Astounded by trip to shopping centre today

[Harrietta82]

I usually do my shopping online these days, but went shopping with a friend today to a big centre about 30 minutes away from us (I won’t name it incase outing).

Is it me, or has the minimum size stocked by the majority of shops gradually increased in recent times? I was asking shop assistants whether they had any size 6 stock and received blank stares half the time!

No wonder physical shops seem to be on the way out.

Needless to say, I’ll be sticking to online.

A pleasant experience aside from that though and lovely to see my friend so it wasn’t a wasted day.

Go to Primark 90% of their stock seems to be a 4 or a 6

ditto

It depends on the shop. All the cheap places (Zara, H&M, New Look, Primark etc) stock plenty of size 6’s as they are aiming squarely for the teen/young adult market.

Expensive high street (Me&em, Bash, Zadig, Kooples, All Saints etc) also stock plenty of size 6’s.

It tends to be mid range shops that that stock only a few 8’s, a few 16-18’s but mostly 10’s through to 14’s as they are going for broad mass market.

I think some shops call it XXS rather than a size 6? As money is tight for me at the moment I have taken to shopping in Primark for things you don't easily find second hand, like vest tops etc, and they always seems to have the items I want ONLY in an XXs, which would barely fit around my thigh these days!

I do most of my clothes shopping for items like dresses, coats etc in charity shops, and again that often have lovely things in a size 6, which I gaze at longingly before turning my attention to stuff that will actually fit me!

I have to say OP, if I could be a size 6 (especially if I didn't have to starve myself to achieve it) I would suck up the shopping difficulties without complaint, such would be my delight!

(But I accept that probably if you actually are one, the novelty wears off, and perhaps you don't just waltz around in a sunlit haze of joy every waking hour, as I am imagining I would!)

A lot of places can order smaller sizes but they only carry what sells. 6 was never an easy size to find. The average is size 8 to 22 so that is what they stock. They cater to the majority, you can't please everyone. Extremely tiny or extremely large sizes have always been special order.

Life’s hard, OP.

YABU. I'm very tall but can't get clothes to fit in store. I dont expect the world to revolve around me though.

It might not be that they’re not stocked but that they go quickly. As a clothing 10 and shoes 5 I have often found that my size tends to sell out quickly even though it is likely the one with the most stock. Smaller sizes/ less stock just makes it more volatile: rapid sellout for the good pieces and mega discounts in the sales for the less popular items?

Yes, the teeny-tinies I know do this! These women are pretty short for an adult, but teen clothing goes quite tall and then you have the cool young adult ranges.

Designers tend to start at size 4.

Beth

You're astounded they didn't stock a size 6? Oh please how many of the population are a size 6? When I was a 20 the shops never stocked it either. Now I'm a 14 but short they don't stock short either.
Pathetic humble brag good try though

Yeah you've got to know which brands to go for, I've noticed a lot start from size 8 and I've found that some size 6 doesn't feel like a size 6! Bought a pair of size 6 trousers from Mango which fitted me heavily pregnant! I think the sizing guide varies where you go.

but went shopping with a friend today to a big centre about 30 minutes away from us (I won’t name it incase outing)

Yep. I live within 40 minutes of Meadowhall, but never, ever mention it, in case people immediately clock my real identity.

It would be exceptionally outing to name the big shopping centre, OP. Very sensible of you to keep that bit under wraps.

The rest of your AIBU is a bunch of ridiculous old toss, but I think you know that.

I think that size 6 has always been a bit thin on the ground no pun intended. It’s usually been sized 8-18 and now more places also stocking 20/22. But in general stock of all kinds seems low now, both in terms of sizes and styles, because often what is in store is just a fraction of what the same retailer sells online.

Ah, there is your misconception, they don’t! That’s why for years the potentially very profitable market of plus size women was barely catered to at all. People were literally like…let me spend money here…no. There is also such a premium on space now that stocking sizes that will hardly sell is going to be low on their priority list.

That said, I am not aware that many brands have ever really produced a size 6 in the UK, and I was traipsing the high street at the peak of 1990s heroin chic. A 6-8 maybe. Certainly I have never seen a 4. That would be specialist retailer I would think.

I actually did because I know that from extremely thin friends it’s not just about difficulty buying clothes, it’s about finding styles that you don’t feel self conscious in and having people constantly thinking you are unwell. You lost me with your embarassingly ignorant comments about the reasons people are overweight and what they can do about it.

Ah well, perhaps you could get something taken in?

But, it's not an opportunity missed if you normally shop online IYSWIM.
There is a bit of a negative feedback loop whereby people shop online, so shops have to reduce their overheads (shop number, shop size) so either disappear from the high street or display less stock in smaller spaces.
The phrase "I normally shop online but when I got to the high street I was surprised by the change..." Is used a lot. Often people noticing the high street is run down. Yes, it's because everyone shops online.
It's not your fault..shop where you like. But because everyone is doing the same (mostly shopping online) the high street changes.

I find everything is more .massive now. I used to be a size 20. Im now a 12. Half of everything I order is too big and has to be send back. Given I've been all those sizes I tend to know what things are. A sweatshirt I ordered recently was huge, it was a size 16 no way a 12, and it wasnt advertised as an oversized top either.

I was a 14 until recently. Now a size 6 and I have a completely different appreciation for how difficult it is to get clothes. I can never find things in my size. I went to the big M&S in London, still the same. Very occasionally the River Island in my small local town has things in XS.

I have stopped even looking at M&S website as well as size 6 seems to sell out really quickly and I am constantly disappointed! I use Vinted a lot. Boden are pretty good for smaller sizes. But not great if you want to go shopping and try things on if course.

As some posters have pointed out, 'vanity sizing' is common. I now just buy my clothes from the same store. Their sizing works for me.

It is the judgement of those who are naturally slim that I object to. Everyone gets up in arms over fat shaming, but it still seems ok to mock those are small. Being a size 6, when you are only 5' or thereabouts isn't skinny or scrawny or any of the other dismissive terms. It is simply in proportion.

Yes, the term teeny tinies being thrown around freely on this thread. It is a putdown imo. I would not use unkind language to describe people who are above a certain size.

YABU
The average size in the UK is 16.

Surely you understand the logic behind commercial buying.

It’s very unfortunate for people who are outside what’s considered the normal average, but you must know by now that’s the way it is.

OP described herself as teeny.

She may have done, but some posters will call themselves fat, and others will use the same words within a different context, to convey a different message . That is how it is coming across to me. It is being used as a put down, by some posters.

That’s interesting. We went to the Norfolk broads a few years ago. We had so many delicious meals out, I was pleasantly surprised. But the portions were absolutely enormous; it was striking. Perhaps there is a link…