Women's Sizing is Seriously Screwed Up (but it doesn't have to be)

Illustration: Ian Dingman (source)

Inconsistency in sizing: a pandemic in women's fashion since the dawn of mass manufacturing (and by that I mean the 1930s). It is the cause of so much hassle that could easily be avoided. This is often known as "vanity sizing."

As a fellow lady, I have run into this problem many times. I'll go to a store and pick out a cute pair of shorts. This is a size 5, I say to myself naively, they aught to fit me just fine!
Try them on in the dressing room, they won't go past my thighs. Yet the shorts I wore into the store are a size 5.

What is the deal with that?!

As a matter of fact, I have 3 pairs of the same jeans, from the same store in the same size, that all fit differently: one too big, one too small, the other one just perfect.

I don't understand how that's possible.

Men don't really have this problem. Their sizing makes sense. For example, a man's pants size is usually based on the measurement of his waist and inseam. Once a dude knows those numbers, he can find a great fitting pair of pants in any store he goes into. Easy as pie. (But possibly not for much longer).

(source)

For us ladies, however, it's a constant guessing game as to what size we really are, and it changes based on brand, fit, style, store, etc. I have pairs of shorts and jeans that range from size 5s to size 10s, and they all fit me just fine (heck, at one point the 5 was too big on me and the 10 was almost too snug).

What's also confusing is the numbering system itself. American women tend to like smaller numbers because then we are under the illusion that smaller is better (but really it's not). Because of that, it tends to be way more comforting to say "I'm a size 2" instead of "I'm a size 12" (or even worse, a size 24). Not only that, but the sizes change from even to odd numbers between brands! If someone is normally a 5, does that mean they would be a size 6 or a size 4 in even numbers? It's all very confusing.

I've also noticed this phenomenon internationally. While I was in London, I went to one of 3 H&Ms in Oxford Circus. The smallest size they had in pretty much everything was a 4 or an 8 (depending on the clothing item). I bought a dress that was a size 10 and it was the second smallest size they had, fits like a dream. Back in the U.S., a size 10 is one of the bigger sizes you can get and I wouldn't fit a dress that's a U.S. size 10.

Then as I looked on the label, it had different sizes for every country they marketed to.

This whole ordeal could be solved rather easily: base sizing off measurements instead of by God-knows-what. Take a page from men's fashion. It isn't that hard to measure your inseam, waist, and hip measurements, and it would make everything SO. MUCH. EASIER. The U.S. can use inches and everyone else can use centimetres, then we'd only have two types of sizes! Much more reasonable than seven.

What could inhibit this is our fear of big numbers. Women are subconsciously told that bigger numbers are bad and smaller numbers are good, which is why a lot of times we become self-conscious if our size is a two-digit number. It can be difficult sometimes to realize that a size 24 is tiny! (that means your waist is only 2 feet around, that's itty bitty).

Sizes even change over time. What's considered an 8 one decade could be a 12 the next. It even happens within a few years. What really pissed me off is when Aeropostale reformatted their sizes. I used to fit their size 5, and now I can barely get into a size 7 or 9. It's ridiculous.

In the case of some companies, they want us to feel bad about our size to make us think we aren't beautiful because of a number (I'm looking at you, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch). You're a size 00? Awesome! Size 14? Fantastic! Wherever you fall on the spectrum, it's totally fine. And yes, a double zero is a size.

I could be a size 10 in Hollister jeans (they tend to make their sizes REALLY small to make us all feel bad), yet I'm a size 2 in most dress sizes. That doesn't make sense to me. And I try not to think any of those sizes makes me "ugly" or "fat" (which is a dumb insult anyway, being "fat" isn't necessarily negative or unhealthy).

So, until the commercial fashion industry comes to their senses, the guessing game will march on. We can only hope that'll change someday.



Just remember guys and gals: you are more than your clothing size. It's just a number, and that number doesn't define you or your worth!

Have any awful sizing dilemmas you want to share? Write them in the comment section below.

Till next time xx,

Sierra