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Old 07-01-2009, 03:19 PM   #1  
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Default Dear Vanity sizing

I hate you. You are terrible. You are deceptive and ugly. You made me think my butt was getting smaller when it is actually the same size, maybe bigger. You have a tag that tells me you are a size 18 (which I still hate) but when I measured you, you are 2 inches bigger than the size 20s I have worn for 5 years. You suck and I want you to go away.
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Old 07-01-2009, 03:33 PM   #2  
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Ah vanity sizing, my love/hate relationship continues.
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Old 07-01-2009, 03:41 PM   #3  
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The best explanation I've heard is that a company matches the middle of its size range to their average size sold, and then size up and down from there. This has to do with creating patterns and ordering fabrics. So I think it's not necessarily vanity sizing (although I'm sure that happens also) - it's just a reflection of America's average measurements going up, up, up.

But still frustrating. I am wearing size 6 pants today, that I KNOW are about the same as 10s I wore 10 years ago. I never thought of myself as size 6 even when I was at my slimmest (which is my goal, 130 - not counting any teenage stuff ), and here I am wearing them while 10 pounds over goal.

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Old 07-01-2009, 03:45 PM   #4  
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Quote:
The best explanation I've heard is that a company matches the middle of its size range to their average size sold, and then size up and down from there. This has to do with creating patterns and ordering fabrics. So I think it's not necessarily vanity sizing (although I'm sure that happens also) - it's just a reflection of America's average size going up, up, up.
Less law abiding, but my my neighbor says he used work in TX close to the border and his job wass putting tags on things. Including removing the "Made in Mexico" tags so companies who think the quality will be less from mexico will still buy from them Not enough mediums? Take off those large tags and put mediums on!
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Old 07-01-2009, 04:09 PM   #5  
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This is a major pet peeve of mine as well. I have some beautiful size 10 dress slacks that are more than 10 years old and barely worn, waiting patiently in the back of my closet. I'm not going to be seeing THOSE 10s for quite a while longer. Fer gawd's sake, just do like the men do, and say - it's a 32W and a 43H. Spare me the need to take 3 or more sizes to the dressing room!!! GRRRRRRR!!!!
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Old 07-01-2009, 04:23 PM   #6  
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Fer gawd's sake, just do like the men do, and say - it's a 32W and a 43H. Spare me the need to take 3 or more sizes to the dressing room!!! GRRRRRRR!!!!
That would be so awesome! I would love it if they would size women's clothes like men's clothes. Think how much easier shopping would be! Some still might have trouble finding pants that fit in the thighs or butt right, but still, so much easier!
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Old 07-01-2009, 05:37 PM   #7  
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When I was a teenager, my friends and I would sew a new dress for every formal dance and I have one of them tucked away. I was never smaller than a 10/12 pattern yet my niece who is a 0/2 tried my dress on 30 years later it fit her perfectly. Hmmm...
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Old 07-01-2009, 05:55 PM   #8  
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LOL yep vanity sizing makes life interesting!

As for patterns, since I began sewing the pattern sizes have never matched off the rack clothing sizes, not even close. No clue why.
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Old 07-01-2009, 06:17 PM   #9  
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When I was growing up in the '70s, there was a store for slender people called the 5-7-9 shop. Everyone wanted to be able to shop there! If you wore a size 5, you were way thin. Size 5 was as low as adult sizes went in stores. If you wore a size 3, you had to special order. And below a size 3 meant you wore kids' sizes. There were no 0-2 sizes. Back then, the "average" woman was a size 12. I wonder what the average woman today would be in yesterday's sizes! Perhaps if we all still had to face the sizes of clothes back then, we might have watched what we put in our mouths a little more carefully along the way! Also, I think that's why I still get confused when when someone tells me they wear a size 8 and I know there is no way they are as thin as I was, at 5'8"-5'9", when I weighed 125 and wore a size 7/8. I still look at them and think, "There's no way you are smaller than a size 12." I guess my brain doesn't adapt well to today's sizes. And a size 0? What IS that?! That doesn't even make sense! It's almost like the food industry with their bigger portions and the clothes industry with their smaller label sizes got together and made it acceptable for us to get bigger!

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Old 07-01-2009, 06:29 PM   #10  
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As a teenager, at 5 ft 5 inches and 132 lbs, I was a size 11/12, and sometimes a 13/14. Today, I'm 5 ft 7 inches and 175 lbs and a size 11/12 and sometimes a size 10...
Hmmmm....

Kira
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Old 07-01-2009, 06:43 PM   #11  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kiramira View Post
As a teenager, at 5 ft 5 inches and 132 lbs, I was a size 11/12, and sometimes a 13/14. Today, I'm 5 ft 7 inches and 175 lbs and a size 11/12 and sometimes a size 10...
Hmmmm....

Kira
Yeah. As a teenager I was 5'7", 120#, and size 6-8 (mostly 8). Now I'm 5'7", 140# and size 6-8.

Last edited by JulieJ08; 07-01-2009 at 06:44 PM.
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Old 07-01-2009, 06:46 PM   #12  
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I have from size 4 to size 10 in my closet and some of every one of those sizes that fit and don't fit??? And also have junior sizes 5 to 9's and same applies???
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Old 07-01-2009, 07:43 PM   #13  
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What I hate is when your BMI says you are overweight, but you can wear a size small shirt...LOL Why doesn't clothing size match the scared BMI charts. When I was in the obese range I could wear a regular large...does that mean that obese is the new "large"?

Oh and if vanity sizing isn't bad enough, now they add the "W" to 12's and up. So you have a size 12 and a size 12W, (which is the same as today's 14) Oh brother.
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Old 07-01-2009, 07:51 PM   #14  
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I can't stand vanity sizing. It doesn't make me feel better to know that I 'm wearing extra smalls, size 2's and 4's. And even the occasional ZERO. It makes me feel like a fraud.

And it really, REALLY makes me wonder where the real skinny girls are shopping. You've got your plus sized stores. Your regular sized stores. And what - your NEGATIVE - sized stores??????
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Old 07-01-2009, 07:54 PM   #15  
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Obviously no company HAS to follow "rules," but in general, W signifies a different cut, not just size. So a 12 Ladies and a 12W would fit differently. I haven't personally seen this with size 12s, but I can definitely vouch that a Ladies 16 and 16W fit me very differently. The W had a much longer rise in the front to make room for more belly.
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