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Our guests today are Jeff Martin and Blake Adams, creators and proprietors of Short and Fat, a unique custom men’s clothing line. While there are plenty of options out there for plus sizes, big and tall, and regular, there just aren’t traditionally that many for, well, someone who may be short and fat.
Short and Fat originated in 2017 as Jeff and Blake’s response to a lack of clothing options for men who are “short and fat”. Their online store focuses on a subscription-based service for men’s
custom shirts with hundreds of choices for customers. Shirts can be ordered on their website,
https://shortandfat.com/ and have a one-month turnaround.
Customers are shown nine videos which demonstrate the correct way to measure yourself and Short and Fat takes these measurements to make a perfectly tailored shirt! There are nine different cuffs and collars to choose from, as well as a choice of pocket, button color, button stitching, and shirt fabric.
Jeff Martin tells us they are “custom built shirts for custom built men” which will give
their customers confidence in their appearance.
They have found five pain points for men’s dress shirts: collars, shoulder seams, sleeve length, shirt length, and something they call the “belly wink”. Blake describes it as the moment where someone’s shirt is too tight, and the buttonhole opens and “winks” at you.
Short and Fat addresses these pain points with the 3 important variables to feeling more confident: fit, fabric, and fashion. They want the shirts to fit well, with over 1200 fabrics to choose from while also adding the fashion aspect with small details like buttons.
The custom shirts, manufactured in Bangkok and shipped directly to Short and Fat, are all
wrinkle free, aside from the linen, and customers don’t have to tuck in their shirt if they don’t
want to.
The average Short and Fat customer stays with the business for a long time, because once the
shirt fits perfectly, the measurements and customizations are saved. The subscription service
allows customers to receive custom shirts they know will fit well on a quarterly basis. Blake Adams has a “no bullshirt guarantee” that if a shirt doesn’t fit perfectly, they’ll retry until they get it right.
Blake’s customer service is one reason why the business made it through the pandemic
after production shut down. He kept customers up to date and made sure they received the shirts
they were owed once production picked up again.
Blake also uses a one-on-one approach with customers for their custom blazers and suits. Suits and blazers cannot be ordered on their website yet, but Blake will assist customers in creating the perfect suit through email. He helps with fabric, accent color, and gives advice to first time customers when creating their suit or blazer.
The idea for the business began when Jeff Martin was shopping in the “big and tall” section of
the men’s department store. He had trouble getting a shirt to fit his neck and said, “I’m not big
and tall, I’m short and fat”. Later, he met Blake at a Catholic retreat where they shared their
similar struggles with men’s shirts. Blake was on board immediately, the two entrepreneurs
launched a Kickstarter campaign, and Short and Fat was born as a way to help men who are “vertically challenged and horizontally blessed.”
Now they say that they are a startup with eight years of experience since COVID shut them down for nine months.
Short and Fat is a passion project for Jeff Martin and Blake Adams, and Jeff says, “we know our
customer; we are our customer”. This passion is apparent from their dedication to making clothes
that men want to wear and that fit them.
Learn more at https://shortandfat.com/. Their hilarious and informative videos
can be found on their YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok which are all
@shortandfat.
