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Original poster

Either H&M are bonkers or I am delusional

131 replies

SharingMichelle · 29/03/2016 06:19

Grabbed this skirt last time I was in H&M. Not terribly exciting, but I thought it looked useful. Picked up a size 14.

Couldn't be faffed to try it on. Was in the queue to pay when I looked at it again and decided it was cut on the small side so I switched it for a 16. Am generally a fairly standard 14 with the odd 12 thrown in on a good day. Oh well.

Got home. Couldn't do the bloody thing up!

Back to H&M. Switched the 16 for an 18. I have never worn an 18 in my life. Tried it on this time, just to be safe. Horrendous!! Could squidge my tummy to death and get it done up, but all buttons gaping. So tight it was indecently short.

They didn't stock a size 20! I switched the blasted thing for store credit and came home.

Surely I can't have jumped from a 14 to a 20 without noticing? H&M are bonkers, right? Please could someone reassure me? Or set me straight? I am rather bloated at the moment, but my old clothes still fit, so surely...

OP posts:
paulapantsdown · 30/03/2016 15:03

I bought a top on H&M the other day and could not get it over my head!

My bum may have got bigger in recent years, but I'm pretty sure my head is the same size as it always was.

mrschiefy · 30/03/2016 16:31

I recently bought some of their running clothing ... and I feel really sorry for the ladies who see that they do exercise clothing up to size 20 or 22 .... to find that someone who is a size 16 (hence the running) - would need to wear 18 -20 .... not funny

Octopus37 · 30/03/2016 17:02

I bought two skirts in a size 12 a couple of months ago from H&M, they only just fit and are bordering on too tight. I am a 10 in shops such as New Look, and sometimes a vanity 8 in more expensive shops (that I cant afford to shop at). I could have easily bought the skirts in a 14, which was the biggest size in range I was buying from. Glad it isn't just me.

NeedsAsockamnesty · 30/03/2016 17:04

I do not care what number is on the clothing I want to buy,

I do care if I try on a shirt it fits and I decide for convienance sake to purchase one in every availible colour If I have to try every single one on because that is tedious

Fluffycloudland77 · 30/03/2016 17:05

Yes! I'm a standard 10 with a 26" waist but now I have to buy 6-8. Sometimes their too big too.

I haven't had new clothes for ages but I've risked some boden shorts & a Dorothy Perkins top in size 8 petite in the hope I won't look like I'm wearing my big sisters clothes.

I literally can't find things to fit & my clothes all look on the shabby side. I feel a bit dowdy.

Goingtobeawesome · 30/03/2016 17:26

AGreatBigWorld - black clothes often fit smaller than the exact same thing in a different colour. I was caught out in new look once with jeans. Not a hope in hell of every getting into them.

Lurkedforever1 · 30/03/2016 17:35

The inconsistentency as I've already said is hardly limited to h&m, it happens right across the cheaper end of the market. And I'm not exactly sympathetic to people having to try things on, given I'm grateful just to find clothes that are even worth trying on. If h&m doesn't sell your size, or only sells it with a label you don't like, then shop in one of the many other shops you prefer instead of moaning. And be grateful it's only a few shops you can't shop in, I could write lists of all those I can't shop in.

Sadik · 30/03/2016 17:37

I'd agree H&M are inconsistent, rather than running small (or large). I've also had the experience of trying on the same style of trousers in 2 different colours - one fitted perfectly, other was huge. On checking the labels, one colour was made in Turkey, the other in China - I suspect that's often the issue, different factories producing different colours of the same style.

To the person who said teenagers feet aren't getting larger - they are! 14 y/o DD is 5 foot tall, maybe 40 kilos with size 3 feet, on the whole the same size as me but teenage skinny. She complains that she feels tiny compared to her classmates. Even those who evidently haven't hit puberty/growth spurts (she very much has) have size 5/6 feet, and plenty of her (female) friends are size 7/8.

To the small people struggling with clothes, can't help on the smart stuff, but surf brands tend to come up nicely small IME - I swear by Animal and the like for a good fit that is still broad enough across the shoulders/hips for an adult.

Sadik · 30/03/2016 17:41

Spanish brands are also very good (unsurprising I guess, I used to live in Spain and felt just a good average size there Grin ) - considerably more expensive, but Desigual do some lovely things if you dodge the wackier end of their ranges. Or save up & go on holiday in Madrid/Barcelona/Seville & take a visit to El Corte Ingles . . .

DieSchottin93 · 30/03/2016 20:22

I've been buying my jeans from Primark for years because I know they'll fit me - a while ago I was trying on jeans in H&M and the ones that I actually managed to get over my hips were gaping around my waist. Oh, the joys of being pear-shaped... Sad

I'm also convinced Next have shrunk their trouser sizes - needed a new pair of trousers for work, bought a 10R size, the same size as a pair I currently own that fit fine and they didn't even last a full shift before they ended up with a huge hole in the arse area Blush which I didn't notice until my supervisor pointed it out

DownstairsMixUp · 30/03/2016 20:39

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

OmaC · 30/03/2016 21:09

Different retailers have different measurements and they keep reviewing and altering the proportions

shinynewusername · 30/03/2016 21:46

Recently got a 2 pack of M&S bras. One fitted and the other didn't.

AGreatBigWorld · 30/03/2016 22:40

I like Primark jeans but i find (maybe because i ride a bicycle lots) that they "go" round the crotch area quite quickly! Blush

GrumpyOldHorsewoman · 30/03/2016 22:56

I buy most of my clothes online because I have always generally lived in the arse end of nowhere, but it's becoming tricky to know what size to buy from various shops. I find Top Shop the worst offender - I'm quite small and most of my problems have arisen from finding stuff that didn't swamp me, but my experience of Toppers is finding stuff that's big enough. I did wonder if their sizes were actually ages (6, 8, 10, 12). I am a 2 petite at J Crew/Gap/ Banana Republic etc but can easily be a 12 at Top Shop - go figure. Yesterday I had to buy a size large camisole from another shop, because a medium couldn't handily my enormous (34B) knockers.

novemberchild · 30/03/2016 23:36

I thought their mat jeans were tight! I wondered if I had just gained more weight than I thought, but I don't seem to have.

Orwellschild · 30/03/2016 23:37

I'm a 10-12 with big boobs - generally have to wear size 14 tops. In H&M I'm a size 8 on top but a 14 on bottom.

Their sizing is berserk.

Confused
NerdyBird · 31/03/2016 01:00

I've had to buy size 18 trousers and jeans in H&M. I've been a size 14 across most shops for about 20 years. The trousers I had quite a long time ago, about 7 years ago, jeans much newer. Wierdly, their maternity jeans and leggings were fine in a 14 and in fact the jeans were the best pair I ever had, including non-maternity!

WellErrr · 31/03/2016 06:57

Yy nerdy - I have maternity leggings from H&M which are slightly baggy. My maternity jeans from them in the same size are impossibly tight. Great as normal non pregnant jeans though.....!

Floisme · 31/03/2016 06:59

Grin at the 'stop moaning' posts. We are customers who bring in a pretty tidy profit for H&M. We are perfectly entitled to complain and, if they have any business sense at all, they will listen as this problem is losing them money. I only buy there when I have time to try on at least 3 sizes and I never, ever shop with them online.

RickJames · 31/03/2016 08:11

I think most of their stuff is okay - if a little hit and miss in terms of seam quality and mistakes. Their jeggings are bananas though! Every fabric has a different fit so some of mine are 12 and some are 14 with the waist elastic taken in. They are nice for work so I continue to buy them and rely on tape measure and scales to monitor any changes in heft. Sizes are nonsense these days.

BalloonSlayer · 31/03/2016 08:55

I was in Tesco yesterday and bought some pyjamas for DD, in size 6. She's a size eight generally but there was 6 and there was 8-10 so I went for the 6, as some of the size 6 things looked quite big (I picked up a vest top thinking it looked like my size (12) and it was a 6, for example). They were quite loose on her so I chose well as they obviously do come up large. I also picked up a pack of knickers for me in size 12. I thought when I got them out of the packet they looked smaller than I expected but like a fool I put a pair on and they are FAR too small and torturing my poor arse as I type, and now obviously I can't take them back.

I never minded back in the day when you knew certain shops (M&S IIRC) "came up large" so you would always buy a smaller size than in others. But the same shop selling clothes that come up too big AND too small. Confused

bigbuttons · 31/03/2016 09:07

I had the same trousers, different colours thing in a Levi store the other day. One pair fitted, the other was too tight.

I agree that you pretty much have to try on in any shop, no matter how bargain basement or more upmarket.
Bonkers.

BarbaraofSeville · 31/03/2016 10:13

Different retailers have different measurements and they keep reviewing and altering the proportions

This is the main problem I have, being curvy with about a 28 inch waist and 40 inch hips. As well as the increasing sizes overall, there has been a much bigger increase in waist sizes, so nothing ever fits me, because in the modern world, I have something like a size 10 waist and a size 14 arse so the average size 12 garment is too small on the hips but massively too big on the waist, and no, a belt doesn't solve the problem.

Scone1nSixtySeconds · 31/03/2016 10:43

I hate buying clothes. I am 5ft8 and have larger feet and shoulders than my father and a distinct waist. It is bloody impossible.