Vanity sizing needs to be stopped

[SemperIdem]

I appreciate this isn’t shiny new subject matter but it’s been really niggling at me the last few days.

I’ve relatively recently had a baby, back in my pre-maternity clothes if not quite at pre-maternity shape (granted I felt I was out of shape at the point of falling pregnant).

I bought a pair of jeans from Pull and Bear, size 10. They are absolutely enormous. There is not a chance I’m a size 8 at the weight I am. I then reflected how as a 5’6, barely 8 stone teenager, I was a size 10 in Topshop jeans. How am I, at a significantly heavier weight, still a size 10 anywhere let alone smaller than a size 10?

Am I being unreasonable to think that there must be a way to get shops to end vanity sizing, the variance between shop sizes is also ridiculous.

That’s ironic you mention jeans being large from pull and bear. I ordered two pairs of jeans from asos recently, both the same size. One was pull and bear. I could hardly get them past my knees. The other were asos and they literally were so big they were falling off me.

Generally everyone in the UK/The west is getting fatter, so I guess this is is sizing inflation, much like grade inflation in education over time.

I've never had an issue with sizing. I do wonder if people have issues due to the fit. When I was pregnant, and also post birth, I still fit in to some old size 8 clothes. I was no where near a size 8, it's just that some clothes are a loose fit or stretchy so I could still pull it off.
I'm now a size 12, I always order a 12 and it's always a comfortable fit. I can fit into some 10s as I've tried them when there has been no size 12 in what I want but I know that's not my actual size, it's just that the style allows it if its stretchy or loose fitting.

I can object to fat bashing without being insecure. I object to lots of different prejudices.
Several posters on here have said sizes are consistent over the years, though not between shops. You seemed to be saying they were consistently bigger.

You saying about how you were a size 10 as a 5 ft 6 in 8 stone teenager made me think about how sizes have got gradually bigger over the last 40 odd years. When I was 18,I was 5 ft 6 in,weighed 9 stone and a size 12 fitted me perfectly. A size 10 wouldn't go anywhere near me,yet a size 14 swamped me. I'm now 13 and a half stone, and a size 16 fits me perfectly (most of the time!). I find it hard to believe I'm only 2 sizes bigger at 4 and a half stone heavier! I think today's size 16s are more like what an 18 was back in 1981.

That sounds about right. A size for me (significant recent weight loss) corresponds to 2 stone.

You are reading into that it’s “fat bashing” when there was zero intention of that. You could actually go do some work to counteract prejudices instead of mindlessly jumping to conclusions.

No, I’m go8ng from experience of this type of thread. I accept that @SemperIdem didn't intend it but worded it badly lots of posters joining have supported my previous observations that this is a way to criticise those over a size 6 for being fat and deluded.

Some shops are notorious for generous sizing - Olly B is one of them!

Yes this. I think most people posting threads like this and using certain language as seen on posts on this thread and other have suffered disordered eating and body issues. Advanced search usually shows it if they haven’t name changed.

Look at some of the comments. I’m neither responding mindlessly nor jumping to conclusions.

I also think people wear clothes differently.

I watched a tik tok where a woman was trying on marks and Spencer clothes. My initial reaction was everything was too tight on her - but she thought they were perfect (she did look fabulous in fairness!). No one in the comments thought she was wearing clothes a size too small. So it’s me!

I recently tried on trousers - three sizes. All arguably ‘fit’ me but I preferred the look of the middle one. This lady would have picked the tighter trousers and some people go more baggy. so three different sizes, same body.

It’s so annoying. Why can’t we have clothes sizes like men’s. They get to choose waist and length on trousers, not an arbitrary number made up by someone but different in every brand.

We should be able to choose boob, waist, hip size and leg length.

For me, it's about 1 stone for 1 size.

I’m really jealous when people say this. It’s easily 2 for me. I think it’s because I’m tall/large frame in the first place.