England’s waistline heads north with age
An English survey of men’s waistlines and their trousers as they age has picked 39 as the last time a natural waist exists before people’s pants are invariably worn higher and higher.
The so-called “over-achievers” hoist their trousers so high that they can be just 18 centimetres under the armpits by the time they are 57.
In contrast, the so-called “under-achievers”, which make up about 20%, have their trousers at a lower level, leaving them to fumble for belts, buttons, and zips they usually can’t see.
The survey was conducted for the Debenhams department store and director of menswear, Paul Baldwin, said that “the changing fortunes of a man’s trouser waistband can often become a metaphor for his life”.
In the early trouser stages, 12 year old boys wear their trousers around their waste because their parents buy for them but teenagers prefer a hips-level fashion down to the underpants.
Dressing for work sees an upwards trend to 20 and by 27 the natural waistline level returns.
The waistline turning point is picked at 39 and by 45 trousers are worn at least five centimetres above the waist.
By 57 the average lift over the waistline is 12.7 centimetres and after that the over-achievers take off upwards. The revealing waistline-trouser data came from a survey of 1,000 English males.
