Clothing Sizes what are you doing?

[starrypawz]

Okay I'm having a bit of a 'what' moment here.

I know clothing sizes are often a bit skewed but. I brought some clothes today from a UK Supermarket I tend to buy from as the stuff is cheap and I tend to find things I like. They had a sale on so I picked up a few bits from there too.

And well, usually I am a UK 20 in trousers and a UK 18 in shirts.

I accidently picked up a UK 16 shirt thinking it was an 18 and so I thought it wouldn't fit me (which I felt annoyed abouy as it was a nice shirt) yet it fits.
And the trousers, I ended up with a size 18 pair on the offchance they might fit as it's happened before, and well they do and seem to fit about the same as the size 20 pair I found.

Like a while ago, I picked up a shirt from a certain clothing brand that was marked a 16, I tried in on in store not being very hopeful it would infact fit me yet it does.

 

Maybe you lost weight?? 

If it appeared I went down a size, I'd be chuffed with myself and be shouting from all the social networks    but if the opposite happened, it'd totally be the stores fault with their dodgy sizing and I'd be snipping the labels out of them once I bought them

Nah I don't think I've lost that much weight, if any

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Sadly they don't educate women about how clothing is sold - no, they never tell you the measurements unless you ask.  Most of the time, it's the cut of the pattern that makes it not fit one's body correctly.  It varies from piece to piece in a collection and none of the ready-to-wear things are really given much thought because you're supposed to try it on and see how it fits. 

[spookysage]

There's a lot of reasons for this, but a big one is a lack of strict oversight and quality control, especially when the sizing is inconsistent within the same brand and style. The clothes put out by different factories all look the same, what does the company care if they fit the same? Cuts costs, too. As for sizing across brands, seems like everyone would rather reinvent the wheel and put together their own idea of what sizes should be rather than stick to some kind of consistent system.

For real frustration, see sewing pattern sizes.

[Beldarna]

Tell me about it! I have a tanktop in medium and a hoodie in small and they're both from the same brand in the same store. Buying cloths, I'm all from XS to a L. When I find a shirt I like I tend to grab four different sizes of it and try them all.

[Sugar]

  Thank you for posting this!  I had a moment when trying on trousers a couple weeks back.  I'm quite tall and a sturdily-built gal to boot, and I normally wear a ladies' 10 (North American standard), sometimes a 12 depending on the cut/manufacturer... but all the trousers (same style, same cut), all the sizes all the way up to 18 were the same - too tight around the hips/seat.  I mean, I know I'm not small... but I'm no way a size 18 in my bum!  The clerk was most apologetic, but I left, red-faced, empty-handed.

I mean, rationally, I know it's 'cause quality control has gone down the toilet, but seriously... a spread of five sizes with nary a difference?  Honestly...   I wanted to crawl under a rock!

[spookysage]

I thought I was pretty solidly in the 8-10 area (also North American), but I've been running into 12 petite pants that do the trick, and just recently I found a great pair of secondhand pants... a six! Lesson learned, I'm just going to have to eyeball it and try, try, try from here on out.

[Kaeldre]

This is why I have problems buying jeans!

Depending on the brand, I can wear (in US sizes) a 5, 7, or 9.  Sometimes a 5 will be too small everywhere else but will be too big in the waist, a size 7 will be too small in the waist but big everywhere else, a size 9 will sometimes swallow me whole...  It's crazy!  And I'm VERY picky when it comes to jeans.  They HAVE to have big pockets.  So, if I find a pair that fits me really well but doesn't have deep enough pockets...they go back on the rack.  (I don't carry a purse).

I'm half tempted to start buying men's jeans! xD