Shirts fit for a growing legion of rugby fans

• Scotland replicas are selling well from a new online store offering shirts to 8XL, main; Australian plus-size fan, left Photographs: Neil Hanna/Getty

A range of super-sized Scotland shirts have been launched to cater for the ever-growing girth of the country's biggest rugby fans.

The gargantuan garments, which go from 3XL to a truly epic 8XL, have become a surprise bestseller. The largest items in the unofficial range are eight times bigger than a normal extra-large shirt and measure a colossal 72in, or 6ft, around the chest and a whopping 24in around the collar - around the same size as Victoria Beckham's waist.

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The success of the shirts, the largest ever seen in sportswear, has led the SRU to consider launching its own official super plus-sized range.

Katy Brown, owner of the recently launched online retailer Extra Large Clothing, created the tops after being badgered by larger followers of the annual Six Nations tournament.

She said: "A lot of ex-rugby players are bigger built guys who just can't find clothing to fit them in mainstream chain stores. We felt that was completely unfair so that is why we decided to launch our own range of rugby tops."

The Extra Large range features replica shirts of all the home nations, but the navy blue Scotland shirts, which are emblazoned with a thistle, have been a particularly strong seller.

"Firms which cater for larger men usually say that 3XL and 4XL items are their biggest sellers," said. "But we get a lot of people ordering 5XL and 6XL items as well as quite a few looking for 7XL and 8XL clothes." She said her sales had doubled in recent months.

A spokesman for the SRU said: "All adult Scotland products from our kit suppliers, Canterbury of New Zealand, are available up to size 3XL. They are open to consider the demands of the market if larger sizes are required."

Rugby Union has been relatively late in catering for the expanding waistlines of Scottish sports fans. Since 2008, both Rangers and Inverness Caledonian Thistle have supplied 5XL replica shirts, with a 60in chest and a 22in neck.

Yet while welcomed by sports fans, Tessa Hartmann, founder of the Scottish Fashion Awards, said: "I'm afraid that self-induced morbid obesity can never be stylish. Top level international rugby players train hard and are in peak physical condition and marketing replica shirts with a 72in chest is an insult to them. Dangerously overweight people dressing like athletes is a crime against fashion and sends out completely the wrong message to our young people.Scotland's health record leaves a lot to be desired and this is a further embarrassment."

Even former Scotland internationalist Doddie Weir felt the demand for ever-larger replica shirts was symptomatic of the increasingly less active lifestyles of rugby supporters.The 6ft 6in lock, who won 61 caps between 1990 and 2000, said: "A lot of people just don't do any form of exercise and that's got to be a concern. I've seen a big difference in the rugby clubs in recent years. They used to be able to put out five or six teams at the weekend and now you are lucky if there are two or three."

Although not as weighty as their fans, players are also bulking up. In the two decades since rugby turned professional, improved training regimes have seen players get heavier, while carrying less fat. Fitness coach and former England international Dave Reddin said: "Pre-professionalism, the average back would have weighed 80 to 85 kilos. Now it is more like 95 to 100kg."

One of the biggest rugby stars of recent seasons is Jonah Lomu, the giant New Zealand international, who at his peak measured 6ft 5in and weighed in at 19 stone. But although his hulk-like physique earned him the nickname of "big man", an 8XL rugby shirt would hang loose off the broad shoulders of the most celebrated rugby star of modern times. His chest size is a mere 46in.