Coat Shoulder Width for Tall Men: The One Measurement That Sorted Twelve Coats

I have bought and taped twelve coats this year at 6′8″, 285 lb. Most went back. When I lined them up by every measurement I took, one number sorted them better than any other: the shoulder, seam to seam.

Not the chest. Not the label. Not the length. If you only check one figure on a coat listing before you order, check that one — and if the listing does not give it, ask.

The short answer

• My own shoulder is 24 inches point to point across the back.
• Every coat at 22.5 or under went back. Seven of them, with no exceptions.
• Every coat at 25 was too big everywhere.
• Both coats I have kept sit at 23 and 23.5. The working window is 23 to 24.

That works out to a coat shoulder in the inch just below my body measurement. Your number will be different. The method is the same: tape yourself across the back, then look for coats in the inch below it.

Twelve coats, sorted by shoulder

Measured flat and unstretched, seam to seam across the back, every figure in inches. Chest “around” is the flat chest doubled — it is the coat’s circumference, not mine.

Read down the first column and the outcomes fall into place. Seven coats measured 22.5 or less and every one of them went back. Both coats I kept sit at 23 and 23.5. At 24 it splits — one kept but a little big, one returned for bulk. At 25 it is over.

Why the shoulder decides it

Every other dimension on a coat has a workaround. A sleeve can be a touch long. A body can run long and you accept where the hem lands. A chest can be roomy and you wear a thicker layer. A shoulder has no workaround. Too narrow and the seam sits on top of your arm and pulls the whole coat back. Too wide and the seam drops down your arm and the coat looks borrowed. No tailor fixes it for the price of a coat.

It is also the dimension tall sizes get wrong most often. A tall label adds length. It does not reliably add shoulder — of the seven coats that came in under the window, three were plain 2XLs and XXLs with no tall cut at all, and the other four carried a tall label — 2XLT, 2XT, 3XT — and came in narrow anyway.

The two I kept, and what they still get wrong

The Legendary Whitetails casual coat in 3XLT measures 23 at the shoulder — the bottom of the window, and the narrowest shoulder I have ever kept. When I first wore it I said it was a nicer fit than any of the others, and I held the verdict until two more coats from the same brand arrived. They have. I have taped all three side by side, and I am keeping it.

It is not perfect. The back measures 34 inches flat, the hem lands at the bottom of my seat, and at 57 around the chest it will not go over a sweater. But the shoulder is right, and that is the one thing I could not have fixed.

The barn chore coat in 3XT is the other keeper, at 23.5. On paper it is the roomier of the two — 60 around the chest against 57. On me they fit about the same. Both are water-resistant waxed cotton and both are insulated, so the difference is what is quilted inside them: the barn chore carries a heavier buffalo-check plaid lining and a corduroy-lined collar, the casual coat a quilted cotton lining, taffeta sleeves and a removable fleece hood. Wearing them, the barn chore is the one I would take into real cold. Two coats, same brand, same tape, three inches apart on paper and the same to wear.

Price changes often — check the current price on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Price changes often — check the current price on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The one I kept

The Columbia light insulated jacket in 3XT is the only winter coat I have kept. Its shoulder is 24 — the top of the window — and it reads a little big on me. Big, not wrong. It also goes over a sweater, which almost nothing else here does. The full measurements are in my Columbia Powder Lite II review.

Price changes often — check the current price on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Four limits on this rule

A rule is only worth using if you know where it stops. This one has four edges.

• It is a coat rule, not a knitwear rule. On sweaters and pullovers the shoulder does not sort anything — two at 25 that I did not keep, a 24 I own, and a 21.5 that I kept. Knits are decided by body length instead.
• A raglan sleeve has no shoulder seam. Seven of the 29 garments I have taped with a shoulder figure are raglans, and there is nothing to measure. On those, use the cuff-to-collar sleeve length instead.
• Shoulder sorts the outcomes; it did not cause every return. Only the Nautica sailing jacket went back with the shoulder named as the reason. The others went back for chest, bulk or length. The claim is that the shoulder is the one number that lines the results up — not that it was the only thing wrong each time.
• On an insulated coat, the chest figure measures the shell, not the room. The barn chore is 60 around and the waxed cotton 57, and they fit about the same, because the heavier lining gives those three inches back. Two coats of mine both measure 62 and only one of them closes over a sweater, for the same reason. So the shoulder is the number to screen on, and the chest figure needs a look at the lining before it means anything.

How to use this on a listing

• Tape your own shoulder first, point to point across the back. Mine is 24.
• Look for a coat shoulder in the inch below that. For me that is 23 to 24. Everything at 22.5 and under has gone back.
• Then check the chest around against your own bare chest. If you want a sweater underneath, mine needs 62 or more — nothing at 57 or below has ever closed over one.
• Then the length. A flat back measurement is not a distance on your body; on my coats three to six inches disappeared crossing the shoulder blades. The coat length guide has the arithmetic.

Every coat in the table is in the Tall Sizing Database with the rest of its measurements. The winter set is written up in Coats and Sweaters for Tall Men, the fall jackets in Fall Coats for Tall Men, and everything with a working link is on the Tall Deals page.