XL’s Featured Tribesmen of The Week Phil Martin

In Our XL’s Featured Tribesmen of The Week Phil Martin, we discuss his style based on where he’s from. Phil is autistic and wanted to show people who are on the spectrum that you can be fly too.

1. What are some of your biggest fashion obstacles? With my size, my biggest issue is just finding clothes that fit. Not just only fit but fits me well and looks good. Growing up, my mother would just take me to stores like Burlington and buy me 30 buck size 13 Nike sneakers that I had never seen before and made my feet look even bigger than they were. Another big challenge that I faced for most of my life is finding affordable clothing. It’s crazy how much extra I have to sometimes shell out for clothes. 

2. Where are you from and how you describe your style? I was born and raised in Washington, DC and I currently reside in the Commonwealth of Virginia. To sum my style up – 60 year old retired movie director who still gets laid regularly haha. I don’t know if I can say that or not but if I had to describe my style, I go for the laid back look. Skinny jeans, tropical and floral patterned shirts, and boots. That sums up my entire closet. I have the wardrobe of a host at a Hawaiian beach bar. 

3. Tell us about your biggest fashion nightmare and if it came true do explain. (attach a picture if you can) Luckily, no nightmares here. My slight fear is having something on my wardrobe go wrong and I’m unaware. I know that’s vague but now that I’ve said this, it’s gonna happen. 

4. Have any of your 2019 goals come true? Ever since I was a child, my dream has been to be a train conductor for Amtrak. Literally my oldest memory is sitting in Philadelphia’s 30th St Station and me thinking how much I would love to be a part of moving people by rail. It sounds corny but it’s the truth. After 78 applications into Amtrak over the last 12 years, I’m officially an Amtrak employee. I was hired this year as a Passenger Conductor on the Northeast Corridor. So that’s more of a lifetime goal vs a 2019 goal. 

5. Where do you see yourself in five years and how do you see yourself accomplishing it? That’s a toughy. In 5 years, I want to be a better me. I want to be a better dad. I want to have a more structured schedule with my son. With my last job and now this new job, my schedule has been crazy and most of my time with him is spent sleeping cause I have him on my off days, and I don’t like that. I want to be able to explore with him and travel because he loves trains too. Actually, he went as a train conductor last Halloween. I want to continue my journey in becoming financially literate. I’ve changed my spending 100% but there’s still more I can do to save better so that way I can leave behind more than a memory for my son. 

6. How long have you been on the journey of being a Big & Tall man? What’s the biggest misconception you hear about Big & Tall Guys? Eeeeek. I don’t know if this is supposed to remain appropriate but I’ve always heard that big men have small… issues. Long story short, I don’t know what they’re referring to. *awkward wink* lol. Aside from that, people assume that being big and means you’ll be sloppy and smelly and xyz but slowly by slowly, because of platforms like XL Tribe who are showing society that big is sexy. I have two statements to make, I’m big, tall, AND autistic. I’m crushing stereotypes left and right lol. 

7. If you could swap styles with one celebrity who would it be and why? Mannnnnnn definitely Dwayne Johnson, I refuse to call a grown man “The Rock”. I’m pretty confident in my sexuality to say that he rocks the sexy big guy look…. not to be confused with me calling him sexy. I just wish I could look as good as him in a suit. 

twitter – @MrPhilMartin
instagram – @phil.martin 
website – philmartinjr.com