So are sizes actually getting smaller?

[Newmeagain]

Looking at the M&S size guide, it looks like I may have gone up a size! So I started checking out some other size guides and the same thing applies. I have always been a size 8, with a waist of 68 cm. But now it look like I am a size 10, except that my hips are nowhere near a size 10.

Have sizes actually changed or do the size guides not actually reflect the clothes in reality?

I have seen a lot of criticism (on here and elsewhere) of M&S sizing as "vanity" sizing and being larger than comparable sizes from other brands. It could be they are trying to size match elsewhere?

From personal experience, I had a terrible time buying jeans from M&S this year - same size as the ones I was wearing were actually a size smaller (and not just because I had stretched my own pair!) But then inconsistency across colours of jeans (same style, different colour - the black jeans were smaller than the light blue) and then absolute madness going on with crotch length so that regular leg length had a v short crotch that affected where the waist band was but long leg had a normal crotch length but resulted in wider waist.

So... I think they are altering sizes and it is resulting in inconsistency and frustration.

Not sure that helps... 🤔

im not noticing sizing being smaller but things being shorter is driving me mad. T-shirts are cropped without even being a crop T-shirt. Skirts are all mini skirts being intended to be. Shorts barely covering my aree unless they’re Bermuda shorts. Arms short like they’re petit size. Shoes either falling off my feet or cutting my feet up due to tightness

its really pissing me off

There is no standard for clothes sizing. A 10 in one brand can be very different from another. Even within the same brand or the same garments in a rail there can be differences because of modern mass production methods. Sizes are a guide at best.
And as you have observed, we are all different shapes and proportions so your hips might match one size, but your waist might not. I can often find that a particular brand cuts well for my proportions, or I get things altered.

I think M&S sizes are certainly getting smaller, but it's an isolated case. If I buy something from Fatface or White Stuff I buy a 10 and it's still big on me. I have always been a 12 so I don't know how actually thin people find anything to wear in these places.

M&S sizing is all over the place, and the jeans are definitely smaller this year - I've seen it talked about online quite a lot.

Personally I don't take any notice of size charts, because clothes come from all over the place and there's no standardisation between factories. I tried on a few clothes in M&S last week - and as a size 18/20 apple with big boobs, I found the size 18 top too big and the size 22 jeans too small 🤦 It makes no sense at all.

According to m&s im now a 12 trouser, however everywhere else im a 10. Im 5"1, size 8 top and not nearly as out of proportion as m&s seem to think i am 🙄

M&S sizing is weirdly quite small, especially for trousers. I'm a 10 in there and an 8 in every other shop in the world, sometimes even smaller.

M&S sizing is massive! I’m a 6-8 elsewhere, e.g. Next, M&S size 8 is huge on me, even a six is too big (if you can find them)!

Their sizing isn’t very consistent. I tried on 3 styles of jeans the other day, I fit a 10 best in one style, a 12 in another and a 14 in the third. It is very frustrating but perhaps good news for the high street as they’d have been a nightmare to get to fit if I’d been online shopping.

I think in the last month or so m and s sizing has definitely got smaller - especially around the waist.

I am normally a 6 and my weight hasn't changed but the waists of things I have tried on have been a little snug but hips too big.

For context I am a 6 in reiss which I think is pretty true to size.

@stillavid sounds like you have a similar problem to me. I have some M&S jeans that fit well in a size 8, but their tailored trousers are a bit tight on my waist but also baggy around the hips. Next size up make me look like I am wearing clown trousers.

I thought it was vanity sizing (my size 14 clothes from 20 years fit the same as the size 10 clothes I buy today) but I’ve recently found sizing is just really inconsistent. I tried a 10 and a 12 in one shop and the 10 was too big and the 12 was too tight 🤔

and across shops I do vary between a 10 and a 12. So it’s quite tricky to buy on Vinted I find and I’ve started to actually go to the shops more rather than ordering online.

I can't really comment on M&S, as the only thing I buy there is their knickers. Haven't noticed them getting smaller.

With regards to clothes in general, I think sizes are getting bigger not smaller although some places seem worse than others.

If I buy any new clothes I am pretty much always a 10. Sometimes a 12 if the garment isn't cut for larger breasts.

I have quite a few items of clothing from 10-15 years ago, if not more. These are pretty much all 12s, and I don't think I would have got in a size 10 from that era now

There is something weird going on with M&S sizing recently, historically they have always been generous but as a PP points out a lot of people have raised them getting smaller/inconsistent in the past year. I have also noticed this, including in underwear, even with bra bands compared to earlier purchases.

I think as a PP says they seem to be trying to fix their vanity sizing but aren't doing it in a very consistent way.

If this is the case, I feel like it’s made M&S more consistent with other brands.

Are the measurements getting smaller or the actual clothing?

E.g. my waist measures 29.5 in, but I never, ever need anything bigger than a 10, often an 8, which according to size guides is 26.5-28in.

I long ago gave up expecting consistent sizing from any brand. Just the other day I tried on three pairs of jeans in Mango, all a size 12. One pair was too tight, another pair was enormous. Only one pair actually fitted. I have various jeans from Zara at home - one pair in a size 8 is on the large size (I know I'm not a size 8). Another pair is labelled size 16 but I can barely breathe in them now. I just don't get it.

Does anyone have any recent experience with men’s clothes from M&S?

I’m currently looking at jumpers there for a present, and now I’m wondering if the inconsistency is also affecting the men’s department

M and s have redone all their sizes, it used to all be massive, now it’s too small and folks need to go up a size from what they normally bought in there.

im also an 8 in every store known to man, from the low cost fast fashion to the higher end brands and in m and s the waist is too tight, but the hips and arse massive, like inches of material sagging out and way way bigger than a standard 8. but it used to be an 8 hung on me and I needed a 6.

the qualify has also gone down hill as they keep to a low price point, and there is another thread on that, but yes, it’s quite well known they’ve redone all their sizing.

I've not noticed any change with M&S TBH

Now bloody Next on the other hand! I literally had to start buying a size 4, but they only do them in their petite ranges. Luckily I only buy basics in there so have graduated to leggings/hoodies etc. from the kids range! (I'm 5'1" and 7st13, so not exactly underweight or anything)

Darker denim will fit smaller no matter the jean maker. The colour of denim genuinely changes how it fits: dark washes and black denim hold more dye, which makes the fibres stiffer and tighter, so the same size will feel more snug; light washes are heavily washed and abraded, which softens the fabric and makes it feel looser; and white or pastel denim is usually pigment‑dyed, so it tends to be softer and more forgiving. The amount of dye in black jeans = always tighter, stiffer and more compressive/ less stretch.

This is the exact problem. M&S have done away with vanity sizing, that’s fine. But now their waistbands are very snug. They seem to be forgetting that their core shoppers are middle-aged women. My waist is no longer my best feature…

Still a lot bigger than 30 years ago. Size 10 was a 24 inch waist back then - I could never get into a 10 skirt as mine was 26 inches.

M&S sizes used to be very generous. Maybe they have brought them back inline with everybody else’s.

Have Next done similar?