Which shops have the most / least accurate sizing?

[Divertedcalls81]

In your opinion.

I think they should bring in US sizing (so a size 12 would go down to an 8 ), and it should be standardised everywhere

I'm an 8 in topshop, I think their sizing has been consistent since I started shopping there in the mid 90s.

H&M is beyond crazy. I have 14s from there.

But I think as Mrs Lettuce points out, as well as being smaller generally, nearly everyone in Ye Olde Vintage Clothing Days wore some form of supportive undergarment that helped hold everything in an extra inch or two. Looking at my family photo albums, we've always been a clan of lanky heifers, except fifty years ago, some of that heiferage was battened down with corselettes. I'd imagine my Auntie Winnie was a vintage size 16 in her fancy wedding suit, but about a size 24 in a nightgown.

I've got to the point of picking clothes off the rail and thinking, Is this going to fit me?, before I even try it on. Maybe it's a sign of age, but I've almost stopped taking it personally when nothing fits me in Top Shop; it's because I'm 40 and they want me to run sobbing from their shop, never to darken its doors again, straight into the soothing arms of Wallis.

I don't even really bother with official sizes any more. I pull out a size 10 as a starting point, hold it up, and judge whether it's likely to fit me.

I go far more by the look of an actual item of clothing, than I do by the size it has been assigned (which is totally random, according to the shop).

I'm surprised more people don't do this. I can look at a pair of jeans, and roughly know between a size of or two if they're going to fit. Same with dresses and tops. I recently had two days shopping in Barcelona en route elsewhere, with the kids in tow. I didn't try on a single item of clothing, and everything I bought fitted. I couldn't tell you the actal size of anything.

Not great for online shopping, of course...

The randomness of sizing is infuriating, of course. It's ridiculous. Then there's the vanity sizing, which, IMO, is plain old bad for our health. Carrying more weight than is healthy for our frames has been so utterly normalized and enabled that people are flattered into thinking that they aren't carrying excess weight while they are.

Not that it matters what size someone is comfortable at or has ended up at but I do feel we owe it to ourselves to be realistic about things. I could claim to be a 10-12 with careful shopping, and therefore slim. Actually I'm about the top of the healthy weight range for my height. I'm an old 18-20. I don't care about the number or letter combo that shows what size I am, but still, I'm not 'slim' whatever my clothing labels choose to claim.

Surely it's logical that the smallest available sizes are tiny to the point that most women don't (and wont ever) fit them, just as it's logical that the largest sizes are so big that most women don't fit them. Whatever we call the sizes most of us are probably going to find that we fall somewhere around the middle of the range rather than at either extreme. Unless we allow ourselves to lie to ourselves about stuff.

I find primark impossible, im a 10 in most places but in skirts there I'm a 14 and in dresses a 12

Asos curve drives me mad. I've bought 3 dresses from them recently, 2 in a size 20, 1 I needed a 22
I'm a size 16

monsoon tends to be consistent, I often don't try stuff on in there as it's always the same size for me. M&S varies a lot though!

I find the size chart don't even match the clothing - that's what's such a pain especially with online shopping! According to most charts I'm around a size 14-18 in the bust with anywhere between a size 6-10 waist... yet most tops I need to buy in size 8 to fit properly. Despite the chart saying size 16.

And, although I dearly love their clothes, Levis are one of the worst for jeans sizing changing for the exact same measurements. I can buy a 26W30L (skinny) and then want a different colour (IN THE SAME STYLE!!!) and have to buy 29W32L. They make us do the leg work (excuse the pun) in working out the sizes rather than measuring after the dye/processing work. They do it before, so when the fabric changes... the sizes change completely. And you have to work out the sizing all over again. It is such a frigging pain in the backside.

I have trousers/high waist skinnies from Next in a 10. I have a casual jacket in a 16 also from Next. I'm slightly top heavy but not that much!

Also bought a top in the Sainsbos sale in an 8... It's quite roomy.

For the record, I'd say I'm a 10-12 in a stretchy top.

As an avid buyer on eBay I generally only buy Oasis, Monsoon or Gap (but only dresses or tops as I know their medium fits me) because they are consistent in their sizing. If I deviate from this it is a total minefield because it is a gamble if something will fit.
I wouldn't buy Gap trousers or skirts though, impossible to figure out!

Next are totally inconsistent. I could be an 8, 10 or 12. I take 3 of everything to the changing room.

I tried on a coat in jaeger yesterday. A size 8 which fit perfectly.

I'm a size 14.

WTF?

I like Crew, but same problem others have in H&M etc, I could be anything from size 10 to size 14.

I've noticed that Fat Face have reversed their vanity sizing. I could always go down a size there, but now I'm a true 14.

sizes.darkgreener.com/

This used to be pretty reliable when I cared :D Now I just stick to one place !

Don't trust H&M sizing. I was shopping for a pair of dungarees for 13 year old dd's birthday in there (she is an adult size 6/8) picked up a pair that I thought might fit her, looked at the label and it said size 16!! Took them to the till and said "these are obviously not a size 16 are they?" and the assistant said "well some designs do come up small". Yeah, right .

I bought them anyway, as I thought they looked about right - but infact they were too small when dd tried them on! Returned them to shop with dd in tow, where she tried on another pair size 8 which fitted perfectly! Was so incredulous about attitude of original shop assistant, I started a thread about it on here - for which I was royally flamed .

I find shopping for clothes a nightmare. I am a different size in every shop I go in and am often different sizes within the same shop! I really don't care what the size label says, after all, the only person who sees it is me, it's not like the size is emblazoned across the clothes i wear. I do wish though, that sizes were standardized, then at least I'd know which size to choose instead of having to gamble on different sizes. It's very frustrating when I have to take armfuls of clothes into changing rooms only to find that out of say, three items, I'm anywhere between a 10 and a 22 in each of them. The fit is far more important than the size but there's too much variation in sizes depending on the shop I'm in