Help me figure out women sizing.

CoderGal
CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
OK I think I've asked a similar question before and there are other posts that have some information about it but I have to have it explained to me in little words.

I understand the 20 somethings is the waist band size, the low odd numbers are 'juniors' and the low even ones are 'misses'.

So 'junior' sizing are suppose to be different and less hippy? Correct? I kind of find that to be the opposite according to my pants. And most of my juniors are a longer 34 inch inseam.

'Canadian' sizing charts vs US, should there be a difference? I've seen some links that indicate yes and no.

What should be the difference (in general) between euro and uk and aus and us and the like? I've been shopping online lately and I'm lost. Vanity sizing aside, Is there any sort of standard? If no sizing chart is available, what should I go with?

Currently my pant sizes in my closet consist of: S, M, L, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 25, 27, 29. In dresses I'm 2 and 4. They all fit about the same. It doesn't state US sizing or otherwise...so why the large range from 1-6?

Also my waist is a lil below 25inches in the morning, why am I often a size 29? Is it my huge *kitten*? Or people don't know how to measure?

I find many of the clothes I buy are loose and stick off on the back but are tight in front. what's up with that?

Replies

  • shutupandlift13
    shutupandlift13 Posts: 727 Member
    I think figuring out women sizing is as hard as figuring out women. :tongue:
  • tavenne323
    tavenne323 Posts: 332 Member
    I think figuring out women sizing is as hard as figuring out women. :tongue:

    Yep. And different brands vary too... so dumb.
  • joypeaceloveall
    joypeaceloveall Posts: 34
    Sizing is crazy. Seems to vary from brand to brand based on my experience today. And some of the sales people unfortunately aren't much help either. Is it still called "Misses" sizes? I went to Macy's today and asked for Misses' dresses and the sales person had no clue what I was talking about.
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
    I say we rebel and demand that women's clothes be sized the same way men's are!!
  • oliviadell
    oliviadell Posts: 1 Member
    It's a generic sizing and everyone is different the best way to get the perfect fit with something is to buy it for you biggest body part (ie hips of chest) then get the rest of it tailored to fit your specific body. When buying at stores the more expensive the brand the smaller the size will be and junior sizes are smaller then women sizes. I'm an 8 in a woman's size but an 11 in juniors. Tailoring is the only way to make sure clothes fit you perfectly.
  • DragonSquatter
    DragonSquatter Posts: 957 Member
    I have tops all the way from a size M through 1x that fit properly and pants from size 14 to 16W that fit properly also.

    Sizing is nuts.

    Junior's sizes tend to run small in my experience. Misses are closer to average sizing, but the cut isn't always good. Plus size clothing always ran huge on me with a handful of exceptions.

    I find that I can sometimes buy certain brands off the shelf if I already know how they size, but even size charts are wrong for me most of the time.

    Women's clothing sizing is annoying.

    ETA: Totally agree with above poster about tailoring. It's amazing what a good tailor can do for your wardrobe.
  • sweetnlow30
    sweetnlow30 Posts: 497 Member
    I agree iris crazy! It is even worse when you have a short inseam and no hips like me :laugh: It is hard to find something that fits in the length and when I do, they are usually way too low rise. I don't have enough hips to hold them up so I need mid rise with a 31 inseam. I feel like I won the lottery when I find a pair of jeans that fit me right!
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    Yeah. There's no help. Every brand seems to be different.
  • popsicklestar
    popsicklestar Posts: 166 Member
    Unfortunately, women's sizing is not at all consistent between brands. You just have to figure out what size you are in the brands you like. Junior's sizing is smaller. You usually need to add 3 to your women's size to get your junior's size. If you wear a 6 in women's, you will wear about a 9 in junior's. Junior's clothes are cut differently, and they tend to fit me better. I am curvy and hippy. My waist size actually matches my pant size. My waist is 29, and most of my pants are 29, but some are 28.
  • hrtchoco
    hrtchoco Posts: 156 Member
    Unfortunately, women's sizing is not at all consistent between brands. You just have to figure out what size you are in the brands you like. Junior's sizing is smaller. You usually need to add 3 to your women's size to get your junior's size. If you wear a 6 in women's, you will wear about a 9 in junior's. Junior's clothes are cut differently, and they tend to fit me better. I am curvy and hippy. My waist size actually matches my pant size. My waist is 29, and most of my pants are 29, but some are 28.

    i thought jr is women size -1. i wear size 2 in women and size 1 in jr.
  • amonkey794
    amonkey794 Posts: 651 Member
    I think figuring out women sizing is as hard as figuring out women. :tongue:

    If it is female, there is no answer LOL
  • amonkey794
    amonkey794 Posts: 651 Member
    I say we rebel and demand that women's clothes be sized the same way men's are!!

    I'll sign this petition.
  • ecdce
    ecdce Posts: 129 Member
    Here is all I know:

    Even numbered sizes are women's clothes and odd numbers are juniors clothes. Junior clothing is supposed to be cut less generously through the hip, but that depends on the brand and the style and the material (I find juniors clothing tends to have more spandex in it). The number measurement (27 inches) isn't necessarily accurate either, and you might wear a 29" waist because we don't wear our jeans on our natural waist, which is where we measure. And don't put too much stock in a website's size chart, unless they design and manufacture their own brand, or they offer a different size chart for every brand they sell.
  • jayliospecky
    jayliospecky Posts: 25,022 Member
    Bleh. Good luck understanding it. I was all "Oh, now I know I'm a size 8 at the Gap!" But no, just a size 8 in certain "cuts." Bah. It's so annoying.
  • mrsriisky
    mrsriisky Posts: 129 Member
    It's extremely frustrating when my sizes vary so much between brands, cuts, styles- it makes it impossible to shop online! The only silver lining I see is that women vary so much in shape, from one person to the next. I have a friend who is almost the exact stats as me- 5'5 125-130ish- but if we both try on the same outfit, in the same size, it is almost a given that It will look amazing on one of us, and entirely awkward on the other. The reason- different bodies! She has more of the classic hourglass figure, I'm a little less curvy on the sides, but have a big ole butt. If everything was sized according to one specific set of measurements, I have a feeling we would be unhappy as well, due to the fact that that "standard" sizing would only fit one very specific group.

    It might be a hassle figuring out what fits, in what size, from what brand, but it is nice to have options when shopping.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    Junior's sizes tend to run small in my experience. Misses are closer to average sizing, but the cut isn't always good. Plus size clothing always ran huge on me with a handful of exceptions.
    See I have the opposite experience. I'm in a size 1 juniors and a size 6 misses. But my largest juniors is 5. And agreed, why is the cut in juniors clothes always better? I'm pretty curvy...you'd figure adult clothes would fit me better.

    I really need to find myself a good tailor. Around what does everyone pay if I wanted to bring the waist and thighs in?
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    I agree iris crazy! It is even worse when you have a short inseam and no hips like me :laugh: It is hard to find something that fits in the length and when I do, they are usually way too low rise. I don't have enough hips to hold them up so I need mid rise with a 31 inseam. I feel like I won the lottery when I find a pair of jeans that fit me right!

    I have hips significantly larger then my waist and thighs so I have the opposite problem. And my pants are usually 34 inseam...if not they're flood pants. At least in the longer situation you can get them tailored.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    Unfortunately, women's sizing is not at all consistent between brands. You just have to figure out what size you are in the brands you like. Junior's sizing is smaller. You usually need to add 3 to your women's size to get your junior's size. If you wear a 6 in women's, you will wear about a 9 in junior's. Junior's clothes are cut differently, and they tend to fit me better. I am curvy and hippy. My waist size actually matches my pant size. My waist is 29, and most of my pants are 29, but some are 28.
    That's weird...if I add 3 to my juniors size everything would be to big and still under the size I usually get in misses. My largest size in womens is 6. My junior sizing is 1-5. And yeah, that's the thing I dont' get about the adult sizing...why are the junior ones more curvey? My waist is 25 but 27 seems to fit me best (I guess 'cause of my giant hips).
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    It's extremely frustrating when my sizes vary so much between brands, cuts, styles- it makes it impossible to shop online!

    Tell me about it. I was going to order a pair of motorcycle pants the other day and the guy asked me what size I was. I was like:

    Size 1-29.
  • alisonlynn1976
    alisonlynn1976 Posts: 929 Member
    For European sizes, you add 30 to the US size, so a 10 US is a 40 European. Except some countries do their own thing, and I'm not familiar with all of them. I know that in France, it's a size up from standard European sizes, so US 10 = European 40 = French 42. UK sizes are two sizes up from US sizes, so US 10 = UK 14.

    But, as we all know, actual measurements of sizes vary a lot between brands and even within brands, so you've got to either try it on or order from somewhere that lists measurements of individual items to be sure.
  • bokchoybaby
    bokchoybaby Posts: 62 Member
    I'm personally glad that women's sizing isn't universal. Most brand sizing tends to be based around their average consumer as opposed to the average woman so if Brand A attracts a lot of pear-shaped women and Brand B attracts a lot of apple-shaped women the cuts of the clothing are going to be different so as to suit the brand's typical customer. I would guess that since the pear shape is the most common it probably drives a lot of clothing cuts but I have found brands that skew a little closer to hourglass so I haven't had to size up endlessly just to get something to fit me in the chest. When shopping online size charts really are your best friend. I don't, however, buy pants online because I feel like pants are tricky and have additional measurements that determine fit (low hip/abdomen, thigh, calf) that tend not to be included on charts and can really impact whether or not they will work for you.

    As for why 29s aren't really 29s, I've seen guys complain about vanity sizing in their pants. Perhaps that's what is going on. I find that kind of inflation silly since those numbers are supposed to correlate to something fixed unlike general 2/4/6/etc. sizing.
  • nilbogger
    nilbogger Posts: 870 Member
    I say we rebel and demand that women's clothes be sized the same way men's are!!

    Nah, men's shirt sizes can vary a lot, and even the numbered pants sizes can fit differently depending on the brand.
  • clareyoung80
    clareyoung80 Posts: 177 Member
    I'm finding that sizing is a mystical and confusing process that has nothing to do with actual inches you are.

    Here in the UK, I can fit into a few size 10 items of clothing, and a few size 8 items of clothing. This is despite the fact that according to my measurements I'm a size 12 in most stores... Eg: I'm currently wearing some high-waisted New Look size 10 jeans. My waist measurements is currently 28.5" (but 29" by the end of the day) and according to the New Look website, a size 10 waist is 27.5" So, you know...eh??!!! An inch less in the waist and these jeans will be too big for me. Madness...
  • nilbogger
    nilbogger Posts: 870 Member
    I'm finding that sizing is a mystical and confusing process that has nothing to do with actual inches you are.

    Here in the UK, I can fit into a few size 10 items of clothing, and a few size 8 items of clothing. This is despite the fact that according to my measurements I'm a size 12 in most stores... Eg: I'm currently wearing some high-waisted New Look size 10 jeans. My waist measurements is currently 28.5" (but 29" by the end of the day) and according to the New Look website, a size 10 waist is 27.5" So, you know...eh??!!! An inch less in the waist and these jeans will be too big for me. Madness...

    I've had this same issue ordering online... I'll use the measurements on the size chart, but then what I get is too big! Like, why are the measurements even there if they don't correspond to the size of the clothing?

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