Have retailers changed clothes sizes?

[MissLucyEyelesbarrow]

I know about inconsistencies between brands and vanity sizing. This is more about the proportions of a size within a brand - say, a 12 in Whistles (but lots of other brands too).

I've suddenly found that a lot of brands that used to fit are really big on the waist. This is most definitely a not stealth boast about weight loss - I haven't lost weight, and I'm menopausal, so there's no way my waist is magically smaller!

I'm mildly pear-shaped, so there has always been the odd thing that fits on the hips but not the waist, but I'm now finding it all the time. And it's not just trousers/skirts either - tops are huge on the torso but fit on the shoulders/boobs.

Anyone else noticing this?

Yes.

Next & M&as for sure.
There are even trousers in the same style, but in a different colour, that differ in size. It’s maddening.

Yes! I’m a pear-shaped size 10-12 and have noticed this quite a bit since last year. Lots of gaping waists on otherwise well-fitting things. I have ended up sizing down to an 8 in looser trousers as a result, for the first time ever, but there’s no hope for anything slim-fitting.

I wondered if it was my body changing shape, but I haven’t really lost or gained anything, so maybe manufacturers have suddenly decided that no one has a waist anymore!

I’ve noticed This in M&S - I was in there the other week and put 3 pairs of size 10 jeans up against each other and they were all different!

I just had to send back a size 14/XL skirt as it was too big. Its a European brand (hence the XL) and they usually run smaller. The 12 fits, I am not a size 12, I am nearly 12 and a half stone!

I know I had a couple of size 12s 15 years ago when I weighed between 9 and 10 stone. I also have a size 18 pair of jeans from the early 90s which fit my waist. I am overweight but my clothes size can be a 12? Utter bollocks and I think it probably contributes to people loosing sight of what a healthy body is.

Yes. I tried I. Some stuff in next this weekend just gone in my usual
size and half of it was hanging off me. I’ve not lost weight or changed shape!

Yes, definitely Next. It's very annoying

Yep I’ve had to go down a size in next and Sainsbury’s

I'm finding the middle/waist area has been upsized more than the rest, though. So even getting a different size doesn't help: if it fits on the hips or shoulders it's mahoosive on the waist.

Yes. I was an 8 when I was 21, and I'm an 8 now I am 38.
I am nowhere near the smaller size I was then

Yes my size 12's that I've had for years from dorothy perkins, asos and next are far too small, yet the size 12's I order now fit fine.

Same. I still have some size 8 clothes from years back and struggle to fit into them, but size 8s from the same brand now fit or are loose.

Apparently I'm a size 6 in some shops. Which is news to menopausal me. And actually frigging annoying cos they're never in stock

Seasalt seems reliable

I have this problem too. In a lot of brands all the small sizes are out of stock first.

Yes I noticed this too. Size 12 now again all of a sudden when I didn't lose any weight and were touching onto a size 16 a year or so ago.

Yes. It's really bloody annoying. I'm an hourglass so had this problem already to a certain extent, but now the waists on any dresses I order to try on literally make them look like maternity clothes they are so gigantic. They also usually sit two inches above my actual waist which helps not at all (and I am very short, so I can't imagine how taller women with longer torsos cope). I can't just go down a size because I can't usually squash my boobs into a size 8, especially in anything with buttons. Sick to the back teeth of having to ruin every dress by putting a sodding belt around it, whether it looks good or not. I get that tent-like dresses have been in for a while, but I'm talking about dresses that are waisted, not the deliberately sack shapes ones. They just look shit.

I've always had that problem as I'm pear shaped and short. Over the years some fashion trends lend themselves to my shape better/worse.

Good point. I'm average height but with a long torso, and it makes it even worse.

But even the brands that used to be good on my shape, like Massimo Dutti, suddenly don't fit round the waist.