I purchased two of these for costumes in a show. I ordered based on waist size which is how they are listed. One actor had a large waist and no posterior. The other actor had a smaller waist and a well rounded posterior. We wound up swapping the sizes around to accommodate the fuller proportioned male. So if you need a little extra room, buy the size larger than they list for your waist size. You can always take the waist in a little, but you can't let the backside out! As for the color fading, I've been hand washing in mild detergent and line drying and the gold is doing just fine.