Buying loose trousers above about XL usually means guessing. Charts stop at 3XL, the largest sizes have no measurements at all, and the size letter turns into a hope rather than a specification.
The dropped rise ought to be the easy answer at larger sizes, because it puts fabric below the seat instead of stretching it across. That only works if the garment is actually cut big enough, and if somebody has published the number so you can check.
What reaches, and how far
Hip measurements at the largest size in each cut:
- Gelyu: 136.7 cm at 5XL, 102 cm length
- Pokku: 136.7 cm at 5XL, 100 cm length, in cotton denim
- Kireina: 136.7 cm at its top size, 101 cm length
- Shinbo: 131 cm at 5XL, 104 cm length, and eight sizes to get there
Three of the four reach 136.7 cm through the seat. For context, that is a garment measurement rather than a body measurement, so it accommodates a hip somewhat below it once you allow for the room the cut is supposed to have.
The size letter is the least useful thing on the page
Kireina makes this obvious. Its largest size is labelled 2XL, and the hip on that size is 136.7 cm, which is larger than Shinbo's 5XL at 131 cm.
Two garments, a three step difference in the label, and the one with the smaller letter is the bigger trouser. Nothing is wrong with either chart. They came from different factories with different labelling conventions, and the labels were never reconciled because there is no standard to reconcile them to.
If you shop this category by letter you will get this wrong repeatedly. Read the centimetres.
Which one to pick
For the most sizes: Shinbo runs S to 5XL, eight steps, which gives you the finest gradient in the family at roughly 2.5 cm of hip per size. If you have been between sizes elsewhere, this is the one most likely to have a step that lands where you need it.
For the most room: Gelyu, in a cotton and linen blend with a pleated front and ribbed cuffs. The pleats matter at larger sizes because they distribute volume rather than letting it hang as one flat sheet of fabric.
For structure: Pokku, in 80% cotton denim. Heavier cloth holds its shape and does not cling, which is often the actual complaint behind wanting something loose in the first place.
Measuring yourself properly
One number, taken once, saves the entire guessing exercise.
- Stand normally. Do not brace or hold your breath.
- Take the tape around the fullest part of the seat, usually around 20 cm below the natural waist.
- Keep it level all the way round. A tape that rides up at the back reads several centimetres small, which is the most common measuring error there is.
- Compare that number against the hip column, and pick the first size at or above it.
No tape? Lay a trouser that currently fits flat on the floor, measure straight across the hip at its widest point, and double it.
What the weight columns are worth
Some of these charts carry a recommended weight. Shinbo's runs from 50 to 60 kg at M up to 110 to 115 kg at 5XL, converted from the supplier's original figures in jin.
Use it as a sanity check and nothing more. Two people at identical weight can differ by 15 cm through the hip depending on where they carry it, and the hip is the measurement the garment actually has to clear. When the two columns disagree, the hip decides.
Fabric at larger sizes
This matters more above XL than below it, because there is simply more cloth involved and its behaviour becomes the dominant thing about the garment.
Pleated fronts help. Pleats gather volume into folds that fall in an organised way rather than letting a wide panel hang flat, which is why Gelyu holds a better shape at 5XL than an unpleated cut of the same width would. Structure helps too, which is the argument for the denim: heavier cloth stands away from the body instead of draping onto it.
Light linen blends are the one to be careful with at the top sizes. They breathe beautifully and they cling when there is a lot of fabric and any humidity, which is the exact complaint most people are trying to solve.
The waistband, which nobody checks
Every cut here uses elastic with an internal drawcord. At larger sizes that combination is doing real work, because the difference between your waist and your hip is usually greater, and a fixed waistband sized to clear the hip would be loose at the waist.
Practically it means you should size on the hip without worrying that the waist will be too big. The drawcord takes up the slack. It does not work in the other direction, so there is no recovering from a hip measurement that was too small.
Two things to avoid
- Sizing up for length. On these charts a size step buys two to four centimetres of length and six to seven of hip. If it is length you need, choose the cut with the longer chart rather than a bigger size of a short one.
- Assuming plus means shapeless. A closed ankle keeps the silhouette deliberate at any size. It is the open hem versions that go wrong, because there is nothing stopping the volume.
An honest limitation
Not every size in this range has a published measurement. Shinbo is sold from S but the supplier chart begins at M, so size S has no row. We have left it blank rather than interpolate a plausible looking number, which is the policy set out in how we measure: the charts are the manufacturer's own tables, transcribed and converted, never estimated.
An empty cell is more useful than a confident guess when you are the person who has to wear the result.
For the mechanics of the shape, see what baggy pants actually mean, and for a worked sizing example the Shinbo size guide. The full range is in sarouel and harem pants.