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?

Yes, it's nuts. I am 44 and usually a size 8 in most places. I weigh the same as I did 25 years ago when I was at university and then I was a 12, sometimes a 14. I still have a couple of dresses from Warehouse c. 1998 which I wear and they're a 12 and snug.

In the same time period, I have gone down from a 30 inch waist in jeans to a 25 inch waist in Rag &Bone, Paige etc.

My actual waist has always been about 27 inches. I assumed originally that the jeans were a bit larger because they weren't sitting directly on my waist but slightly lower down. I'd have to have radical liposuction and probably a rib removed to be a 25 inch waist.

And don't get me started on trouser lengths. I'm 5'9''. I need a 32'' inside leg. I am so fed up of ordering trousers online that are meant to be that length and having them flapping round my ankles.

I've just brought a size 14 dress from next.

Yet a Christmas jumper I'd had for 8 years - in a size 14 - was far too tight at Christmas and more like a fitted long sleeve top.

I did use to be slim. I'm not anymore. I'm overweight by 2.5 stone and was a normal weight when I brought the Christmas jumper.

It's really infuriating

The xmas jumper was also from next btw!

There's a WTF Boden thread elsewhere, but their sizing is insane - there I'm a 6 petite in tops, standard 8 in jumpers and 8-10 in cardigans!

I could understand inconsistent sizing, eg two pairs of trousers not being quite the same size due to different factory runs etc (looking at you, Gap), but it's the facts that Boden's tops are so consistently inconsistent that's mad.

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”.

a) They're not pandering, they're adapting. If companies don't adapt to the market, they go under.

b) The job of a clothing maker is to dress people. They're not responsible for policing people's weight any more than a bed or door maker. Obesity has never been defined as "person who wears dress size X and above".

c) The sharp rise in obesity occurred off the back of a decade that worshipped "heroin chic" (ie, so thin you looked like a glossy drug addict) and had very very little to offer anyone over a size 16 (which was smaller than a 16 now). If using clothes to police the nation's weight worked, we wouldn't be here now.

Oh, I tried on some of my mum's late 70's and early 80's upmarket size 10s a while ago - back then I would have needed Tall sizes in tops for arm length. I'm 5'4!

I ordered two pairs of jeans from warehouse this week. Exactly the same style and size just different colours. One pair fit as expected the other was huge. It's so annoying

I haven't noticed this. I buy my size in most shops and it fits, but then I don't buy bodycon or oversized clothes.

My DD has complained to be loads about clothes and fitting or not. She's a petite height hourglass - if she wants clothes to fit her boobs or hips it's far too big for her waist, but I think that's about styling to your shape - she's young, she'll learn esp as I keep sending her to relevant styling websites, lol!

I have a Joules coat that is a true fit (size 12) but the hood is enormous! It's so ridiculously huge to be unwearable as I literally can't see my feet if I put it up.

Bra sizing also drives me crazy - no consistency between brands but also the way different retailers measure.
How can I be a 38C according to M&S fitters and a 32F at Bravissimo.

Fellow extreme hourglass here, although not petite in height. It's simply less common to have a proportionately very narrow waist if your hips or bust are large. That's what I mean about picking mass produced stuff off the rack and expecting it to fit.

Tell her to find a local seamstress and get stuff taken in.

This may sound like a silly question, but are you wearing it correctly? Some hoods are supposed to be worn with a lot of slack at the back...the Little Red Riding Hood/medieval cloak style. If it's also quite floppy, chances are that's what it's meant to look like.

It is getting ridiculous! I am a size 14. Recently went swimming costume shopping and the only one that fit was a size 20. The sizing went up to 22. What do ladies do who are actually a size 20?

This may sound like a silly question, but are you wearing it correctly? Some hoods are supposed to be worn with a lot of slack at the back...the Little Red Riding Hood/medieval cloak style. If it's also quite floppy, chances are that's what it's meant to look like.

That's a thought but this is practical style coat for dog walking and cold weather, designed to be used in cold, showers and wind! I'm quite small but also have a lot of hair so I can't imagine how big your head would have to be for it to be usable!

Faye Windass in Coronation St. seems to have the same problem. One week the shoulders of her jumper are halfway down her arms, following week she is wearing one so tight it looks as if it has been knitted on to her and she can barely move.

M&S sizes have always been crap. I bought 3 identical skirts in the 80's, in the same size, one was far too small, one fitted and one slipped down my hips. I stopped bothering with M&S a long time ago.

These days you know that you will need to try 4 sizes of something to find the fit you want (if you are lucky).

To those asking, I bought the synthetic t-shirt because it was a good colour for me and cheap. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find cheap 100% cotton t-shirts in a variety of neck styles and colours - most budget shops and supermarkets are going over to synthetics, I assume because they are cheaper for the manufacturer.

I find the synthetic fabric is wearable if I go for a much larger size than I would normally.

@MrsWojadobakowsky
These days you know that you will need to try 4 sizes of something to find the fit you want (if you are lucky).

Yes, I nearly always take three sizes of the same garment into the changing room, as it is so hit and miss. Which is annoying when you are only allowed a limited number of items overall, so I can only try on about two or three different styles at once before getting dressed again and making another trip to try on anything else.

Gap did this to me last spring. I can just about cope with sizes varying wildly between shops, but this much bollockery within one brand (especially one that online only) means I no longer bother with them, because who has time to be ordering multiples of each item then queuing at the post office to return all the extras?

Oh wow... I have a 22 year old Size 8 skirt in my summer wardrobe... I may attempt it this year to see the difference..in size and me!!

The inconsistency is so annoying, as is 'Model wears Size 10', when so often it appears she doesn't, as it's big on me and I'm far from a model, or she's been so photoshopped that using her as a reference is completely pointless! Got a Size 10 blazer in Whistles recently, paid 10 pounds postage and have to pay return postage too because the Size 10 is more like a size 12-14. Such a bloody waste of time and puts me off online shopping. There are even inconsistencies within the same stores!

It's hopeless.
This is why just about the only things I buy online are really big baggy jumpers. The kind where size doesn't matter.

I'm always a size 12 on top and had to buy a size 6 t shirt from tesco.Vanity sizing gone mad.

It's not vanity sizing.

Central European sizes are kind of like this. 36 size top will likely fit you if you're around that in inches around the bust. Of course other measurements have to also be considered, but the chest size one is close there. Not sure what the Italian sizes, which run much smaller, are based on.

Men's tshirts are just letter sizes, so only in internal reference to each other, and varying by width measurement across the chest between brands (one manufacturer's M is another's S).

It’s likely M&S are wrong there! I’m a 32F across a range of manufacturers and they have tried to put me in a 38B, because that was basically all they had. It did not fit, to put it mildly.

M&S have been known for decades for their appalling bra fitting. Don't listen to anything they say.

It's definitely true. I still have a popular high-street brand dress in a size 12 from 1994 and it would be considered a size 8 now.