NEW YORK – Short men need fashion love, too. The big and tall have their own specialty clothing stores, as do the plus size, while guys the size of Daniel Radcliffe (5 feet 5 inches), Tom Cruise (5 feet 7 inches) or Bruno Mars (also 5 feet 7 inches) may find themselves pawing through the offerings in the boys’ department.
But in March, the menswear brand Peter Manning, which designs for guys 5-8 and under, expanded its online business and opened a store in Manhattan. Located on the third floor of a building in the Flatiron district, the shop has a discreet presence at street level, as if to acknowledge the mild embarrassment its customers may experience on their way in and out.
“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 5-8, 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 extra-small left, in fuchsia.