Vanity sizing re-visited...

[Notcontent]

I know this has been discussed before, but I think it's getting worse...

I was just thinking after a recent shopping trip to j crew in London. I have not shopped there much but have a top from there, purchased about 5 years ago. It's a size small. But when I went there recently I tried on lots of tops and for some only XXS fitted me... I am petite and slim, but not a scrawny midget! About 5'3 tall and 50kg.

I have also noticed that Whistles have recently introduced size 4 and 6.... Size 8 there used to be fine but now I have to size down...

Yup really fed up of it. I've given up on some labels, reiss, whistles, cos, even banana republic.

Yes, I'd like a system where they tell you the actual size in inches/cm.

I actually didn't believe this existed until recently but after a marks and spencer trouser debarcle I'm now convinced.

It kind of works well for those of us at the chubbier end of the scale but it must be a nightmare if you are slim and small framed, there's nowhere to go with it.

Boo hoo. At least they make the clothes in your size. I'm a curvy 14 and many trendier/edgier shops don't stock clothes in my size at all.

Wish I had your problems!

It's definitely getting worse. I have size 10 trousers that are years old that still fit like a glove, size 8's from a couple of years ago, again still fit perfectly, and yet more and more I'm a size 6 now when out shopping for new stuff.

Well then my size 14s should really be an 18 then.

Sob.

I now just go for what "looks" right on the hanger, usually a 10 when I've been a 12 for ever. When people ask what size I am what do I say...I prefer the 12 tbh at 6ft....!

This has also happened with mens clothing. Dp was delighted he is still 32 waist. ...though he measures 37ish!

I've just bought a pair of size 00 jeans. I'm thin but not super skinny and have definitely been skinnier. I wonder what happens when 00 is too big?

It's becoming ludicrous. I'm currently wearing a size 8 white stuff skirt, and despite some considerable recent weight loss (which I still plugging away on!) I still weigh over ten stone at 5' 3" and my mum tum waist measures a substantial 30 inches. I'm not a size 8 in anyone's language. I have a truly old pair of M&S work trousers from 14 years ago that are a size 16 that have an equal waist measurement to this skirt when laid out and measured. I too think it's time to turn to actual inch sizes, but as PasstheCake points out, it's even happening in mens sizing now anyway.

But the sizing even in one shop varies wildly. I've done a lot of shopping from next this season, and have bought jeans in an 8 and a 14, and tops in a 10 and 18. It's not down to me wanting a baggy or tight fit though, it's just sizing that's all over the place. I am firmly a size 12 in reality.

And it's dangerous. It promotes an unhealthy delusion of what size we think we are. If we think Oh it's not that bad, I'm still a size X, Y, Z etc, when in reality we are perhaps two or even three sizes bigger, well its all tied up with the obesity crisis, isn't it?

Agree Time. i had a baby 9ish weeks ago and was shocked to be able to fit in size 10 jeans in tesco at 10 stone and 5 ft 8. when i was 7 st 12 about 7 years, i was a size 8. so something is definitely wrong, its daft.

I agree it is nuts. I'd like to see cm measurements too, but I suspect we'd see exactly the same problem. Certainly when I was trying on jeans the other week the waist measurements in inches bore no resemblance to my actual waist measurement in terms of how they fitted, and without exception over several brands were a smaller measurement than the smallest part of my waist.

I see M&S have recently added a size 6 in some of their stuff....I'm not surprised, as their 8s are a good fit on me and I am slim but not especially thin or small-framed. I still think of myself as a size 10 but to be honest I seldom need anything bigger than an 8.

Anybody over a size ten annoyed about this?

Nope. And we make up the majority.

"I've just bought a pair of size 00 jeans."

Gulp! I'm a size 12 in jeans. That makes me the size of an elephant.

It's inconsistency in sizes that gets me. I tried on a skirt in FatFace the other day, and the one that fitted was an 8. I am not a size 8. The jacket I bought in M & S the other week is an 8 as well.

I don't find this happens to me at all. When I was 18 I was a size 8 and weighed 8 stone. Now at 33 I'm the same size and weight.

Actually in shoes though I have had to buy a 3 instead of a 4 recently...

I haven't found vanity sizing in footwear, except for my Sketchers Go Walk.

Morris, my nana is pissed off.
She's spent her entire life being a size 16/18 and in the last few years she's found out she's now a 12 (wearing the same size 16 stuff she bought 30+ years ago), it confuses her & as she orders from catalogs she finds it stressful to have to return goods/work out what size to order.

However she is 83 so is invisible to clothing manufactures anyway!

I'm a size 10 & have recently found 6/8 a better fit

Oh bless your nana! My gran has visibly shrunk over the years and it feels very odd now buying her size 8 stuff and childrens shoes.

True fact about GoWalk, mine are a size smaller than my true size. I've found the same with Crocs and Birkenstocks. Yikes, I've outed my comfy shoe habit :)

But are people really vain about shoe sizes? I was a size six all my adult life, went up half a size after pregnancy, and haven't come back down. But I don't care, it isn't depressing to see larger numbers in a pair of shoes.

Jeans are another matter :(

Ive been wearing a pair of size 10 shorts to work Im heavily pregnant and they are still huge. I bought them from the catalogue the sizing is ridiculous. A good thing to do is buy from ebay from china as they are all the right size

I find that banana republic is by far the worst. I have always been a size 10 in jeans/trousers but in banana republic I am apparently a 2!

Banana Republic uses American sizes so all bets are off. In my younger day I had a skirt from Old Navy in a size 4!! It was a naff skirt but oh how I cherished it :)

Exactly, it is dangerous.

I'm mentally adjusting to buying an 8 these days. 10's are bigger than they used to be.

I had a big clearout recently from my Mum n Dad's loft, Richards shop (remember from the 80s) dress and jeans, size 8 jeans and 10 dress. I weighed 7st 3lbs, they would be about a 2/4 now.