Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be annoyed with ladies clothing sizes?!

115 replies

dreamer24 · 01/11/2024 18:37

This is a first world problem, I accept.

I went shopping today for new jeans. I'm a size 10-12. Started off in New Look, took both sizes 10 & 12 into the changing rooms, couldn't even fasten the button of the 12. 😳 I absolutely refused to accept I needed a size 14 when all my other clothes are 10-12.

Gave up and went to Next - again took both sizes into the changing room - size 10 were perfect!

So how come at New Look I'd need a size 14, yet in Next a 10 fits perfectly?! That's quite a gap. I was chatting to the lady who served me in Next about it, she was saying she's a size 8 in most places but needs a 12 in New Look.

Is it just me, or is that quite a disparity? Why is there no consistency in women's clothing sizes across stores? Anyone else notice this?

OP posts:
Original poster
dreamer24 · 01/11/2024 19:03

I actually bought myself a lovely jumper dress in New Look instead, size 10, took it straight to the till without trying on as I could tell by looking at it it was plenty big enough. So it's literally just the jeans I have this issue with, they're all over the place with sizing.

OP posts:
Rugbyballhead · 01/11/2024 19:03

I'm usually a size 12 on my bottom half, I ended up buying size 16 jeans in Primark the other day because they were the only ones that would do up around my waist. They're too loose on my bum and legs though - writing this, I'm not actually sure why I bought them.

Original poster
dreamer24 · 01/11/2024 18:59

Moier · 01/11/2024 18:55

Funny .. l bought two jumpers from New look in my size and they are huge. ( Not suppose to be oversized) ..bought a dress in same size.. can't get it past my boob's.🤷‍♀️

Yes I'm a size 8-10 on top, and i actually find jumpers and tops etc are a bit more consistent as I tend to be the same size across most stores. It's just jeans I seem to have this issue!

OP posts:
Puffinlamb23 · 01/11/2024 18:56

ManhattanPopcorn · 01/11/2024 18:48

You could even take two 12s of the same item into the changing room and find they're not the same size. There's no consistency.

I've found this too. I have a few pairs of cheap jeans from Tesco which I bought after having a baby as I didn't want to spend a lot of money on clothes until I lost weight. Two are size 12 and two are size 14 (they're all the same style and length). One pair of the size 14 jeans are smaller than one of the size 12 jeans, while the other size 14 pair are enormous and don't stay up at all. They're more like an 18. It's crazy and makes shopping near impossible without trying clothes on in store.

Moier · 01/11/2024 18:55

Funny .. l bought two jumpers from New look in my size and they are huge. ( Not suppose to be oversized) ..bought a dress in same size.. can't get it past my boob's.🤷‍♀️

Shizzlestix · 01/11/2024 18:55

Drives me mad. I’ve lost tons of weight recently and sizing is crazy. I’m a 14, according to the trousers I’m wearing, 12 on top, but some 14s are too small. Same with shoes, some sizes are too small, others bang on. I’ve just spent £70 on shoes, hope they fit!

ReginaaPhalangee · 01/11/2024 18:54

I had this with river island the other month. In one trip I bought a top, cardigan and a dress.

I am a size 12.

The cardigan was a 12 top 14 and the dress was a 10

Don't get me started on their jeans! Minimum a size 16!!!

fashionqueen0123 · 01/11/2024 18:51

Completelyjo · 01/11/2024 18:46

I actually find it’s a case of some stores being more generous with their labelling than other shops being smaller than standard.
I find older skewing places like Next, M&S etc really big fitting in their bottoms and younger skewing places, topshop, new look, zara to be standard size fitting.
I’ve never found I’m a 8 in one, 12 in another and 16 in another the way some people say.

This.

M&S have always been way bigger than the standard measurement for a size. Size 8 bottoms would fall off me while I’d be an 8-10 elsewhere.

In the early 2000s loads of places also took on vanity sizing. So a size 8 became a size 6.
So anything that used to be labelled 36 and a size 10 was even changed to 8. All of the Arcadia brands did it and then others followed suit.

ManhattanPopcorn · 01/11/2024 18:48

You could even take two 12s of the same item into the changing room and find they're not the same size. There's no consistency.

Original poster
dreamer24 · 01/11/2024 18:46

NerdWhoEatsMedlar · 01/11/2024 18:44

I think most of us span three different sizes across the range of shops.

I've always spanned 8-12. Never in my life have I been unable to fasten a 12. That's top end for me. I know I haven't put weight on as I weigh myself daily and I haven't changed in months, and also I can get straight into a Next size 10? Makes no sense. Unless NL have made their sizing smaller?

OP posts:
Completelyjo · 01/11/2024 18:46

I actually find it’s a case of some stores being more generous with their labelling than other shops being smaller than standard.
I find older skewing places like Next, M&S etc really big fitting in their bottoms and younger skewing places, topshop, new look, zara to be standard size fitting.
I’ve never found I’m a 8 in one, 12 in another and 16 in another the way some people say.

SalviaDivinorum · 01/11/2024 18:45

So annoying isn't it. And retailers wonder why so much online shopping is returned.

Sizing is a complete lottery

NerdWhoEatsMedlar · 01/11/2024 18:44

I think most of us span three different sizes across the range of shops.

MillyMichaelson · 01/11/2024 18:42

I'm wearing size 8 trousers today. I weigh 11 stone, I am an 8 in absolutely nobody's book.

Sizing is madness.

InThePinkScarf · 01/11/2024 18:41

I have been saying this for ages.
I am 5'3 and 9 stone.
Large to me doesn't even look medium.

I buy size 12 and even the tops look too small on me.

Swipe left for the next trending thread