To think this is bad. H and m sizing

[Footloose80]

Out shopping looking for a gift. Saw a top. Their sizing ranged for xs to xl. Person is size 10. Asked assistant what size is a 10 and told medium. So,a size 12 is clearly a large and 14 xl.
I know vanity sizing and all that but this person is at the bottom end of normal weight. How can that be medium?

I tried on 15 pairs of H+m jeans all allegedly the same size. Some huge, some I couldn't get past my thighs, two a decent fit.

I am towards the upper end of "healthy" BMI, short and wear a size 10 in most shops. I find H&M sizing pretty random, but insofar as there is a pattern I tend to find it smaller than other shops rather than larger. Here's a link to their size chart which suggests that 10 would be within their small range, which fits with my general experience: www2.hm.com/en_gb/customer-service/sizeguide/ladies.html

Also interestingly that chart suggests that H&M have recently changed their sizing so that a UK 10, previously a European 36 is now a European 38 (which was previously a UK 12). So explicit acknowledgement of the shift in sizes which is clearly also going on elsewhere.

30 years ago a size ten was a medium and a 12 was large and 14 had very low stock at H&M (and other high street stores) due to being extra large. I know, I was a 12-14 back then and I was overweight and needed extra large clothing. People really have become a lot bigger.

That image with Twiggy has US sizing. My dd is Twiggy’s size but has a slightly smaller waist, she fits a size 4 .
Marilyn Monroe was very slim and small framed, her weight went up and down a bit with pregnancies and miscarriages but she had a tiny waist, and ribcage. Because her shape was naturally hourglass it is assumed that she was bigger than she actually was.
Our body shapes have changed, very few people now have the small bones of the pre and just post war generation.

Yes that’s an explicit acknowledgement that uk sizes have shifted.

But I’m still not convinced that H&M clothes will be anything other than random. Changing the size you’d usually order only works when the sizing is consistent. But with H&M it’s more of a ‘guess what size will fit in this item’ challenge.

@ambereeree Are you in the USA? Or UK? If UK then you have issues.......

A 10 isn't small nowadays. I've put on some weight, BMI currently 26, and can still fit into most of my size 10 clothes.

Curiously I was also a 10 25 years ago when I was over 2 stone lighter!

@RosemarysBabyDress Slow metabolism is NOT bollocks as you so eloquently put it! 🤦🏼‍♀️ Where did you get your medical degree?! 🤨

Body shapes only change in the space of a generation because of what covers them - fat!

In the 70s and 80s it used to be

32” bust 22”waist and 34” hips were a size 10.

add 2” to everything for a size 12

or take away for a size 8

I have size 8 clothes from back then that dd, size 2 struggles to fit into.

Why do you care? One minute some larger ladies are saying " I love my curves " and the next minute they are worked up that they had to buy clothes in a bigger size! If you truely loved your curves the size wouldn't matter.

Such a contradiction.

agree sizes in h&m are random - more so than for any other shop I have used

Nope not bad.

I think it's bad that we've got so much fatter. So much wrong with a world where governments can be lobbied to fudge the science behind sugar and corn syrup, and where people eat to feel happy.

Mummylife2018
I have yet to meet one medical professional who accept that "slow metabolism" is a valid excuse for being fat. You are fat because you eat too many calories. Simple.

No one has found a skeleton with "big bones" either! I think bollocks is a good way to describe the theory.

I don’t mind a 14 being XL In HM it just means that in the range of sizes they stock it’s at the top end. I do mind the inconsistency of sizes in HM I don’t want to have to try on everything from an 8 to a 16 to find out what size fits for a particular style.
fwiw I’m a 14 and I’m definitely overweight (not obese but still not a healthy weight either)

H&M changed their sizing last year to make it more in line with the vanity sizes in other shops. So the 12 became a 10, the 10 an 8, and so on. They flagged it up on their website. I'm not sure if they introduced a new size 4 for the truly slim.

Anyway by that standard 10 is very certainly 'medium'.

How strange! I'm a size 8-10 and I am definitely a size 'xs' in H&M, although maybe occasionally an 's' in trousers.

H&M comes up a lot smaller than most shops - I'm an 18 there but a 12 in M&S for dresses. Tbh I don't really shop for me there as the fit isn't suitable for women who are shaped like women (eg have a bust over an a cup)

As PP have also pointed out size 10 used to be small. It's fairly average now.

H&M comes up a lot smaller than most shops Not anymore. They changed their sizing last year. See my post above.

I'm a 6-8 and not even particularly thin. I buy a S in most places but M in others... a size 10 should be the middle of healthy and a 12 towards the top.

Your mind is skewed.

RosemarysBabyDress

No one has found a skeleton with "big bones" either

Yes they have. Robust is the expression used.

But you are right about slow metabolism.

Ive always known size 12 to be considered “large”

Concur with Oliversmumsarmy about sizing.

Back in the late 70s/80s when I was going in teenage shops, there weren't any size 8s. They were only in farty old people's ranges like Country Casuals. I weighed 7 stone and was size 10. Now I weigh 8 stone and have just purchased a pair of size 2 trousers. Ridiculous. Size 10 is enormous on me in most shops.