5 Pants Brands Worth Trying If You’re a Shorter Guy
Featuring Mike from @shortkinglifestyle’s favorite places to shop for pants.
Video by Mike at @shortkinglifestyle. Watch the original Reel on Instagram.
Finding pants that actually fit is one of those things that sounds simple until you’re a shorter guy trying to do it.
You find the right waist, but the legs are way too long. You find a shorter inseam, but the rise feels off. Or you finally get the length right after hemming, only to realize the shape of the pants doesn’t fall on your body the way it was supposed to.
That’s why we liked Mike from @shortkinglifestyle’s roundup of five pants brands he’s personally tried as a shorter guy: Abbreviated, Uniqlo, Abercrombie, Zara, and ASOS.
Some work for him right off the rack. Others work because they offer alterations, cropped options, or a wider range of sizes.
And one — Abbreviated — approaches the problem a little differently by designing pants specifically around shorter proportions in the first place.
Abbreviated: Pants Designed Specifically for Shorter Men
Mike starts his list with Abbreviated, calling us “one of my favorites” and pointing out that we make clothing specifically for guys who are below average height.
That distinction matters.
A lot of brands solve the short-pants problem by offering a regular pair of pants in a shorter inseam. That can absolutely work, especially when the rest of the fit is already good.
But inseam is only one part of how pants are proportioned.
The rise, knee placement, width through the thigh, pocket placement, leg opening, and overall shape of the pant all affect how it looks on a shorter frame.
Our approach at Abbreviated is to account for those proportions from the beginning instead of treating shorter length as an afterthought.
That’s why our Pants for Shorter Men collection includes multiple silhouettes — chinos, cargos, workwear pants, and sweatpants — built around shorter inseams and shorter proportions.
Uniqlo: A Good Option If You’re Open to Alterations
Uniqlo is another one of Mike’s favorites, largely because of the ability to alter pants to a preferred length.
That can be a really useful option for shorter men.
If you try on a pair of pants and the waist, seat, rise, and thigh already feel right, shortening the hem may be all you need.
The important thing is to look at the entire fit before assuming hemming will solve everything.
If the rise is too long or the shape of the leg is sitting too low on your body, removing fabric from the bottom won’t change those proportions.
We think of alterations as a great solution when length is the problem, rather than the entire fit.
Abercrombie: Some Styles Can Work Right Off the Rack
Mike also calls out Abercrombie and says he’s personally found pants there that fit him straight off the rack.
That’s obviously the easiest outcome.
When a mainstream brand offers the right combination of waist, length, and cut for your body, there’s no reason to make the process more complicated.
One thing we’d recommend is paying attention to the actual measurements of the specific pant rather than relying only on labels like “short.”
A short size at one brand can fit very differently from a short size somewhere else.
What matters is where the pants actually sit on your body.
Zara: Check the Cropped Pants
One of Mike’s best tips in the Reel is what he does at Zara: he looks for cropped pants.
As he explains, cropped pants will often fit him right off the rack.
This is a useful trick for shorter guys shopping at brands that don’t necessarily specialize in short inseams.
A pant designed to finish above the ankle on a taller model may land at a much more conventional full length on someone shorter.
That doesn’t mean every cropped pant will automatically fit. You still want the waist, rise, thigh, and overall silhouette to work.
But it gives you another section of the store to look at instead of limiting yourself only to products labeled “short.”
ASOS: Lots of Choice, but You May Still Need a Tailor
Mike rounds out his list with ASOS, which he describes as more of a love-hate relationship.
The brand gives him plenty of sizing options, but he says he often ends up getting the pants adjusted.
That gets at an important point: having your size available isn’t necessarily the same thing as having pants designed for your proportions.
A pair can technically come in your waist size and still feel too long, too low in the rise, or simply out of scale.
That doesn’t make tailoring a bad option. It just means it’s worth thinking about before you buy.
If you already know a $60 pair of pants is going to require another trip to the tailor, that’s part of the real cost and effort of the purchase.
Shorter Inseams Are Only Part of the Answer
A lot of conversations about pants for short men come down to inseam.
And yes, inseam matters.
But we think shorter guys should look at a few other things too.
Rise matters. A rise that’s too long can make the entire pant feel oversized, even when the hem hits at the right place.
Knee placement matters. Pants have shape built into them. If that shape was developed around a significantly longer leg, hemming the bottom doesn’t move the knee higher.
Leg shape matters. Being short doesn’t mean you have to wear skinny pants. Straight, relaxed, loose, and baggy fits can all work when the proportions are right.
And pocket placement matters, especially on styles like cargo pants where the pockets are a major part of the silhouette.
That last point is particularly relevant to Mike’s Reel.
Cargo Pants Can Be Tricky on a Shorter Frame
The cargo silhouette Mike wears in the video is a good example of why proportion matters beyond inseam.
Cargo pants have more going on visually than a basic chino. You have larger pockets on the sides of the leg, more volume through the thigh, and usually a straighter or more relaxed silhouette.
When those details sit too low, the whole pant can feel oversized.
That’s one reason we developed our Straight Cargo Pants specifically around shorter proportions.
They come in 25", 26.5", and 28" inseams, with a mid-high rise, room through the hip and thigh, and a straight leg. The leg shape is adjusted proportionally depending on the inseam rather than treating every length as exactly the same pattern with fabric removed from the bottom.
The goal is still a relaxed cargo look — just one that makes sense on a shorter frame.
If the cargo pants in Mike’s Reel are the style that caught your eye, our Straight Cargo Pants are a natural place to start.
Do Short Guys Need to Wear Slim Pants?
Definitely not.
One of the biggest myths in shorter men’s style is that everything needs to be as fitted as possible.
We don’t think that’s true.
Mike’s Reel itself shows how many different options are available now, and broader trends toward straight and relaxed pants have made it easier to experiment.
The important thing is proportion.
A straight pant that falls cleanly from the hip can look great on a shorter guy. So can loose jeans. So can cargos.
The problem usually isn’t that a pant has volume.
It’s when that volume was shaped for a much taller body and ends up sitting in all the wrong places.
The Best Pants for Short Men Are the Ones That Fit the Whole Body
There isn’t one brand that’s going to work perfectly for every shorter guy.
That’s part of what makes Mike’s list useful.
Uniqlo gives you alterations. Abercrombie may offer a combination that works straight off the rack. Zara’s cropped pants can be a smart workaround. ASOS offers plenty of options if you’re willing to tailor.
And Abbreviated takes the more specialized approach: designing the clothes around shorter men from the start.
Whichever route you take, don’t judge a pair of pants only by the number printed next to “inseam.”
Look at where the rise sits. Look at where the knee falls. Look at the shape through the thigh and leg. Look at where the hem meets your shoes.
Because the goal isn’t just to find pants that are short enough.
It’s to find pants that look like they were supposed to fit you in the first place.