The search continues to find that perfect tall kid shirt. I thought I'd give you all a little update.

First of all, I actually stepped foot into a big and tall clothing store. There is one about 1/4 mile from my house and I hadn't been to one since I was 12 or so with my dad - who fits into the "big" category. I remember the clothes there being super-ultra lame but I thought things might have changed in the last 15 years.

I was wrong. Check out these winners:

Yea, people usually can't tell that I'm tall by simply looking at me, I feel the need to have it printed really big on my T-Shirt. A shirt that advertises what it is is about the lamest, most tacky thing I can think of. "Hey guys, I found a shirt big enough for me - and guess what? I says 'BIG' right on it to remind me!"

I also like that they have attempted to be hip by making a shirt that has rims on it, complete with the same stupid "BIG" on it and a "tag" that looks like it was done by a retarded Smurf and an etch-a-sketch.

Thank you, Big Daddy Clothing Company, for insulting my intelligence and sense of self respect with your horrible, horrible shirts. By the way, I am available for freelance design work.

My findings on all the regular brands I tested were less than excellent, as noted below:

Bella - Bella was nice enough to send me a free shirt to try, but I was ultimately disappointed by the length. While their measurements show that they are a few inches longer than American Apparel, I found that they were probably the shortest of all the shirts I tested. If you're a regular sized human, though, you will find their shirts are extraordinarily soft, comfortable and high quality. On my tall shirt rating scale I just made up, I am giving them a 4/10.

Hanes - Hanes is pretty much the worst shirt going for tall people. They don't start out tall, and they get ever shorter when you wash them. If you're tall, don't bother with Hanes. 2/10.

Fruit of the Loom - Fruit of the loom is pretty much just a Hanes clone (or is it the other way around?). They are even slightly shorter than Hanes, so I'll give them a 1/10.

Gildan - Gildan is actually not bad. They give the same length measurements as Hanes (30 inches), but seem to be a little bit taller and better fitting. I think one or two Gildan shirts have actually made it into my regular rotation of shirts. One thing about Gildan though, is that they don't seem to hold up to washing as well as other shirts - so be careful there. Still not perfect, but borderline acceptable - 6/10.

American Apparel - A quick inventory of my closet will reveal that A.) I don't ever do my laundry and all my clothes are in a pile on the floor and B.) most of those clothes are made by American Apparel. Yes, I'd say a good 90% of my shirts are made by them.

Mostly I have just their standard shirt, but recently they came out with a new "summer shirt" that is awesome for tall people. It is entirely acceptable, although it kinda has weird sleeves and isn't available in anything other than ultra-light weight. However, it is the best generic shirt I have found up to this point.

It should be noted, though, that Dov Charney is perhaps the biggest douche on the planet, resulting in a love/hate relationship with American Apparel. I do enjoy the silent judgements that come from the store employees whenever I visit, though.

As much as I love how the shirts fit, I still find myself phasing them out after a few washes, and needing to buy new shirts. 7.5/10.

J. Crew - I found out that J. Crew makes tall sizes, but they're too lazy to stock them in their stores. That's fine though, since tall people never care about trying on the clothes that they buy. I placed a huge order with them when they were having a sale and got a whole box of shirts in various styles - all sized for tall folks like myself.

My initial thought and comparison with my current American Apparel stock was that the J. Crew stuff was no longer than any other brand of shirt. Real world testing, however, showed them to be of acceptable tallness (tallitude factor) and very high quality and comfortable. Most importantly, they seem to stand up well to washing and don't shrink noticeably.

Again, although they do not appear to be taller than my American Apparel stuff, they do "feel" a bit taller if that makes sense. J. Crew also holds the honor of being the only shirt I've ever worn where someone commented on how nice it fit me. I'd recommend their tall sizes in everything but thermal long sleeve shirts, which feel too short in the body. 8/10.

Design By Humans - I happened upon these guys by accident when I won a free T-Shirt at some show I went to. Their designs are awesome and pretty much just what I'm looking for. At first, their shirts appear to be American Apparel, but as it turns out they are just an American Apparel wanna-be. I wrote the company and I believe they said they source their shirts from overseas.

The shirt I won fit pretty well, so I hoped online and ordered a few more. I quickly learned that their sizes are not at all consistent, and none of the three shirts I got fit the same. Out of all of them, I think one is still in my rotation, but two have been phased out due to sizing issues. Seriously go check them out though, they have the best designed T-shirts I've seen. Unfortunately I would not order from them again because I don't know what I'd get. 7/10.

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That's all the testing I've done so far, but I have some more things that I will try in the future. Most importantly, I found a number of companies actually do make tall sized but, like J.Crew, are too lazy to stock them in their stores. There is also a new company called Thin Lojic that looks very promising but doesn't launch for a couple of months. If I'm still alive by then, I'll let you know how they do against the current bunch.

Carson out.