Ok to begin with I’m a big guy, 6"3" and on a good day 250 lbs. so I need a new pair of waders so…after looking around I ordered the waist high stocking foot Gore-Tex from a major company in their XXL size.
Here’s the frustration part. When they arrive I tried them on and they fit perfect “except” the booties are sized like size 13 and I wear a size 11 shoe. Of course I saw that on their ordering form but thought perhaps they would adapt as my wading shoes are sized size 12.
My next step was calling the company because I wanted to ask their product folks why it was that the booties could not be offered in a size 11 or at least a 12. Their answer was the foot sizes are made proportioned to the wearers height and waist size.
So of course I said…well then why dont you offer various sized booties as a special order and charge a few bucks more?
The answer was it would not be cost efficient because there would not be enough people order them to make a profit.
I find this hard to believe so what do y’all think am I alone in this problem or have you also ran across it.
Any solution ideas will be appreciated.
Poke 'Em, powa is a growing boy and has to keep up his strength.
In terms of your currently owned waiders, I would say do what you can with them or return them or sell them. They make waders with open pants leg style bottoms (you wear them like pants) and you put a separate boot on. Then you put on these sealing gators that go over the tops and the loose pantleg bottom. I have NO idea how well this works. But at least then you can buy one pair of waders and can get various pairs of boots to match with them. They’re not as well insulated at the bootie kind in that you’d probably have to get thick wool socks to wear in the boots you choose.
The answer was it would not be cost efficient because there would not be enough people order them to make a profit.
I find this hard to believe
Its the truth. Especially for large companies. They have long production lines to make identical sets of waders around the clock. To make a change for just one or two (or even one or two hundred) causes so much down time that its not an economically attractive option.
To adapt a Lincoln quote to marketing: You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot please all of the people all of the time.
To make the most money, they’ve elected to please most of the people, most of the time. Unfortunately, you fall outside that demographic.
I’m sure you can find a place that’ll make custom tailored waders, but expect to compensate them for their time accordingly.
I have a similar problem. I am 6’2" and weigh anywhere from 250-280. It doesn’t matter what size I order, I have a size 16 foot. I finally found some folks that make a large boot, but my waders are still not big enough to allow for a thick pair of socks. Simms will make a larger bootie for a price, that is what my next pair will be, perhaps they will make a smaller one for you.
Yes, this is very true. I know from lots of personal experience shopping for waders, though my problem is quite the opposite…giant feet and no one making the booties anywhere near big enough. I recently settled on a new pair or Orvis Proguides (XXL) where the booty was refreshingly comfortable on my big feet, maybe the problem your having was to my advantage eh?
If the problem persists, buy Patagonia. Their waders are tougher anyway and they WILL do the custom booties at about $40. I recommend the new Watermasters or Watermaster Lites. They are a heck of a lot of wader for the money. I beat the absolute poo out of one pair I had for 7 years and they are still in good shape. The only reason they are backups now is because the feet on them were standard (too small) and the seems on the booties started to wear bad from me cramming my feet in and yanking them out. They STILL don’t leak but I fear not for long.
Try a different brand. I am 6’2", 259, and wear an XL in a major wader brand. They fit fine, not too tight, lots of room around the middle even in the winter when wearing a couple shirts and fleece pull over. The booties fit fine over a pair of heavy socks. I wear and 11 or 11.5 shoe. My wading boots are 13’s. PM me if you wont the wader details. I don’t want to turn this into a wader brand war thread.
It IS frustrating that certain “assumptions” are made by wader manufacturers as to boot size relative to height and weight. I have a similar problem with my Orvis Pro-Guide in the Large size. Boot size is 10.5 - 11 and my feets are 12+. I have been curling my toes now for about 6 years. As soon as they leak, they’re outta here so my toes can get back to normal shape.
Thanks for the replies all its seems there is no real solution. One guy said poke a hole in the bootie and send them back to be fixed and ask for another size bootie when there fixed…Hmm! do ya think they would figure that one out? :rolleyes:
i gotta buy an inseam of 32 (actual is about 26-27) and a bootie size of 9-11. where the hell do i stuff all of that excess neoprene and excess leg material???
The sizing problems with fishing togs hits folks with many types of body shapes.
Case in point: I’m 6’ 2" and my inseam measurement still exceeds my waist measurement.
Here’s are a range of fishing slack sizes for one well known company.
Mens - Waist - Inseam
S - W: 28-30" - I: 30 "
M - W: 32-34" - I: 31 " ( a waist size that I could work with. )
XXL - W: 44-46" - I: 34" ( the only one they offer with a 34" inseam. )
My #'s - W: (31"-32") - I: 35"
So I pitched the idea of selling a long inseam, non-hemmed fishing slack by waist size, that could be tailored to fit each angler, thus allowing the same pair of fishing slacks to be sold to a greater range of anglers. For most I thought, having a new pair of slacks hemmed is no big inconvenience or expense.
I knew from past experiences what the likely answer would be before I ever pitched the idea, but I gave it a try anyway.
End result, it’s not going to happen. I can live without three pairs of $70.00 floods.
I have many friends and clients who need “special dimensions” on their waders. So far, Simms seem to do a good job getting the right booty to the proper inseam length to the correct “belly” size.
It does cost a premium though.
My 0.02$ (and our 2 cents canadian is starting to catch up with the Green Back )
I had a similar situation when buying an off the rack suit. I wear a 44 jacket. The sets at the store match that jacket with a 40 waist. I’ve lost a lot of my spare tire, so I’m wearing a 34 waist now. Ended up having to get separate pants and matching jacket. Fortunately, they do match.
It’s going to be even funnier in about a year or so. I’ve been lifting again, so my back and chest are filling out. I may need a 46 jacket and 32 waist pants.
Simms will definitely do this. We ship lots and lots of custom waders like this. Right now it is $50 extra to get custom sized stockingfoot waders or $100 for the bootfoots. The bootfoot waders are DEFINITELY worth the price. I work there and I am going to pay that $100 to get a set of boots to put on my own waders. They are just about the only bootfoot waders that I like. My feet are very oddly shaped so I have to be careful with bootfoot waders, especially since some of the waters around here are VERY silty. You can always call them up and ask, worst case you buy a different kind, but both Simms and Patagonia do custom feet.
The only gripe I have with my simms waders is that the chest comes up a bit higher on me than I would like. Gives me too much confidence that I wont get wet, so I keep winding up with rivers up to my ribcage then having to fight my way back out… Kinda dangerous, but oh well, its my own simple-mindedness. Patagonias that I have seen tend to be about 2 inches less in the chest, and might make it easier not to forget that this water is moving…
Just imagine if you were 5 feet 4 and 250 pounds with a size 8 foot! Like someone mentioned waders are assembly lined so dont waste your time. Your only option is someone like SImms or Patagonia who will customize
Powa, you could send’em back and shop around for a pair that fits right, or special order from a company that makes them to order. Or, have the ones you have taken in a couple sizes on the stocking feet, seal the heck out of them with a seam sealer and use them like that.
My waist high waders are neoprene and the foots on them are too large. I just pull them up to my toes and stuff my foot in the wading shoe, then cover the wad with gators. Jim
well talk about hard to fit I am not small, being even now over 6 foot 5 inch ( was 6 foot 7 old age and back surgery ) a good 250 plus( more like 300). foot size 13 lol with a chest over 52 inch you try to find waders… the only ones I found that were not special order that fit off the rack were Patagonia watermaster.
Ghost
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