If the average UK woman is size 16...

[nc198567]

Then why are the Size 8, 10, and often 12, clothes always sold out first 😭

I'm a size 10 and when there's a popular clothing item hitting the shelves, I notice it's usually the 8 and 10s that are first to have their "Sold Out" icon up online/nothing left on the racks in-store.

During a sale, there's barely any 10s going! But there always seems to be size 14 and 16 left. Always!

I'm trying to find a dress online for an upcoming event and every dress I click on, there's only bigger sizes left.

Anyone else find this?

I’m usually a 10 or an S, occasionally 8, occasionally 12. I think it depends on the item, I’ve no problem finding basics, but today I was shopping for a dress for a Christmas event and wanted black and short and anything I liked was only there in 14 or larger. At sale times I never find my size - loads of 6 or 8 and 16 or 18.

@Shopgirl1

I’m usually a 10 or an S, occasionally 8, occasionally 12. I think it depends on the item, I’ve no problem finding basics, but today I was shopping for a dress for a Christmas event and wanted black and short and anything I liked was only there in 14 or larger. At sale times I never find my size - loads of 6 or 8 and 16 or 18.

Exactly the same here!

I would bet my house it's because size 8,10 & 12 are younger and enjoy clothes/shopping more than the larger sized women do.
Therefore shops like & other stories order loads in the smaller sizes, but they also sell out quicker too.

It's the same with shoes so in a 3-8 size range they would come in a box with a ratio of 1x3, 2x4, 3x5, 3x6, 2x7, 1x8 (hope that makes sense!) Obviously it varies and larger retailers will buy their own quantities/variations but the basics are the same. If the 10's are selling quickly and only the larger sizes remain its probably because the retailer knows those sizes won't sell well but they had to buy some/bought a few and need to shift them!
Im a size 16/18 and look at some of the offerings on ASOS and pretty little thing....no I really don't want a stomach flashing cut out top in lycra in a neon colour BUT one person in my size may do so I guess they stock the option.

The hardest size to find is always the one needed by the person looking. Sods law.

Well if 16 is average then I suppose they order most of them. As they know they'll need / sell more maybe.
I notice it too, I'm a 6 and I can never buy anything.

However, I have long since stopped buying anything from "fast fashion" shops. The range of beautiful clothes on Etsy for example is amazing and I can pretty much always find my size! Bit more expensive usually but so worth it.

It can go either way really as they order fewer of those sizes. If I’m looking for something in a size 8 sometimes I can have a great selection, but all it takes is one other shopper with similar taste to me to have been in in the past few days and I can have no options at all!

Is average 16 now? Worrying that it's creeping up. I thought 12-14 was average.

@nc198567

Then why are the Size 8, 10, and often 12, clothes always sold out first 😭

I'm a size 10 and when there's a popular clothing item hitting the shelves, I notice it's usually the 8 and 10s that are first to have their "Sold Out" icon up online/nothing left on the racks in-store.

During a sale, there's barely any 10s going! But there always seems to be size 14 and 16 left. Always!

I'm trying to find a dress online for an upcoming event and every dress I click on, there's only bigger sizes left.

Anyone else find this?

Depends where you shop. Where I go it’s usually the size 14 sold out first despite being the one they stock the most of. Size 12 goes next and then size 16, 18 and 10. That’s why whenever there’s a sale it tends to be sizes 6-8.

It doesn't matter what size you are , places are always sold out of the size you want. I've had this going from a size 18/20 all the way down to 10/12

It's bloody annoying

'Size 16' is meaningless - clothes sizes vary so much. And that 'average woman is a 16' thing has been going round as long as I can remember (at least since the 1980s). A size 16 in the 1980s was much smaller than it would be now - 16 used to be a 30 inch waist - now, a 30 inch waist would be more like a 12 in most clothes.

@SugaryYuck

16 would be the average if you took a sample where half were size 10 and half were size 22. My point being that the average being 16 doesn't mean there are more 16s than the other sizes.

I think the OP may mean the modal size is size sixteen rather than the mean average, ie the most common size is a 16.

I would imagine larger women buy fewer clothes, so they need less of these sizes actually. Shopping isn’t much fun when you’re larger

If larger women buy fewer clothes it’s because fewer retailers stock their size. As someone has already said try getting an XL in Zara.( which is probably only a 16/18 in any event). That’s why it’s less fun…. Not because we’re full of self loathing or don’t love style & fashion.

OP, there is this thing called the internet. I’ve discovered that it’s full of retailers selling clothes. Often in sizes that have sold out in the retailers’ shops….

@Babdoc

OP, there is this thing called the internet. I’ve discovered that it’s full of retailers selling clothes. Often in sizes that have sold out in the retailers’ shops….

This is what started my post. I was looking on ASOS and Misguided online for a party dress. No 10s in any dress I liked, and I clicked on several different dresses.

Is this true? Im a 14 and everyone seems thinner than me 🥲

Its normally the skimpy, unflattering stuff that is left over in the larger sizes, presumably because larger women are more conscious of their bodies.

I always find the complete opposite tbh, loads of size 6-8 left and nothing in the bigger sizes.

I can only deduce from that that it must depend what sort of clothes you're looking at and potentially which shops. You are perhaps looking at things that would only be flattering on slimmer people?

Haven’t read the full thread but surely depends on the “type” of clothes you wear? I don’t wear the same size of clothes as most size 8/10s at a size 16 because I’m fat and the clothes don’t suit me..

Partly because the average woman size is based on over 18's and teens tend to be slimmer. Partly because clothing companies don't order the right sizes always or certain styles look better on slimmer people so the larger sizes get left. I find it hard to find size 16's myself

Oh and larger women might choose to shop elsewhere rather than deal with the embarrassment of not fitting into the largest size in H&M who seem to come up smaller than everywhere else

@tobypercy

Survivorship bias.

You notice when they run out of the size you want.

I think there are always 8s and 10s left because they are no use to me

This.

Over the years I've been everything from a size 6 to 22 (ironically I am now the 'average' 16) and every time I've been a size it's seemed like that size has ALWAYS been sold out. Haha.

@agnesflorence

Is this true? Im a 14 and everyone seems thinner than me 🥲

Apparently! Just google "average size UK woman" and loads of articles come up saying the average is a 16, and according to Wikipedia the average BMI for a woman is 27.1