Absolutely bonkers sizing getting worse every year.

[Stillcountingbeans]

Within the last week I have bought a t-shirt in size 20 and a jacket in size 8. Both fit me!!
The t-shirt was in that horrible synthetic fabric that clings in all the wrong places just like cotton doesn't. I had to go big so it would hang properly from the bust and not cling to every bump and bra strap.
The jacket I can only imagine is in a style that is supposed to look big?

What on earth are the shops playing at?

My SIL is exactly the same weight now as she was as a university student in the late 1980s. Then, she took a size 12. Today, she takes a size 6.
No wonder we have a fucking obesity crisis when people who are actually clinically obese think they are a size 14.

I've sent back 3 coats in the same size this week due to inconsistent sizing - one had sleeve lengths designed for an Orangutan!

I tried on two coats, same brand (vero moda) but different styles - the medium in one was larger than the large in the other.

I hate shopping online - I want to go to shops and see things in person and try them on. Despite the fact that it was snowing, hardly any coats were in stock because the bikinis had been brought out!
But I would feel happier ordering online if the sizing was consistent

The issue is not just size inflation - it is the seemingly totally random sizes.
I don't think anyone can say 'I'm a size 14' (or whatever) these days, as it will be different in every shop and different in the same shop between product lines and styles.

It's complicated. However, in a nutshell, when most people are bigger, the most efficient thing is to size up all over. It's to do with scaling up and down in pattern cutting (numbers on sizes are to do with archaic methods of scaling), fitting different sizes into fabrics for cutting with minimum waste, costing, all sorts of things. Just trust that they aren't doing it to make life harder. It's happening across the board because it's the most efficient way to keep up with people getting bigger and they want to make sales.

We have a much more emotional relationship with our clothes than with our beds and chairs, plus we buy them more often, so it's easy to see why we ascribe all sorts of values and ideals on to clothes that we don't do with other goods. But it does come down to the same thing. We've got bigger, they're adapting in the best way they can.

Maybe smaller sizes will become a niche market the way plus sizes were 25+ years ago. If the demand is there, more companies will be created to serve it, just as we've seen with plus sizes.

Sizing inconsistency is really far more of an issue than sizing inflation. But that affects everyone in all sizes.

And this encapsulates it, really. We have a funny idea that clothing companies are obliged to somehow police the weight of the nation in a way that bed makers and chair makers aren't, even though obesity is not and never has been determined by dress size. And people do seem to get really angry at the idea that a fat woman might think she's slim due to the size label on her clothes.

I don't know exactly why this is, although I imagine it's got something to do with the emotional investment we have in clothes that we don't have with doorways and armchairs. I don't know how to solve the obesity crisis either. But I notice there was intense pressure to be thin in the 90s, with very few options for anyone over a size 16...and yet, 20 odd years later, we're fatter than ever. So that would appear not to be the solution.

@ReneBumsWombats thank you, that's really interesting.

I can actually tell my own correct size by eyeballing but that's obviously less useful when buying online. My favourite is when there are actual size guides in inches/cm.

The problem with those is that they vary from maker to maker, and most major retailers stock from different makers!

It is a nightmare, it really is. I think the absolute explosion in fast fashion may have something to do with it - I know it's not new but there's been a LOT more of it in recent years. It's easy to say you should have fewer clothes of higher quality but that's not always easy for people to do.

Being a plus size I was very interested to see that something being advertised on FB went up to 6XL

There was a size chart, so I checked it and to my utter amazement, S was size zero, 3XL was a size 10 and the largest, 6XL, was size 16.

If the tshirt was in some horrible fabric why did you buy it at all?

I've got a vintage suit from the 1940s labelled size 12. When I bought it
I was wearing size 8, and that was a good 30 years ago, so probably equivalent to 4-6 now. I wear size 12 mostly now and I don't think I would be able to pull the skirt of that suit past my knees now!
I agree the lack of consistency is infuriating. I've got clothes that I wear regularly now that range from 10 to 16 depending on style and brand.

I'd.have to walk on stilts to fit M&S medium size trousers which are.more like the old long size.

Mostly I am a size 14-16 but my jeans are a size 18 due to waistband, and I've had to return a size 12 dress to Hush as it was too large (ie I would have needed a 10). It's very frustrating and the result is that I mostly shop online through Next as at least I can order a selection of items/sizes and return those that don't fit easily .

Why can't womenswear clothing just be in inches/cm likes men?

So 28 inch waist, 34"bust or whatever.

It’s the variation though, even within the same brand. I can be an XS, S or M in Hobbs. I can sometimes be a large in other shops. I’m usually a 10-12, but have needed a 16 in some clothes, and an 8 in others.

Exactly. Cut it all and list it by cm measurements or bust, waist, hips and length. Problem solved. If only they would. There'd still be mistakes with some items being cut wrong but that would be the exception then, not the norm.

I bought two pairs of next jeans last week. Exactly the same brand, style, same fit, same size but one pair is dark blue and one pair is black.

the black ones are comfy, the blue ones are too small.

Too much variation, both in bodies and styles. Five women could all have the same bust measurement but be so different in the waist, stomach, back, shoulders...A narrow back with a big bust could be the same measurement as a broad back with a smaller bust but they're going to look very different and probably be very different all over too. There's less variation among men (I have never seen a man, whatever his size, who wasn't broader in the shoulders than the hips) and less variation in style in their clothing.

That's one reason why shops profile their customers and measure and cut accordingly. Ironically, if we had uniform sizes everywhere, you'd probably find it harder because nowhere would be made for your long legs or curvy hips or whatever.

But yes, sizing inconsistency is so bad right now. Best advice I can give is to shop around and befriend a local seamstress.

Small further thought on the rise in obesity and dress sizes...People do often seem to get it a bit arse about face. They often blame the changing sizing for the increase in obesity, with many people saying things along the lines of "of course we've got an obesity crisis when fat people can wear a size whatever", as if the sizing changed first and encouraged people to get fatter.

Of course, the exact opposite happened. We got fatter, so clothing makers had to adapt to that or die.

And as I said before, I find it interesting that this happened in the wake of a decade that deified thinness. Waif look, heroin chic, the rise of size 0, eating disorders out the wazoo and very little beyond tent dresses for anyone over a size 16. Didn't work. Interesting.

I saw a documentary some time ago which showed that the drive to bring prices down had led to quality control becoming a blocker to achieving low prices. Automation had enabled factories to produce large volumes quickly and it was more cost effective not to check whether sizing was consistent. For the retailer it made more financial sense to market items that might end up being unsold or returned than to be guaranteed that the size/quality was right. How many of us haven't taken an ill fitting garment back because it was too much hassle for the cost of the item?

Am I the only one wondering why you bought this horrible fabric, strange fitting t shirt? 😆 and the coat sounds like it's intended to be oversized. People who want close fitting jackets usually buy in in that style so not really a problem as a pp said. Someone who was an actual 8 and wanted close fitting would buy a different style jacket

I volunteer in a charity shop and I see a LOT of clothing of various ages. I don't even look at the labels any more as sizing is all over the place. We have recently had a large donation from Zara of faulty garments or customer returns and even within that one brand there is no consistency in sizing.

I am a size 14-16. The last two things I bought were a Nobody's Child dress (size 18) and a Zara coat (size Small). Both are a little baggy, but OK.

Size inflation is beyond ridiculous.

Lucy and Yak are the best (worst?) example - I’m 5ft 2, just under 9st and their smallest size is far too big. A few years ago, they added more super sizes and made every other size they do miles bigger - “to be inclusive”.

The obesity crisis isn’t going to be helped by companies pandering to this crap, making their size 14s so big someone who’s a size 20 can get in it and claim they’re a “normal size”.

I can understand different sizing between different shops, but what really gets me is where there are different sizings in the same shop, or even the same product range - that's just down to poor quality control.

M&S I'm looking at you! I've often bought, say, a T shirt or Jeans in a particular size, liked them, and bought a different colour, in exactly the same range, and the sizing is completely different! Worst was some jeans, the second pair I bought were too long and too tight despite being exactly the same size and from the same range (on the same rack!). I laid one on top of the other and the length was about 3 inches different, and waist around 2 inches different. It's the same with other things in M&S, with jeans/trousers, I've got an assortment from M&S between size 10 and size 16! Their quality control is virtually non existent!

And then these stores complain about the sheer volume of returns! Doh!

I am sure @Badbadbunny that this is why Zara had so many returns to pass on to charity shops. We have had about 50 boxes (10-20 items per box) and we're just one store out of 500+. That's a LOT of stock.

What I'm seeing when I'm pricing is two identical items in two sizes - so someone's spotted a dress on the Zara website, ordered it in a XS and S, or a M and L, got it delivered home, and neither size fits. So they have sent them back. I have never seen inconsistent sizing like it. (Great for us though, as we have all this brand new stock which we can sell for decent prices).

I wonder where people shop who are really slim these days. I was always a size 10 in the late 90s but currently I have some clothing in a size 6. I haven't shrunk. No idea where the people who were a size 6/8 twenty years ago shop now.