To be pissed off with vanity sizing

[SayImADreamer]

Im a size 10 and a size 8 in looser floatier designs.

Back in the uk so went to primark. Picked up some tops, holding them up thought they looked a bit big sp got them all in size 8. Got 6 different tops.

Get back home, try them on, and theyre all too big.

There's no way im a size 6, trust me. Its fucking annoying. Just label things with the correct size FFS.

Goes hand in hand with that old trope: "Marilyn Monroe was a size 12!" Yeah. A size 12 in the 50s, which would probably be like a size 8 today based on what im seeing.

Sorry just annoyed because primark is hardly hyper structured wear, i should be able to just go in and grab some vest tops and trust the sizing. Now i have to take them back

/end rant

[GalwayWayfarer]

I can vary across a range of 3 sizes depending on the shop. It's a pain but sizes are really just a loose guide these days. You should always try on in the shop.

[happypoobum]

I find Primark exceptionally small sizing generally

However, agree with PP - it's common knowledge that sizing is completely random so you need to try things on OP.

Either that or you are expecting a tighter fit than is fashionable in the UK now (picking up on your OP remark about being back in the UK) The trend is floaty, roomy, cocoony shapes.

[VioletCharlotte]

Sizes vary in Primark. Even 2 things of the same style,and the same size on the label, can come up different when you put them on. You have to try stuff on.

[Bagadverts]

What I don't like is the inconsistency in the same shop. OK I might be 12 in M&S shop, 14 in Next, but at least in each one it should be the same in similar designs . As with PP I've also bought supposedly the same thing in two colours but it was a different fit.

[Undercoverbanana]

I think that shops that cater for the older market like M&S and Next seem to go really over the top with vanity sizing as a marketing tool. All the concessions in Debenhams are enormous too.

Online retailers like ASOS and Boohoo and New Look and H&M are nearer the mark and more consistent. This is why online is winning the retail war. Great service and more reliable.

[Riv]

White coyote, petite sizes are meant to be a completely different fitting, not just shorter- the distance between the waist and hips is shorter for example - so if standard sizes fit, petite should not.
However, in general I agree that the wide variation in the sizes given on women’s clothing is ridiculous. Even if you try everything on you would need to take three or four different sizes of the same item into the changing room with you. So time consuming and ridiculous.

[Jozxyqk]

I used to have the same issue - before pregnancy I was a size 8, sometimes a 6. (I'm under 5'3".) Due to variations between shops I could never tell if they were going to be a reasonable size, or even stock my size - a lot started at a 10 back then. And bra sizing is a nightmare, I'm a 30 band at my current size (10-12 by current shop standards, realistically I'm probably about a 14). At my slimmest I would have needed about a 26E... nope, not viable. I mostly bought in the children's section. Or made my own.

It's little consolation that I can actually buy clothes, now I'm overweight.

And YY re the PP's comment about cheap fast fashion. Unreliable sizing, & almost always poorer quality.

[vampirethriller]

My best friends mum is a machinist and reckons Primark just swap labels if there's too many of one size left- loads of unsold size 8? Send them to have size ten labels put in in the nearest factory. And so on. I've no proof but it fits the evidence
In my local branch I've been a size 20 and a size 14 on the same day not long ago. I'm a 16!

[buddhasbelly]

I quite like an ebay shop every so often but have found that due to sizing being so hit and miss i rarely but anything 2nd hand or New with tags unless it's from a make that I'm pretty sure of the sizing. I find warehouse quite consistent.

[expatinscotland]

So try it on! Nothing to do with vanity, there's no standard sizing. F&F runs super small, too. I tried on a bikini top that was supposed to fit DD-G sizes. Haahaahaa!

[Isleepinahedgefund]

The differences between sizes can be due to the fabrics used or the dyes used (black dye = smaller and less stretchy clothes!)

Also human error with labelling. The faster the clothes are produced the more likely the item has the wrong label in.

My advice would be to remember that sizing is arbitrary, there is no standardisation. It takes the same amount of fabric to cover your body no matter what it’s called so all this “no way I’m a size.....” is completely irrelevant. Just buy what fits, try on before you buy and buy the exact one that fit you, don’t get another size whatever because you want a more neatly folded one or something (I’ve done that ha ha!)

[Sirzy]

My wardrobe consists of clothes in a sizes 6-14. I have given up relying on the sizes and just go off fit

[MyShinyWhiteTeeth]

I tried on a bra in M&S and then chose the same style and size that fit in different colours. At home saw they all fit differently so I had to return most of them.

In one shop I noticed the trousers I'd tried on had a slightly damaged zip so I picked up another one to buy without trying them on. Got home and they were too tight.

The clothes size 16 should all be the same size - manufacturers seem to be really getting worse.

[userabcname]

Yes there is vanity sizing but Primark sizing is simply erratic and nonsensical. In my wardrobe I have clothes from Primark ranging from a 6 to a 12 and they all fit (well, they DID fit pre-baby anyway....).

[HelenaDove]

expat in F+F some of their size 12 tops are too big. But i cant get into their size 20 trousers yet in New Look trousers im a 14 to 16.

[HelenaDove]

Ive never shopped in Primark so have no idea how i would fare there.

[kateandme]

god hate sizes.

[Jaxhog]

While I understand that style makes a difference, why can't we have standard sizing in each country? (In all countries would be good, but that is step way too far from likely!)

[pointythings]

I think the problem isn't vanity sizing, it's inconsistent sizing. I couldn't care less what the label says, as long as it fits as expected no matter where I shop!

Sizes definitely were much smaller in the past though - DD2 has a vintage Laura Ashley dress from a charity shop, probably early 1980s. It's a 12 and fits her perfectly. She's 5'8''. slim and an 8-10 in most shops at the moment.

[Tawdrylocalbrouhaha]

I think it's inaccuracy as much as vanity sizing. I once bought trousers in Miss Selfridge and liked them so much I went back and got another pair the exact same.

Except they were clearly at least two sizes bigger when I went to put them on. Can't believe I didn't notice in the shop, but I just went by the label.

[LemonysSnicket]

I'm an 8 and yet I own clothing that ranges from a 4 to a 14 because clothes sizing doesn't make any fucking sense. That and it's all built for 6foot behemoths or the petite section shows my arse out of the bottom. Find it strange that the complete average female height isn't catered to.

[Shambu]

I hear ya.

There are certain brands that I'm basically sized out of now as they've sized up but haven't introduced a petite range.

[Shambu]

I think inconsistent sizing is a separate issue.

[carol1234568]

This is why I avoid buying clothes online