Clothes shopping

At 6’1” and 220 pounds I’m not particularly big by US standards. From time to time, doctors point to the little bulge around my middle and say I should lose some weight, but there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of urgency in their suggestion.
In general, I compare pretty well to my cohort group. I walk 5 or 6 miles a day, lift weights three times a week, wear the same size pants I did in college, and can still wear my high school letterman sweater. The last indicator of health may be a little deceptive.After 45 years on a hanger the sweater has deformed in the same way as my body; both now form roughly inverted Vs.
All that is a long way of saying that I’m neither infirm nor grossly obese. Nevertheless, clothes shopping is a bit of a challenge here. The typical Filipino man is about 2/3 my size and few shops cater to us big guys. When I walk into most clothes stores, I’m inclined to ask where the adult section is. Fortunately, my wife has a quick elbow aimed at my ribs most of the time.
Custom tailoring is an option and there are shops in Manila that cater to western visitors. Both seem excessively costly for casual clothes and I’ve found a couple alternatives.
• SM Malls are common here and their department stores typically have a handful of 3X shirts, no pants—just shirts. But I’m halfway to being respectable.
• Robinsons Malls are less common that SM and appear to be losing the battle for market share. Curiously, they generally have pants and shorts in my size. No shirts, just the pants and shorts. That’s the other 50% of being respectable.
• With size 12+ feet, shoes are also a problem. Fortunately, I brought an adequate supply with me and they will probably last me the rest of my life. Given the climate here, I typically wear sandals and Toby’s Sporting goods found in most SM malls typically have an adequate selection in my size. No exercise clothes that big, but sandals aplenty. Go figure!
• Windbreakers, sweatshirts, and exercise outfits in my size don’t seem to exist in the Philippines. A few store clerks have thought they had some “oversized” goods in the storeroom, but all have returned empty handed after disappearing for 15 or 20 minutes. I’ve thought of buying two of everything I need and having my wife stitch them together, but she’s nixed the idea—smart lady. Instead, I buy my rough wear on eBay.com and have it shipped to my son in San Diego. He holds them until he runs out of closet space and then ships them to me. He’s a good kid and constantly amused by the variety of things I buy on eBay.
As I’ve said before, I love living in the Philippines. Clothes shopping is just one of the foibles and I’ve learned to get by.