vanity sizing

Does this annoy anyone else?
I went into Old Navy the other day to get some new pants. I picked up my usual size 6 to try on as well as a size 4 because sometimes if its a stretch denim they fit better. Weirdly neither fit. So I look for a size 2, still too big. Finally the size 1 fits.
Now I think, how could I have possibly have lost that much weight and not even realize? But wait a minute, I'm wearing a size 6 pair of jeans that I got from Old Navy a few years ago. And guess what, they fit perfectly!
This drives me crazy, do people really feel better about themselves when their jeans are the same size, but with a smaller number on them? And what do people who are significantly smaller than me do? Size 0 is the smallest Old Navy carries. Its not like I'm super tiny, my waist is 29 inches. For once I would like to be able to walk into a store and know I'll fit into something without trying it on, or even try it on but not spend a million years trying on a million different sizes. Not just that, but I would love it if sizes were standardized, its such a pain trying to determine what size I'm going to be in any given store. I think its just gotten completely out of hand and I'm almost tempted to give up shopping altogether....almost

I have such a hard time finding jeans because of stuff like that! When I was in like 7th grade I had some jeans from Old Navy and they fit fine, but a few times in the past year I've tried on some of their jeans and NONE of them fit me! I mean I know I'm small framed but I'm not like skeleton skinny I normally wear a 1 or a 3, but nothing from Old Navy really fits me right and it's really irritating.

The crazy thing is a couple of years ago you probably would have been able to fit into their smaller sizes.

I think the sizes have been modified over the years at old navy. what was a medium then, as of shirts, would be too small on me. now, its my size...when my boobs are in place. for Aero, I'm a large or XL, because of my chest.

and as of jeans for ON, Im a size 8 long. I was a size six but Ive gotten curvier. I tried on a pair of size 8's from two or three years ago, and not only were they too short, but I couldnt even button them. blah!

Old Navy is weird like that, everything is always huge on me. I don't get why it makes people feel better, the pants are still the same, the size is just wrong.

I know, Its crazy!

It's less to make people feel better and more so more people can fit into their sizes. We all know people are getting fatter, the medium now is undoubtedly bigger than the medium ten years ago. They're making these clothes for real people, so I imagine they want the majority of those people to be able to fit into them.

I haven't really seen it myself, but I'm more than convinced it's happening. Yeah, it sucks for you thinner girls, but it's business I guess.

It happens a abit in aus, like i have some size 6-9, but i don't think its super extreme here YET! My fav shop sportsgirl has recently added a XXS, coz i can fit their tops but not their skirts. So I don't really know if its happening to that extreme here.

Yeah, I do wish there was some sort of standard size. I'm all over the freaking place. >.<

Le_Saboteur wrote:

It's less to make people feel better and more so more people can fit into their sizes. We all know people are getting fatter, the medium now is undoubtedly bigger than the medium ten years ago. They're making these clothes for real people, so I imagine they want the majority of those people to be able to fit into them.

I haven't really seen it myself, but I'm more than convinced it's happening. Yeah, it sucks for you thinner girls, but it's business I guess.

Actually, I think it IS more to do with having customers feel better about themselves, so they'll buy more products from that store. I had to do an essay on it last year at high school and that was one of the major things I discovered during research. Organisations are actively labelling their clothes as smaller sizes for that reason.

Most Jeans in stores dont fit me now. I used to get all my pants from express and now their smallest size is like falling off me. Its annoying.

Oooh, that must be why all the jeans I tried on at Old Navy were big a couple days ago! I hate to say this girlies but it DID make me feel good about myself. I don't care what size the pants 'really' were, just knowing that I was smaller then a size two filled me with confidence! It's annoying but I think the key is to figure out the different sizing for your favorite stores so you know what sizes to try on. It's wierd to see how drastically sizes can be different from place to place, I range anywhere from a 2-6!

i do not have this problem because i shop solely at h&m

but yeh i dont actually know if we have that here...im a 10/12 in h&m and im the same in topshop.

well i guess we obviously do...because i was watching one of those daytime "4 women sit and talk about issues and have a minor celebrity on" shows and they were saying how there was talk of getting a standard size so that a size 10 in one shop would be a 10 in another. i cant remember if it was just for the UK or the whole EU.

i find it strange that most places I wear a 2X or 3X in tops mostly because of the size of my boobs, but at old navy , i have to wear a regular XL in most of their shirts

some of their size 20 pants are too big and others are too small, but i wear a 22 normaly

This whole thing makes me crazy. This is why there are delusional people out there who insist that they wear a six when they need an eight, why we see people walking around looking horrible because this size fit at the one shop, so that must be the size they really are.

Im different sizes in different stores...some stores go by their own sizing charts and such. and I dont have a problem with that cos...well, each store is different.

Yeah, I get that stores are going to have their own sizings, but to have it all this different? That's a bit too extreme.

there are a lot of stores.

thats due mostly to changing styles, and everyone wants to either look like a hippie, a dead cow, a rat...a mindless prep, a ghetto ass bank robber, and a emo punk.

you cant get all of that in one store, and in the right size...you silly goose.

Okay Jade, I'll partially concede to you I'm somewhere between an NZ 10 - 14, it does vary store by store. I think vanity sizing on a whole is stupid because, as someone else said it encourages people that are way too big for a size 8 or whatever walkin' around looking terrible, but if it's good for business then they're gonna do it.

But I still think it's also because they want to get more people into their clothes, which does make sense. They would want more people to be able to fit their stuff, right? Maybe, unlike a place like H&M or say, Supre for us down under (I guess that's an equivalent... maye Supre's sluttier), they're in it to appeal to certain kinds of girls. They don't want their clothes on anyone bigger than an XL.

I'm not entirely sure if this post makes much sense, lulz. This is what I get for coming on the intarwebs before work.

Le_Saboteur wrote:

I think vanity sizing on a whole is stupid because, as someone else said it encourages people that are way too big for a size 8 or whatever walkin' around looking terrible, but if it's good for business then they're gonna do it.

Oh, oh, that was me!

I understand that all stores have their own sizing charts, but to go from an 6 to a 1 in the same store, in just two years...its crazy! Not to mention I hate trying stuff on, and this just forces me to. I think its just getting a little out of hand when I take anywhere from a XS to L on top, and a 1-8 on the bottom. Thats a huge range of sizes. In standard fashion sizing I should be an 8.

I also find it funny when people say "did you know Marylin Monroe was a size 14?" yeah back in the 50s, today she would actually be a 8.

I'd really rather we do away with this goddamn sizing thing and just go buy our waist or hip measurement. Just makes more sense to me.

And as a "fat" girl, you really have no idea how amazing it is to feel like you can fit into a smaller size. But it is ridiculous how much they've changed. I dunno, I'm pretty sensitive about this, but I just feel like until you've been "larger" for a while, you really aren't in a position to comment about it.

I understand what you mean, since most of my girlfriends are big girls, and so is my mum. plus, its hard for me to find decent clothes solely because of my chest. I was literally overjoyed when I realized I could fit a medium HT shirt - Ive never been able to because a medium there is practically a size negative 4.

being "fat" i can agree that it does feel really good to fit into smaller sizes than you normaly do, but being an 8 in one store and a 1 in another is taking it a lil' far

has anyone noticed that vanity sizing is really really prominent in skinnies?

like if I wear a 22 in a certain brand the size skinnies I wear in that brand are an 18...like no matter the brand I always wear like 2 sizes smaller in skinnies

Hell, I'm an average size (AU 10 - although my hips measure up as an eight in underwear... go figure ) and I love it when I fit into size eight, and XS clothing, rather than a normal S. It's such a confidence booster, even though I know that I'm really a 10/S, and that my body hasn't gotten any smaller.

But Kendra, you are right, I think it is also to accomodate the widening population.