Is everyone on the high street making clothes bigger?

[Lentilweaver]

Yes, I know everyone has ranted about this before, but let me have my rant! Sending back so many clothes and having to trudge to the post office because they are all oversize. Not just by one size, often by two. Am normally a 10 in M and S, now probably have to order an 8. It's the same with all the other bits I have ordered from Albaray, Mint Velvet, Uniqlo, Mango etc....

I haven't lost any weight. Seriously thinking of stopping online shopping. Or get out my tapemeasure?

I am a 14 today with a 12 waist. I'm a 14/16 in 1990s stuff and I have dresses all the way back to the 1950s. In 1950s sizing I am about a 20 waist size. So about 4 sizes bigger.
A few years ago I was a size 6-8 and a 1980s ultra fitted dress in a 10 was almost that tight I couldn't breathe in it. My bmi was 15!

I think sizes are just generally ‘off’ these days. I have clothes that are size 8, 10 and 12 . That isn’t even because it is different shops - I have size 8’s and 12’s from the same retailer. I dont think that all clothes are a size bigger than they used to be either - me having to buy the odd 12 now in no way means I am a size 14!

I recently bought a size 14 skirt second hand on ebay, expecting it to be on the loose side if anything. I didn't realise how old it was - it was far too tight for me!

I'm overweight (BMI ~27) and wear a 12 in most shops. I'm a 'small' in Primark, which feels ridiculous. Small I am not. Sizing has definitely changed.

I agree sizing is all over the place. I wear a size 14 in jeans, however I've got tops, dresses and coats in everything from a size 12 to 20. It's crazy. I ignore labels and just visually judge the size of the item.

DD is 17 and pretty much exactly the same size as I was in the late 80s and early 90s at a similar age when I was an 8-10 depending on the brand (I'm still an 8-10 but a stone heavier and many inches larger). She wears lots of my old clothes and they fit perfectly. An 8 in most shops is hanging off her. We get things taken in at the local tailor.

It's the oversized trend. It's a nightmare for short people too. I don't want a shirt that nearly comes down to my knees!

I get my tape measure out and double check the measurements against me, there are huge variations in sizes and it really annoys me. Even that's not foolproof but it does cut down on the amount I have to send back.

I have a couple of size 12 evening dresses that are over 30 years old. They are smaller than some of the size 8s I buy nowadays. It's ridiculous - I am pretty much the same weight and shape I was 35 years ago but have somehow dropped 2 dress sizes.

I have a vintage dress from the 70s which is labelled a size 14, but equivalent to a modern 8-10.

They make everything oversized and pin it on the models. I tried on an XS trench coat in Uniqlo recently after seeing it on the mannequin and liking it (ironically I actually thought, "Finally one that's not oversized!"). It looked ridiculous, there was so much material I could almost have wrapped it around myself twice (I am slim but not teeny tiny). I realised it was pinned on the mannequin so that half the material was gathered up at the back! It's a joke.

I have old clothes in a size 10/12 from maybe 10 -15 years ago. They fit me fine. If I buy anything new it has to be a 6/8.

Like someone upthread said, what do the really slim people do for clothes now. I am smack bang in the middle of a healthy weight so could easily lose a stone and still be healthy. what would i wear then!

Stuff has been off for years
These are from asos
The left one is asos curve, size 24
Right plain one is asos, size 14

They both fit and no noticeable size difference

I'm a short 6, sometimes 4, and have begun looking in the kids' section, which is annoying as on the high street their clothes are usually awful or in colours I don't wear.

I was a size 8 in the 90s. I'm bigger now. I know because I just threw out some of my topshop trousers because I no longer fit. Buying elasticated waistbands help. M&S has size 6 and I order them online. Uniqlo is also good. I also buy from the teen section. Age 14-16 is often a good bet. I have size 4 feet and I can often buy youth shoes too.

There also seems to be a shift in stock proportions; 2 years ago I was 18.5 stone and a size 22-24, I'm now 9ish stone and a size 6-8 thanks to a gastric sleeve. However, when I needed to buy plus-size, everything was only available in waif-like teenage teeny tiny sizes (or so I thought then) now I struggle to find XS or XXS in places like primark but they are overloaded with 2XL and size 20-22. I feel like I can't win tbh.

although, a top tip is teenage sizes if you're diddy- age 13-14 or 14-15 seems to fit me perfectly for basics depending on the store, but I am only 5ft2 😀

I think so. In my mid 20s before I had DD I used to buy 8s or S and now I am in my 30s and am not quite as slim around the middle but I now buy 6s or XS from the same brands. But my pre-pregnancy size smalls from these brands are tight.

I've been a 12 all my life, from when I was an 8 stone teenager in the mid 80s to now as my middle aged 11 stone self.

It's obviously bollocks, I'm clearly an old 16 now and god knows what I would have been as a teenager, a 4?

Yeah me too. Coats sizing is insane. Im an hourglass and nothing fits properly. If it fits my boobs it drowns my waist. Nothing is nicely tailored.

When I was about 19 I was a size 12 or 14 with a tiny waist, so all my waistbands had to be pinned I bought a vintage skirt from the 1950s in a 14 it only just fit me because of that waist.

My measurements with a tape measure are size 18, but I buy 14 to 18s, not so many 18s now.

Im still losing weight and will probably end up measuring around a size 16 or 14 at a push, so I'll probably be wearing size 12s and of course its not accurate

I also wish there were more size 12 models.

One size doesn't look the same on all frames though, so even that wouldn't help, really.

Oliver Bonas is ridiculous! I'm an 8 in there and a 10/12 everywhere else! Zara, I have no problems with, but I've noticed all my clothes from there have the square symbol, which is true to size. I can't remember which way round it is but they also have a circle and triangle symbol on their labels which either means runs or large!

Sizing is awful everywhere.
I have two pairs of H&M trousers that fit me. One is a 20, the other a 10.
You have to try everything on and it is exhausting.

I feel positively sylph-like in Fat Face. Am normally size 12 but get into size 10 very easily in there.

Why do women even get stuck with this stupid sizing system? Why can't we just have waist/chest/hip measurements like mens clothing?