days, they won't lose any weight, but the number on the scale will go down, making them feel skinnier. People shouldn't put any stock in that sort of thing, but there's no stopping the subconcious reaction that a person gets.
No, it's not a conspiracy. But it is an attempt by clever retailers to game people into buying product based on dishonesty.
some pants appear to be intended to be worn at the hip level and on women, this would be significantly wider.
then there are the pants intended to be worn at the knees so that young men can show off their boxers...
But then anybody who's waist measures 41" shouldn't be wearing trousers. A muumuu would be more suitable.
You can of course have your own gauge such as "an inch short fits me perfectly" or "I like an inch of overlap for a comfy fit". You'd also be surprised by the variation in different pants of the same size and this quick check will save you several trips to the dressing room.