Are clothes getting smaller or is it me?

[Fortiesandfatter]

So I’ve been a size 14 on bottom/12 on top forever. Have recently been looking to buy new work trousers and jeans and finding I’m not fitting into like Asda’s size 18 jeggings and size 16 T-shirts. However, am still fitting my next size 14 jeggings and my usual size 12 tops. However, struggling with new next size 16 jeggings! I will admit I’ve put on a few pounds and blame menopause but I honestly don’t think I’ve gone up the 3 potential
sizes that some shops are having me believe! Not when I can still wear quite a lot of my old clothes. I’m fairly tall so probably don’t look like what my perception of a size 18 may have been or maybe I do, At the end of the day does a size 18 look different depending on height? I don’t know! How can it?!
But then I see articles in magazine re weight loss and photographs of women with their supposed size and I feel like it just a doesn’t add up. They appear a lot bigger but claim to be smaller than I ever was and I’m thinking they honestly don’t look like a size 12.
Has anyone noticed such a phenomenon or am I just deluded? AIBU to think clothes are getting smaller while I’m maybe just slightly bigger? Because honestly thinking it’s time for something drastic and I feel like this is one big ramble but just so stuck. Should also add, exercise is difficult due to a chronic condition and extreme fatigue. Would just like to know it’s maybe not just me that feels this way about clothes!

Have you used a tape measure and actually measured yourself? Then compare to standard sizes. I suspect you might have put on more than you realised though.

Keep in mind your old clothes will have stretched from wear. If you tried a brand new pair of the exact same size 14 jeggings from Next that you currently have, you may find they also don’t fit any more.

It's you.

Im finding the opposite. My weighing scales say the same weight everytime but I keep having to send clothes back for smaller sizes.

If you're menopausal it's likely your shape has changed even if your weight gain is minimal. This could be contributing to clothes not fitting you well.

I don’t think it’s you. I find clothes sizes vary from shop to shop and even the same shop. For example I tried on 3 pairs of M&S jeans. All the same size and style as my current ones. One pair fitted, one I could just do up, and one were far too small.

I’m finding the opposite! I’m a 6 which is sometimes hard enough to find. I’m not buying (or trying to find) a 4.
Agree with pp, go by measurements rather than sizes as they can vary so much.

Im 64 and Im wearing size 8 and XS. There is no way Im either of those small sizes. Im 5 foot 5 and 9 stone.
I am most definitely not size 6 to 8 which is what these sizes are.
The only exception is Marks and Spencers which runs small so I tend to buy 10 to 12.

Sorry but I think you have put more weight on, or changed shape more than you realise.
if you buy vintage clothes, even from the 80s and 90s, you can see how different the sizing is.

No, if anything they are bigger. Next stuff is massive. My 23 year old works at Next and she has to buy her trousers and skirts from the girls department for her ‘uniform’. In age 11. But in other shops she is an 8 in jeans.

It is almost certainly the other way round. I feel your pain!

I think the shape of our body changes over the years, even if we're roughly the same weight. Composition often changes too. Sometimes a person who "looks" slimmer can actually be a dress size higher. And people with a bigger bust/hips can sometimes appear to have a smaller waist than someone who doesn't.
In terms of measurement, things from my teenage days were actually probably smaller, but fabrics affect how well your clothes fit too.

With kindness yes I think you’ve probably gained more than you think and/or changed shape to carry weight differently.

Clothes definitely seem to be getting bigger in my opinion.

Next sizes are bigger than average. My chunky DS fit into the slim joggers for school. I was impressed.
I don’t buy in Next as you need to size down.
H&M size 8 is much smaller than next.

There's very little consistency in sizing between different brands, or even between different clothes in the same brand. A 10 in one shop could be a equivalent to a 14 in another. That said, in general I think clothes are getting bigger rather than smaller. "Vanity sizing" is a thing.

Sizes vary so much between shops and even within the Same shop. I bought 3 pairs of trousers in different colours from MandS the same size and the same style. When they arrived they were not the same size at all.

No, if anything they’re getting bigger.

You have gained weight and your older stretched out elasticated clothes still fit, but that doesn’t mean sizes have gotten smaller. I thought it’s pretty obvious ell documented that across the board sizes have only been getting more generous?

How old are you? You might be carrying it differently now. I know I am…

Clothes sizes have increased over the last 6 decades. I have a blouson jacket I bought in 1973. It's the top of a very nice trouser suit which had flared trousers and this jacket which has a clinch waist. It is a size 12, says so on the label and was an expensive buy. The waist is about the size of two large oranges. It fitted me perfectly. It is nowhere near the size of the M&S dress I bought in c.1989, which is also a 12 and considerably bigger than the jacket. A current size 12 appears to be roughly a size 18 by 1970s' sizing.
We have all got bigger. I now take a size 14/16 which is equivalent, at a guess, to sizes 20 and 22 in 1973.
So, sizes have not got smaller, they have got bigger.

No clothes are getting smaller and worse made
Example I have two almost identical m&s pairs of trousers. The same size. One fits well, the other is way too small.

This is true of most clothes. Especially trousers. I can easily measure my waist. I have trousers from various manufacturers that fit, yet buy another pair and they are too small!

Nice brag 🙄

Sorry, no.

What may have happened is that you're roughly the same weight, but have lost muscle (as you said there's menopause to consider and you don't exercise). That would mean you would be bigger in volume, because muscle is more dense than fat, so the same weight of fat will be a lot bigger than muscle.

I think the sizing is all messed up. I have some size 12L jeans from Next which fit as well as some 14L from River Island. Then the other day I brought what I thought were size 16 from H&M but turns out they were a size 18. I think I'm a size 14 and am 5'9" with an hour glass shape. I can't wear M&S new style trousers as the waist is too small on the 14 and even the long length feels a bit short. Their 16 feels too big.

I find certain brands are cut smaller. I have shirts that are large from levi that fit me well but now the new large are cut smaller.