Why, oh why do waders barely come in mens sizes? Seriously, work boots are bad enough, why do waders stop at average mens foot sizes? It always has been tough for me, but this is getting ludicrous. I am 6'5", ideally a size 14 EEE boot with a human sized toe area (not the pointy style they keep trying to cripple us with), but size 15 usually works good enough. I am about 300 pounds, 38" waist, 48" chest. The killer for me is the boot sizes. For a size 15 boot wader, the selection shrinks every year. I have always hated neoprene waders, so I'm glad to see they are all but gone now. Unfortunately I now have precisely two choices at BigCamo.com, the only place that carries mens size waders. Banded Redzone Elite 2.0, and Drake Emperor. Both can be had in good boot sizes, but the smallest body is the Banded at a claimed 66" chest and 62" waist. The Drake is even worse at 71" on the chest, and 77" at the waist! That's not all, there is an emperor plus size for an 86" waist!!! Between them it was really only one option for me.
So I got the Banded Redzone Elite 2.0 waders today in size 15. What a clown suit this is. I cinched the belt down just about about as far as it will go, and it works ok. The boots fit great, but they made them of such thick rubber, they look like size 20 boots, I'm not kidding. They loaded these up with a ton of pockets and doodads for nothing. I don't want a dang LED light in my pocket! I don't want a permanently attached fleece handwarmer inside on my chest. I don't want these 10 zippers. Just give me waders! The chest area... what were they even thinking? I'm a big dude, and I could fit TWO of my big gut in this thing. I'm in no position to judge, but you would have to be almost a 500 pound person to fit these waders. If you fit these waders, you should not be wading through water.
So here I am, one week from duck opener. I tried my best to beg Simms to custom make me waders. Their custom orders are already $900. They will not make them in a size 15 boot. I told them I would pay them anything they want, name the price. They wont do it. These Banded waders are Chinese garbage, but I paid $500 for them anyway since they have the market cornered. What happened to the days you could go buy inexpensive canvas waders that, while somewhat uncomfortable, lasted for a while? They always made bigger sizes, and it goes down every year. I never liked neoprene waders, but at least I could buy a size 15 that fit a human fit for wading.
I don't care about the cost, is there anywhere I can find a size 15 waders for a normal human being? At this point I'll duct tape some rubber boots to some cheap stockingfoot styles if I have to.