I just took k my measurements to buy the right size of jeans and apparently I should be buying size 20 even though..

[Hungrycaterpillarsmummy]

I'm a size 14 and all my trousers are a 14.
Wtf. This is the size guide for Levi's jeans and honestly I'm in shock. I am absolutely not a 16 let a lone a 20!
My husband then went into fact checking mode and also measured me and couldn't believe it.
No wonder I bought a size 14 river island jeans and they didn't fit!

Jeans are annoying, I am a size 20 but have to size up one if not 2 sizes in jeans.

I'm a size 8 waist and at least a size 10 hips(bubble butt). Jeans never fit me.

I think you have to try on Levi's, their sizing is mad.

I’m the same size as I was in the 80s/90s but Im 2 stone heavier.😂 and I’m a10/12 .. no wonder the younger generation is bigger

Just measured a pair of size 10 and size 12 Levi’s. They measure 28 and just under 29 inches on the waist but presume that’s with shrinkage from washing.

I have a 28 inch waist and wear a 34 at Levis because my hips are 44 inches wide. I look fabulous because I'm tall but it is what it is.

It doesn’t seem mad. Size 14 = 31.25 waist. Pretty normal for a 14, surely?

You must be really muscular! I’m the same height, a stone and a half lighter and my waist and hips are nothing like as small as yours!

The Levi sizing is weird, it has me as a 6. I’ve not been a size 6 since I was about 14. The smaller sizes look more like their American equivalent.

I'm normally a 16/18 and according to that I'm a 24!

I do weight lift and have for a year now, but ive lost 7st, so not massively visably muscular (if I flex, they are visable). From the other thread I'm on, I do appear to be a bit of an anomaly. There seems to be a fixation on not being able to be a size 8 at just under 10st and 5ft2. But as you've pointed out, my measurements show it is entirely possible to be a size 8. But my weight is my weight 🙈.

My mum is a seamstress and she says when you measure yourself for things like jeans you're not supposed to buy exactly the size you are, but an inch or so smaller. This is to make up for the 'give' I'm fabric and also that jeans are supposed to sort of hold you in a little bit. (Although not squash you uncomfortably)

Not to be rude, but you don’t look size 14 either.

cant find a tape measure so Im looking at the jeans Ive just bought that fit - size 8 from Tu. Checking their sizing on the website and they are calling that a 28 inch waist and Levi are also calling it a size 8

Im 60, middle aged spread, I have never in my life been a size 8 - until having lost weight I needed new clothes and I went and picked up 12's, which is what I thought I looked like - and ended up in 8's. Last time I was this small , back in my teens - 70's - I was a 10/12 - and I didn't have the spread that I do now

Vanity sizing for sure

Mind I don't have a bum/hips/thighs of any substance -- think of an apple with two lolly sticks

Last week I went shopping for tops, the smallest I can ever remember getting into would be 14 - or a medium - Im now down to small and 10/12. Yes I have lost a lot of back fat but I am never what you would call small - bra size ( properly fitted ) is a 34 dd

If you have a look on the sizes on a sewing pattern you can see how women's clothes sizes have been changed over the years. A 36 inch waist would be an 18-20 in original sizes and most people will be wearing clothes that are bigger than their original sizes due to vanity sizing by retailers. The problem is that there is now no consistency in sizing from one place to the next. I agree with other posters though that the sizes on that Levis' chart are very strange at the lower end 25, inches should be around an 8.

But isn’t this because the ‘waistband’ of men’s jeans don’t sit at their waist. It sits at their hips which are always bigger than their waist

OP can you clarify, is your waist 36 inches?

Some of the responses on this post really are nasty. People's bodies are not identical.

I wear a 12 on top and 14 in trousers, I have a 36" waist because I'm an apple. I have slim legs, not much of an arse and a big tummy. I can't size up because the trousers then float on my legs and arse. 16 is too big.

Sizing between brands is also not consistent, so the numbers are relatively meaningless.

I'm a 12 to 14 and my Levi size is 30 waist.

So much inconsistency out there I vary from a 12 to a 16. I find cheaper clothes are more likely to be my be vanity sized or have generous stretch so I go for a 12 in Tesco and a larger size elsewhere.

I tower above some of my pals and with that variation in height and the different shapes we all are it’s a wonder any women fit any off the peg clothes at all!

I love Levi’s jeans and I’ve never looked at the high street sizing via the chart (maybe it’s the ones I buy, but they literally just show waist and leg measurement selection), I just measure myself and pick the correct waist and leg length.
I think the issue is we focus too much on the value judgement added to high street sizing when it’s largely arbitrary and often completely wrong, especially given vanity sizing. Everything that doesn’t give measurements (so basically everything except my Levi’s 😆) I try on and my wardrobe has a range of sizes from 8-14 because of this.
No one’s worth should be tied up in high street sizing. The main struggle is ordering clothes online that follow them and getting the ASOS returns ban hammer swung on you 😅

Are you measuring your waist in the right place?

That chart is weird as it would make me a size 2 or a 4 and I'm an 8/10.

Looks right to me.
Loads of Highstreet shops say size 12 on the label with the actual tailor measurements being for a size 16. They want it to seem smaller so people are happy to buy.

Maybe Levi's have not been vanity sizing over the years?

I usually buy size 12 now but some brands size 10...I am an entire stone heavier than I used to be!

ALL my clothes say size 10 or 12 on the label. The jeans from the 90's I can just about get the size 12s done up but they don't really fit me and aren't comfortable.

I'm slim, I'm not overweight at all, but I have big hips in bone structure and have lost muscle and gained fat due to age and health issues. I am older and saggier and I can visibly see it (others probably wouldn't notice, but having looked at my body all my life, I can).

If I were transported back to the 90's now I reckon I'd be having to buy size 16.

Especially if the fabric didn't have much stretch in it. So many things are full of elastane these days you can go up a size without noticing because you still fit into your old clothes.