Why do clothing companies mess about with sizes?

JosephK

An annoyance rather than a problem but compounded by the fact that, at present, most shops do not allow trying on garments before purchase. You know the feeling, you buy the item in your usual size, take it home, try it on and find you're either confined in a straight jacket or enveloped in a tent.

To illustrate, I recently bought a fleece top from a supplier I have other items from, same size, and, no, I haven't put on weight over lockdown. Tight fitting doesn't describe it, far too small. No problem changing except for inconvenience of wasted time and petrol making 25 mile round trip. With a couple of other manufacturers I've gone up a size and with a couple, I've gone down a size. An irritation, why do they do it!

Anyone else experienced similar?

greyteam1959

Trouble is there is so many different versions of a particular size.
There is Chinese, Japanese, Bangladeshi, India, Vietnam & then there could be a UK size.
All the same but different !!
I regard myself as a typical average sized male yet in several mass market clothing stores I have to buy XXL size to get a reasonable fit.
As you say annoying.

IvanOpinion

Same problem, I no longer trust sizes.  What I do is find some comfortable items from my current wardrobe and measure them.  I usually button them up and measure armpit to armpit and armpit to hem ... you might also want sleeve length and collar size, but, in my case, I only buy short sleeve and wear open collar.

Then when I go shopping I ignore the sizes and measure the ones in the shop, I can immediately see if they are too large or too small.  Most of the time I know an L will fit me but on some brands I have to go up to XL or even XXL.

Takes a lot of the guesswork out of it.

YBR

I agree, I've been size 8 and size 18 on the same day!
My company occasional gives us coats/jackets and a "small" went round me while pregnant, in fact could do up round me and baby in a sling until she was 3 or 4 months old!
I have found that its best for me to buy men's clothing that is measured sizes (e.g. 34" waist trousers) trying to avoid women's sizing (meaningless) and avoid S/M/L, unless measurements are given. It is getting to the point where I buy the same things all the time as if it were a uniform, particularly for work clothes.

Silvertabby

I rarely buy clothes on line for that very reason!

The exception, if anyone is interested, seems to be Lands' End Ltd.  Good quality casual stuff for both men and women, and usually consistent with their sizing. 

 Just note that the sizes are American, so read the size charts.

accorian

The mis-sizing and poor cutting phenomenon is one of the reasons why M&S fell so spectacularly from grace. Simply put, you couldn't guarantee that the size of any clothing sold by M&S was to be trusted.

I can remember various posts on here some years ago, this at the same time as M&S's unexpected decline as a gold-standard High Street name began to be picked upon by national media. The problem was lousy or non-existent quality control, and no, things haven't improved since.

During lockdown, I seemed to have put on several pounds and increased the size of my 36-inch fit waistline, dammit! In a hurry to buy something more comfortable, I popped into my local Tesco and bought (without trying on) two pairs of jeans, size 38, not 'slim', not 'straight', just. . . ordinary.

They fitted perfectly even though I'd fully expected to have to take them back for a refund of the £30 paid. Day before yesterday, I went off to my local Marks & Spencers again, and purchased two pairs of casual trousers, size 38 inch waistline and 'normal' cut. Turns out, these 38 inch pants are much much tighter than the 36inch waistline trousers they're supposed to be replacing. Once again, something has gone wrong with M&S's supplier at the cutting stage.  Placing the more expensive M&S trousers onto the ultra cheap and cheerful Tesco offerings shows them to have been cut so drastically from the waistline downwards that it's no wonder I can't get them above thigh level.

So, yet again, I can't rely on M&S for clothing.

On that same M& S visit I also noticed that ranks of mens' shirts remained unsold, mainly the several dozen whose sizing was qualified by descriptions like 'tailored' -- in other words, shirts that other prospective buyers knew to be not worth buying because they wouldn't fit due to collar sizes being rendered meaningless by the supplier's  inept cutting.

I doubt the problem is specific to M&S alone, just that the prices M&S charges, and the company's frequent assertions that it is on the road to recovery, make one realise that clothing retailers here in the UK seem either too powerless or too incompetent to know how to ensure that the supply side is doing its job properly.

yellowbear

M&S annoy me. I bought two pairs of jeans, both the same size, in the same style. The only thing that's different is the colour. One pair fit ok, although they are a little on the long side; the other need a belt to hold them up.

JJ_Egan

No longer made in the UK  for many many leading UK brands .

Manxman_in_exile

I don't understand how M&S manage to sell any men's clothes these days.

Up to 15 or 20 years ago virtually my entire wardrobe was bought from M&S.  Smart work suits, shirts, ties, casual clothes, coats, socks and underwear.  The only things I didn't buy there were shoes, sports kit and the odd really expensive suit (and that suit needed to be something different to be better than the best you could get from M&S).

Apart from socks and underwear, I haven't bought any item of clothing from M&S in at least the last 15 years, and I'm having second thoughts about the underwear.  The socks are still ok, but a sock's a sock - right?

I'm sure it's partly (or perhaps largely) an age related thing, but why do M&S seem obsessed with chasing what appears to be some 20 something demographic?  I've never wandered around the mens clothing section of a M&S and seen anybody under 45.  Why does everything need to be tailored or "skinny-fit"?  And it's not like I'm suffering from middle-age spread or have a body to hide or something - I'm 5'9" and weigh 11 stone - the same as I did 30 years ago.

My main bugbear is around suits, jackets and trousers.  They're all terrible, but trousers in particular.  Don't laugh, but I prefer trousers with pleats (they can be ironed/pressed properly) and turn-ups.  We did some spring-cleaning earlier in the year and we'd decided to get rid of some old clothes.  I found some old (20 years?) M&S trousers that I'd forgotten about .  Fully equipped with pleats and turn-ups.  Tried 'em on - bit tight round the waist, but my wife adjusted them slightly.  They look (and fit) great and are much better made than anything else in M&S these days.  Trousers with pleats and turn-ups are an eternally classic look - why don't M&S sell them instead of suits for matchstick men (or boys)?

Anyway - must go before the shops close.  Wife has told me to check out Tu(?) at Sainsbury's for underwear...

Norman_Castle

Manxman_in_exile said:

why don't M&S sell them instead of suits for matchstick men (or boys)?

I wear clothes that I've had for years mainly because very few new clothes fit. When something fits across the shoulders the sleeves cover my hands. Are all clothes designed for 6 foot 8 twiglets?

YBR

Perhaps they are - I have become accustomed to re-sewing trouser legs and shirt cuffs.
Or perhaps somebody reasons it's better to sell too long (can be adjusted) than too short.