grrr...at clothes sizes!!

melancholly

http://whatsmysize.com/clothing/

never registered (and i think i heard about it on MSE somewhere, but no idea where to be able to give whoever mentioned it the credit!), but might be worth a look to see if there really is a huge difference

BlueAngelCV

melancholly wrote: »

http://whatsmysize.com/clothing/

Thanks for that, interesting site.

I seem to be pretty much a size 10. Why is it then that sometimes I can't even get into size 12s? It seems that even within shops their sizes are not standard.

What's funny though is that even though in most of the shops I would be a 10, in Karen Millen I would be a 14! How on earth do they work out their sizes?!

melancholly

BlueAngelCV wrote: »

What's funny though is that even though in most of the shops I would be a 10, in Karen Millen I would be a 14! How on earth do they work out their sizes?!

i've never bought anything from there, but i have tried things on and felt like i was enormous as nothing would go on! these days, i don't go in there (mainly due to price tbh!)

chuckley

occasionally clothes are wrongly sized tagged. Ive mainly had this problem with DP, and no longer shop there. Next on the other hand are actually a size bigger and other shops. so those a size 10 would fit their 8.

u cant compare the new ones to your old wash/worn ones tho.

kec09

melancholly wrote: »

http://whatsmysize.com/clothing/

never registered (and i think i heard about it on MSE somewhere, but no idea where to be able to give whoever mentioned it the credit!), but might be worth a look to see if there really is a huge difference

Thanks for this link, I generally wear size 10 everything, this site says size 10 bottoms but size 6 top!! If I was an AA cup size then maybe a size 6 top would fit but it won't so I don't think you can really go by your back measurement you have to take cup size into account as well.
I have terrible trouble with clothes fitting as well Next in particular are very bad and I am talking about comparing 2 pairs of jeans for example, exactly the same style and size but being totally different sizes, I sometimes order the same item in the same size twice so I can pick the one that fits the best as they are more often than not very different!
I ordered a pair of work trousers both size 10, one I could pull up without undoing the button and zip and they fell straight down, the others wouldn't do up! I can only assume they are sometimes putting the wrong labels into some of these items?!

Sharon87

melancholly wrote: »

http://whatsmysize.com/clothing/

never registered (and i think i heard about it on MSE somewhere, but no idea where to be able to give whoever mentioned it the credit!), but might be worth a look to see if there really is a huge difference

Tried it, it's a bit rubbish keeps saying I'm an 18 in tops for most shops. But it doesn't take into account anything but your chest. I'm 18 for shirt and sometimes dresses. but 16 in everything else, heck I've even got a 14 in a few things!

Hermia

Malory wrote: »

In general, I find it very hard to find clothing if you are an hourglass figure but not plus size (and about 5 feet tall, as well.)

Clothing manufacturers tend to assume that if you are a small size you must be flat-chested.

Tell me about it. I am also 5 foot and an hourglass. I have a small frame so need petite clothes, but the petite ranges all assume you are boyish and flat-chested. I am now learning to make clothes as I figure it's the only way I will ever find anything that fits!

I am sort of glad that the clothing industry doesn't standardise clothes sizes because they will just base it on the most common figure which will make it even harder for anyone who is different. There are so many shops I just don't bother with now because the waist and hip (and even sometimes bust) measurements of the clothes are exactly the same. The shop managers have told me it's because so many women have straight up and down figures now. If they standardised that across the high street the rest of us would just have to give up shopping!

One of the things learning to sew has shown me is how much shops use vanity sizing now. On the back of sewing patterns they list the standard sizes with the inches. It has made me realise how many women who, say, wear a size 12 are actually bigger than a standard size 12.

Hermia

Malory wrote: »

I just buy jeans to fit my hips and wear a belt.

I have just given up on jeans. I have tried wearing a belt, but there is 10 inches difference between my waist and hips so I end up with too much material so it looks bulky when I try and put a belt around it.

CupOfChai

Hermia wrote: »

Tell me about it. I am also 5 foot and an hourglass. I have a small frame so need petite clothes, but the petite ranges all assume you are boyish and flat-chested. I am now learning to make clothes as I figure it's the only way I will ever find anything that fits!

I am sort of glad that the clothing industry doesn't standardise clothes sizes because they will just base it on the most common figure which will make it even harder for anyone who is different. There are so many shops I just don't bother with now because the waist and hip (and even sometimes bust) measurements of the clothes are exactly the same. The shop managers have told me it's because so many women have straight up and down figures now. If they standardised that across the high street the rest of us would just have to give up shopping!

One of the things learning to sew has shown me is how much shops use vanity sizing now. On the back of sewing patterns they list the standard sizes with the inches. It has made me realise how many women who, say, wear a size 12 are actually bigger than a standard size 12.

I'm another one. Shall we start a shop of our own catering to this?

I have found the petite ranges have got a bit better than when shops first started doing them, in that they will go to larger than a size 12 now (someone must have suddenly realised that just because someone is short it doesn't mean they are stick thin and look like a nine-year-old!) and there's getting to be a bit more choice. Online shopping's probably helped, having the space to keep the stock in of petite versions of more items.

I quite liked the vanity sizing up to a point, but it's getting a bit ridiculous now. I'm vanishing! If it carries on like this soon I just won't be able to go in a lot of shops anymore as the smallest size they do will be far too big. And I'm by no means anorexic (BMI bang in the middle of the healthy range). I've said this before, there are shops especially geared for plus-size women, we're going to have to get shops especially for petite women at this rate.

When I suddenly went down a shoe size, that really took the piddle. Sure, it's possible to lose a few pounds, but I know my feet have not shrunk!

Lucas01

Its same for us men. thats why they have fitting rooms in store but I guess when buying online it is hard. also as many high street stores have stores abroad there is a chance that an item made in china (most likely if its high street) will be made for say the US stores and then just re-labelled for UK, Europe, Japan etc.

But its a funny characteristic anyways that nobody knows what there size is, is upto the shop. Ive got shoes ranging from a size 11-14, jackets from a medium to X-large and trousers in so many different sizes, cuts, lengths and fits.