When does plus sized clothing actually start?
 

Hi all. There's something I've been wondering about for the longest time. When exactly does plus sized clothing start? Does it start at 16? 18? I always thought it started at 18 but then I read someone mentioning it starts at 14!

Also, what exactly is the difference between sizes that say women's and misses? How are they different from plus sizes? Or is one of them a plus size? Is a size 18 in jeans different than one that's labeled 18W?

There are so many conflicting opinions out there on the net about sizes. :dizzy:

The 18 & 18W Are definetly different. 18W is about a size larger than a regular size 18.

Misses is smaller Than womens.

I do think that 14 & up is plus size ~thats what I have always read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plus-size_clothing ~Click on this link to read more.

Im pretty sure that plus sizes start at size 14. I know Lane Bryant starts at 14 so thats just what I think.

I think the only difference between misses and womens would be the woman its geared toward fitting. Misses are usually for younger adults and Im pretty sure tend to be a little more form fitting than women's clothing which is more geared toward a fuller figured woman that doesnt like tighter clothes. Plus sized is for larger sizes I guess 14 & up. lol. The difference between the 18 and the 18W is just that the 18W is slightly bigger than the plain 18 but not quite a 20.

Its just what Ive always thought. My understanding may be wrong! They shouldnt make it so confusing!!

It's confusing isn't it! This is how I understand it...

One point of confusion is that plus sized models are a misses size 12 and up. I'd love to be that kind of plus sized!

In stores, traditional misses sizes are 0-14. Plus sizes are indicated with a W after the number. So a 14W-24W and up or 1X, 2X, 3X are all plus sized.

Plus sized clothes are cut more generously - bigger in the hips/rear/chest etc. A 14W is generally equivalent to a misses sized 16. A 16W is generally comparable to a misses sized 18. Of course, the fact that every clothing company seems to come up with their own definition of what dimensions their sizes will fit makes it all the more challenging.

Personally, I think the emergence of 16s and 18s in the "regular" departments in the last several years is because stores are trying to cater to an ever expanding clientele - and by expanding I mean waistlines. There is also a stigma attached to plus sized clothes and those on the border between plus and misses probably would rather shop in the misses department. It's psychological more than anything.

Now all of this only applies to the US. UK sizing is different. Their size 18 is more like a 16 here.

it starts at 14. i've always been fat and when i was 12 and in a size 14 i caught heck trying to find clothes for my age group. i always wound up in the large women section....enough crappy childhood recollections, plus size starts at 14.

It's important to understand that sizing is not well-standardized, and for the most part never has been (though attempts have been made, starting around 60 years ago, to universalize sizing, it never worked quite as well as hoped).

Sizes continue to vary tremendously from manufacturer to manufacturer, and so where standard, plus-sizes, and "extended plus sizes" begin and end (as well as the measurements that determine each size) often depends upon whom you're asking.

Aww... well thanks girls. I was psyching myself up for size 16 thinking, yay, I won't be in plus sizes anymore! Oh well. Each size down is still a reason to celebrate. :)

It's all totally funny to me. At 6-1 and 1/2 I am virtually skin and bones at size 14 and yet I have to wear "plus-sized" clothes. Go figure.

I've always thought plus started at size 14, even though dept stores usually have some 16's and 18's on the misses racks. But some exclusive stores don't stock larger than a 10 and call everything above 10 "plus".

I do find that the 16 - 18s and even size 20s that I find on misses racks are cut and proportioned very differently than the 16 - 18 - 20 I find in women's or "plus" stores.

The true "plus" tops are longer, the "plus" pant legs are much wider with a longer rise (which is something I don't need, so it's really frustrating when I get a waist/hip that fits well and legs that look like clown pants).

It's funny that you said that--I've been overweight all my life and when I was a teenager (early 70s) I could find size 16 and 18 in regular stores. I don't know when they stopped carrying those sizes because I rushed on up and out of them as a young adult, but when I did lose weight again and got down to a size 16 I was surpised to no longer be able to find that size in "regular" clothes--and a lot of stores didn't even have 14.

Must be one of those cycles everything goes through!

Jane

Torrid starts as low as size 12. But I think most places start at 14.

I've often wondered why major clothing stores ( JC Penny, Sears, etc ) don't have all clothing combined. It kind of irks me that they separate them like they do.

Keep in mind it's been relatively recently that stores have started carrying 18s (and sometimes even 20s) in the regular section. When I was a kid, The Gap was the only normal store that carried 16s. I bought all my clothes there until the dreaded day that I had to start shopping in the plus size stores. At that time, Gap 16 was pretty equal to Lane Bryant 14.

Well if they actually carried the same clothes in both sections than I'd be okay with combining them. But it makes no sense to combine them when the selections are so completely different. As it is, I find it crushing to see a really cute shirt in the plus size section, only to find it's a mis-placed top from the regular section. If they combined the plus and regular sections I'd be running desparately from rack to rack only to be repeatedly disapointed that none of the stuff I like goes up to my size.

I know Torrid starts at a size twelve, and I think Lane Bryant might start at a fourteen or a sixteen. I'm not sure about Avenue (I want to say fourteen), but I know Forever 21's "Faith 21" line starts at a thirteen/fourteen and has some eleven/twelve pieces. Old Navy's plus-sized section begins at a sixteen, but Old Navy is all over the place in terms of sizing.

I always thought that plus sizes started at size 12. I didn't know Torrid had standard sizes. I went into the store and everything was labeled 0,1,2,3 etc... very confusing. I tried on a zero but it was too big but I don't really understand why they would size like that. Maybe because its slightly less embarrassing to shout i need a size two instead of can you hand me a size 18.

I think sizing varies by brand at Torrid. Some brands (like Dickies, for example) go by standard sizes, but others go by the store's zero, one, two, three sizes.

There are two separate sizing standards - one for "Misses" or for lack of a better term "regular" sizes and then one for "Womens" or plus sizes.

Depending on the company, plus sizes start at 12 and can go into the 30s, although I think they stop at 32 maybe? Most manufacturers designate these sizes with a W (so 12W, 18W, etc) but not all of them.

Regular sizes also depend on the manufacturers, and can go from 0 up to 20, although the more expensive/designer clothing generally stops at 14, sometimes even below that. More moderate lines often go up to 18 or even 20. Although the sizes seem to overlap, a 16 Misses and a 16W are not the same size. A 16W is roughly equivalent to an 18 Misses, but they tend to be cut a little bit different with misses sizes cut a bit more narrowly.

Personally, when I can wear 16 Misses clothing comfortably, I will consider that the point when I am no longer plus sized! I did just buy one pair of jeans that size but I know they run very large, so I'm not counting that yet, but it still feels good.

I work in a department store, and I think the clothing is separated not to attach a stigma to the women's sizes, but to keep things from getting mixed up (believe me, it happens all the time with petites AND womens and is frustrating for the associates as well as employees). I remember year before last they had junior, missy, and womens swim all together, which seemed like a bad idea to me.

Sizing is definitely not standard--some manufacturers actually cut their sizes a little larger so customers can wear the smaller size and be more likely to buy the clothing (it's called "vanity sizing"). I know at my heaviest I was probably a 14, but by carefully picking brands I stayed in a "size 12" by the label. It helps to check sizing charts (most are available online so you can look before you go into a store) and to ask the sales associates who are (hopefully) familiar with their products.

Anyway, judging from my experience working in clothing, I'd say if you are a 16/14W, you can shop in either missy or womens. Larger than that, plus sizes. Of course, there are exceptions with some brands--a girl I work with can wear XL tops in one of our store brands but she wears a size 20 jeans.

I think its usually 16-24. Some stores start at 14 and some go to 26. After that, they usually start extended sizes. From what I've seen, Misses (some people call it Missies, which always sounded childish to me, so I mixed it up with Juniors) usually go from 0 to 14. I work at a department store, which usually has 6-18 in the Misses, 4-16 Petite, and 16-26 Womens. Even though the numbers overlap, they aren't the same sizes. The Women's 16 is larger than the Misses 16, and the ratio of bust/waist/hip is different (larger waist, mostly). The Petites and Misses are close, but the Petites are half an inch smaller, sometimes more.

Argh. Everything over a 0 should be a plus size so you only have to worry about how "plus" you are. :D

Oh, and don't forget those elusive Women's Petites sizes!