Women’s clothing sizes

thejuggler

This whole area seems to be a minefield with no consistency between sizing by different retailers.

in addition I’ve noticed some stores now defining sizing as

XXS XS S M L XL XXL

how does this match up with conventional sizing? I know my other half is buying size small which seems to match up with size 14-16.

Is the whole thing a marketing exercise designed so that more customers fit into the Small or below categories?

lucalux

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058336702/women-s-clothing-sizes

You reminded me of this

https://youtu.be/4RG7gGxMrUs?si=htxRglBKo5HQIc2m

Basically it's a nightmare, I'm not sure there's a conspiracy, but there's definitely been a trend towards "vanity sizing" the last couple of decades, where someone could "wear a size 10" but that size 10 once was a size 14-16

Same with adding the XXS and all that nonsense

The inconsistency between shops/brands is maddening. I have jeans ranging from sizes S-L and 8-16 that ALL fit me at the moment

I couldn't be dealing with it tbh. Shop mostly 2nd hand. Older clothes are more consistent with sizing, but I tend to ignore size labels and just see if something fits me, regardless of what it says

One thing I think is relevant, shopping online means:

A: You can't try it on

B: SO MANY people never bother to return items

so having a sizing system that makes zero literal sense, might mean they make a lot of money on that aspect of human dopamine-buying, and simultaneous laziness, but idk

miamee

Yes sizing seems to vary wildly, sometimes even in the same shop depending on the style etc. The only answer is to go item by item which is maddening but the only way to avoid having things too small/big.

I find a lot of the styles of jumpers and cardigans at the moment are very baggy and loose which look good on some people but not everyone. Despite being a size 14-16 (leaning more towards 16 atm) I bought 2 casual half zip jumpers in Dunnes recently and they are size Medium, fit me fine. But M, as far as I know is more of a 10-12 or 12-14. It's hard to know, I very rarely buy online for sizing reasons.

lucalux

yeah it's definitely changed a lot more

XS used to be 6-8

S used to be 8-10

M was 10-12

L was 12-14

XL was 14-16

and so on.

I was always giving out I was either a 9 or an 11 trying to find clothes as a teen 😅

Then vanity sizing got a lot more popular (in Ireland specifically I mean) and the sizes shifted up a few notches. I was working in fashion retail as a teenager and could see it happening in real time (early to mid 2000's)

Whatever about sizing between brands being different, what's maddening is when it's so wildly different between ranges in the same shop/brand!

Ignoring the size label is really the best, cos as you said Miamee, the fit can be different depending on the style, and so it's reasonable to size up or down according to what we like/want the fit to be

miamee

Exactly! I try not to pay too much attention to the number on the label any more, if it fits me properly it looks better than if I can squeeze into the next size down whatever that might be. I do remember years of myself and a friend lamenting the fact that if a size 13 existed it would fit us both perfectly!