As I've got fatter with age clothes have got bigger...

[SloeBerri]

I’ve worn size 10, occasionally 8 or 12, most my life.

When I was in my twenties though I was 2-2.5 stone lighter! I’m now nearly overweight by bmi, but still I size 12 and the occasional 10. I’ve far far bigger built!

I’m 5ft 8, which partly explains hiding some weight, but my clothes are bigger and I’m fatter.

Is my choice of shops, or are others finding this

Totally agree. I'm a stone heavier than I was 20 years ago but still a size 10: am 5 ft 1 in.

Oh god not this again

Same here. Dress size has stayed a 10. Body is much bigger.

I have a vintage size 10 skirt that was my mum’s, from Etam in the 1960s. I wore it in my teens; there’s no way I could cram myself into it nowadays. It would be a 6 today.

Yes. It's true.

Dress size is not just about weight. It's about your shape too.

My 14yo DD is about 20lb lighter than me. Her stomach is flat, mine is flabby after 4 children. Her waist is a good 6" smaller than mine. But my deflated boobs means she has an hourglass shape to my rectangle.

We are both size 8-10

The 8-10 clothes on me are big on the hips and chest, but I need the size for my wide waist.

The 8-10 clothes on DD are big on her waist because she needs the size to fit her boobs and hips.

We are completely different shapes. Yet the same clothes sizes.

I don't think it means that clothes sizes have massively changed (although vanity sizing is "A Thing"), just that each size covers a magnitude of differing measuments.

Oh god, not this again. This must be the sixth thread in as many days. And yes it's correct, but really ... again??

Well I'm interested as I haven't seen the other threads. Neither has OP I guess

Yep- guessed right not seen them!

I gain weight on my belly, awful apple. so my waist size is far bigger.

I was just ideally wondering if I went into top shop etc again if I’d be a 16 for example, if I’ve just moved onto mums shops like fat face, Seasalt and next and that’s why

Is NEXT a Mums shop? Maybe it is in that I started shopping there back when first store opened.

Seasalt definitely sizes big massive, I bought a coat in there in a size 8 and it's roomy enough for a thick jumper underneath, I do wear 8 clothes but expected a 10 for a coat but it was plenty big enough.

I find the vanity sizing debate really interesting, it definitely happens, and I wonder what the ultimate impact of it is. We can't keep on labelling bigger and bigger sizes as Small in a bid to appease customers, surely? I'm currently an 8, I've lost a fair bit of weight last year, and I'm fairly toned from running (but I've had 3 giant babies, so..... there's only so much toning will do!). In primark I'm an XS- there is no way that I am extra small.

I think it's one thing for adult women who know their body shape and can make rational judgements about whether they think they have changed size/weight, it's another thing for teenage girls who have no benchmark upon which to base this.

We must not forget that body weight and future health are completely interlinked. BMI is not a measure of how 'fat' you are, but a measure of how likely you are to develop long term chronic illnesses as a result of carrying extra body fat, particularly around your organs. If BMI says a size 12 women carries a moderate risk of developing type 2 diabetes for example , but Primark label the same woman as 'small', that is giving a mixed message which could have a catastrophic impact on health, especially if that size small continues getting bigger. I appreciate manufacturers have no moral obligation to be 'honest' with sizing, but maybe going forward they should at least have to include irrefutable measurements on labels along with their own in-store sizing.

Dress sizes have absolutely nothing to do with weight.
I'd prefer actual measurements, labels that say waist x cm/inches, hips x cm/inches etc. That would save me a lot of time wasted in changing rooms (always ghastly lit and to small) with things that pretend to be my size but actually aren't. Shopping is boring enough without this.

When I was about 14/15 I had to snag the one pair of 24" jeans from gap. At age 22 I was still buying 24" jeans even though I've definitely grown bigger, and that size is far easier to come by now. How has 24 inches gotten bigger?

I agree with the idea about measurements, especially when ordering online (size charts are often inaccurate too!). I’m not just heavier but my waistline must be 8-10” bigger than it was. I therefore presume to order much larger trousers but end up trudging back to the post office for replacements in size 10.

I’m nearly 5’9 and 11st. Its getting silly if I’m having to buy one of the smaller dress sizes as I’m not proportionately a small women. By any stretch.

Yes Seasalt are big, I ordered a size 12 coat and it stood off my belly and hips like a bell!

Same here!! 5ft 9" and when I was in my early 20s I weighed 11 stones (and thought I was fat!) and wore a size 14. Now nearly 50 I weigh 12st 7 and still wear a size 14, sometimes a 12. After 3 big babies I know my waist is much bigger but after watching what I eat for the last 12 months my stomach is flatter and my 'jodhpur thighs' have shrunk. Just wish I had realised I was at the start of a body improvement program and taken some photos!!!

Is NEXT a Mums shop?

I'm 28 and every so often I'll nose around Next, then decide that I'm still not old enough to shop there

(Lighthearted!)

Im oretty sure everything is getting smaller.

Well done on the weight loss @Blobby10. I have a tiny tiny frame, still size j rings, so it possibly sits more on my belly at 11! I’m that bulky solid muscle elsewhere, kind of build to carry 2 children up a steep hill, so certainly not a small back or anything...

Sorry about the Next comment if offended... I just find it my-mumsy when I’ve popped in...

Im oretty sure everything is getting smaller.

Really?

I'm usually size 8 and i'm finding even children's clothes can often be too big for me. Clothes have definitely got bigger.

@SloeBerry thankyou! Its only in the last year that I've managed to make the better food choices to actually see a result - haven't been on a diet or anything and have only lost 7lbs but when coupled with the hard weight training I do every morning, its made such a difference to my body shape! Still couldn't get into a 1990's 14 though

Another factor which affects clothes sizing may be how they are made - my ex mother in law worked as a cutter, paid piece rate, and she said if they were towards the end of a roll they would always cut a bit tighter to the pattern to get more out of the roll as they effectively lost earning time while the roll was changed over. This was why, when trying several items of the same size and style on you would get different fits!

I just got bored of the talk about how slim everyone is.

I don't really get why men get clothes measured in inches which would be nice and easy to understand and women get arbitrary measures.