That's weird that all of you are saying you experience the opposite from expensive VS cheap. I wear a comfy 8 at the Gap, Express, and New York and Company. Certainly not expensive designer jeans, but far more expensive than my cheap Walmart jeans, which are a snug size 9 (I know it's a Junior size, but I figure a 9 is like a 10 with slightly less hip room). I'm a size 10 in some of the cheaper jeans carried by JC Penny, too. Possibly still a 10 at Old Navy? I haven't been there since I fit into 12s, and they're big on me now.

I always thought it was weird that sizes vary so widely, and came across some articles and people's personal experience stories stating that higher-end brands tend to run bigger. However, most of them mentioned shops like Ann Taylor Loft (where one woman commented that she was a 6 everywhere else but was a 00 there!), which I think are geared toward older women...so maybe it's only that kind of 'high-end' clothing? The stuff geared toward the upper middle class middle-aged woman.

I guess it would make sense that super designer jeans would run small...they have a certain demographic they want to fill, after all. So I probably wouldn't fit into True Religion or Seven jeans at all, thinking on it. xD As I said before, companies create their sizes based on the demographic they want to market towards. That, at least, is a proven fact.

Hence why it was such a big deal when H&M added an extra size. I think they squeezed all the way up to an XL and began a really cheesy campaign for a 'plus size' model. You could see their applicants, and half of them looked pretty petite.

I shopped almost exclusively at Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor loft when I worked corporate and wore the same size, or a size bigger, there as everywhere else. One of my biggest goals is to fit into Ann Taylor stuff again and I know that I will most likely need to be a small 12 everywhere else to fit into their 14. I outgrew their XL shirts 3 YEARS ago even though I still wear an XL everywhere else, so that's not ringing true for me at all. Also, I am always a size or two smaller in Old Navy pants, which I personally have found to be the most generously cut of them all. When I was a 6 in Gap jeans I was a 4 at ON.

And you can definitely not compare junior jeans and women's jeans at all. They're quite a bit smaller and cut totally differently.

I'm 5'2" and just into a size 4 in most brands in the low 150s. My defining brand is Levi's and my sizes have been:

4 - 154

6 - 157

8 - 161

10 - 176

12 - 189


And yes, these last few sizes have been really annoying, I didn't even have time to wear them before they were too big, it is a happy sort of annoying, but still annoying. I am a rectangle/boy shape with a slight hourglassing and I lift weights and workout a lot.

Ah ok, thanks for clarifying. I think it's more of our definitions of designer clothes. You're right places, like Gap, Ann Taylor etc definitely have larger sizes. I think most of us were comparing places like that to designer jeans like Seven and True Religion.

I don't have much of an experience with Walmart but I know clothes from Target also run smaller sometimes than Old Navy/Gap.

I always find it amusing how H&M is perceived in the US because I lived in Germany for many years and H&M is like the Old Navy over there. They always carried a large selection of plus-sized clothes over there too. If anything their clothes ran larger than other more expensive stores over there.

Well, when i was a size 34-which is not plus..its like a size 15ish in regular pants.. i was 280 pounds..

Some may ask how that works? well for one... i'm 6 feet tall and 2) my fat is carried on my stomach..not my thighs or my hips(What hips?) or my butt(what butt)...so it was easy to fit into boot cut and hipster jeans..anything that sat on my hips could be worn...big muffin top though...but i could fit them...at my wasit however, good luck.

It depends on where the weight is distributed...ive been porportionate my whole life until recently...it wasnt until i became obese that i started noticing i looked heavier...in fact, even today, people find it hard to believe that im 300 pounds..because im tall and my body puts fat a little everywhere instead of in one specific spot..though my stomach...definitly has got a huge pooch now!

This is a good example. I am also 5'6 and I weigh 197 but I wear a size 16. I have wide hips and a butt. My friend who weighs 30lbs more than me wears a size ten because she has narrow hips and a nonexistent (Her words, not mine!) butt.

I'm with you! I was right at 300 when I started this journey and most of my friends that know my weight still don't believe me because I'm so tall and it sounds like you I carry it about the same way! I'm 275 and in a 16 jeans, sometimes 14... which is what my best friend wears and she weighs like 180. It's weird to be 100 pounds more than someone and share clothes with them but it's all in how I carry it. and I have no hips or butt ! lol

Maybe she is taller than you? Or just has more muscle.

At my smallest, 185, I fit into a 14. But I am fairly short at 5'4.

At 180 pounds I could squeeze into my size 10s. Size 12 is definitely more comfortable. I'm almost down to 170 and my 10s are comfortable now. I am 5' 3". A few years ago, at my smallest post- four babies adult size I was a size 4 at 138 pounds.

I do notice that when I gain weight, I tend to gain it evenly all over my body rather than just in the hips/butt/thighs/stomach.

My best friend weighs a few pounds less than I do (is an inch or so taller) and cannot get into a 10 to save her life. She's a 14 right now.

isn't it funny or odd how peoples bodys are so different? A lot of time I thik it is the clothes makers fault and what country they were made in. I can take several pieces of clothing of the same size,try them on and on a few will fit.
That is a good body to wear a 4, I would probably pass out,LOL, if I ever got that far down.

Yep. I'm 189.4 at 5' 6" and my size 12 Levi's are getting baggy, so I'll be in 10s soon. A lot more of it has to do with body shape, where weight is carried, etc. My mom is about 5' 3" and weighs 32 pounds less than me, but has a completely different shape, so we wear the same size. Her size 12 Levs are actually tight. It is what it is--no real use trying to figure it out!

Everyone is certainly different. At my weight now, I can wear 12's. I've lost weight before and when I'm in the 180's I can wear 10's.

I think you might be on to something!

How tall is she? My sister is like 5'11" and could wear a 9/10 at 175lbs and I was at 18 at that size being 5'2". lol Height is important and factors into how well you carry your weight.