Vanity Sizing insanity!
sbrownallison
Posts: 314 Member
After a lifetime of being overweight/obese, I finally achieved a normal/healthy weight and have kept it off for four years. And, of course, with the help of My Fitness Pal and hyper-vigilance in my diet, plue exercise. Yay, me, right?
Buying clothes now, while easier than at a size 20, still remains a mystery. There is no consistency is sizing, and it seems to be ever-changing. Vanity sizing is real, folks! Today, I went to Old Navy (a good sale) to look for a pair of jeans. I haven't shopped for clothes there in years but -- a good sale, remember -- thought I'd try it out again. I've been wearing a size 8 lately, so took a pair of those into the dressing room. I have gained 5 lbs over the last year, so was a bit worried they might not fit. Swimming in them. What's going on? Went back out and got a size 6, a size I've never ever fit into, ever. They were OK, but big enough in the waist that I thought: I don't want to have to be hiking these up every 10 steps. Back to the rack and tried on a 4. Found the fit to be acceptable in all ways. Ridiculous.
Has anyone found this kind of issue in other stores? Is this just an Old Navy thing? Really, what is going on?
Buying clothes now, while easier than at a size 20, still remains a mystery. There is no consistency is sizing, and it seems to be ever-changing. Vanity sizing is real, folks! Today, I went to Old Navy (a good sale) to look for a pair of jeans. I haven't shopped for clothes there in years but -- a good sale, remember -- thought I'd try it out again. I've been wearing a size 8 lately, so took a pair of those into the dressing room. I have gained 5 lbs over the last year, so was a bit worried they might not fit. Swimming in them. What's going on? Went back out and got a size 6, a size I've never ever fit into, ever. They were OK, but big enough in the waist that I thought: I don't want to have to be hiking these up every 10 steps. Back to the rack and tried on a 4. Found the fit to be acceptable in all ways. Ridiculous.
Has anyone found this kind of issue in other stores? Is this just an Old Navy thing? Really, what is going on?
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I have actually heard that about Old Navy. I don't personally shop there, but my friend swears by their jeans, and she has told me they definitely have vanity sizing.
Honestly though I have two dresses in my closet, one a size 8 which fits me perfectly, and one a size zero, also fits me perfectly. My bridesmaid dress is a size 6, lol. So I really don't think there is any kind of standardization for sizing. It just always seems to be a roll of the dice.1 -
I had that problem all the time in my teens/early twenties. I still run into the problem sometimes - went to buy a dress for my sister's wedding at a department store, and fit properly into several dresses that ranged from a size 2 to a size 6, depending on the brand. Jeans can be from a size 4 to a size 8, depending on where I'm at and if I'm shopping Juniors or Women's. I grab several sizes when I'm buying new ones just so I don't have to keep running back and forth.0
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Eh, I've learned to try everything on and not worry about the number on the tag. (Easier said than done, I know.) As you shop at a store regularly you will learn their sizes and know where to start.
Stores that cater to a younger/jr. market tend to be the places with the vanity sizes where as stares that cater to the adult market tend to be closer to a standard size.3 -
Yes. Crazy annoying!!! I'm an avid online shopper so it makes it extremely difficult. Tops I can pretty much work with. But pants are another story. It's ridiculous to be able to wear 3-4 different sizes, sometimes within the same brand!1
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Yes, on-line shopping is impossible for me, too. I've learned to only order items that I already know will fit by virtue of already owning it and need a replacement or a different color. I've actually done that thing that retailers loathe, where I go to the store and check the fit before ultimately ordering it online at a lower price... I think if people knew they could rely on the fit, they would order more clothing online.2
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sbrownallison wrote: »Yes, on-line shopping is impossible for me, too. I've learned to only order items that I already know will fit by virtue of already owning it and need a replacement or a different color. I've actually done that thing that retailers loathe, where I go to the store and check the fit before ultimately ordering it online at a lower price... I think if people knew they could rely on the fit, they would order more clothing online.
Yes! I do this at NY&Co. for my work pants. I try them on at the mall and then shop online because I get cash back, lol.1 -
If you are having problems with jeans and pants specifically, it might be because pretty much all women's jeans and many regular pants, as well, have spandex, elastane, or some similar stretchy fiber added these days (maybe only 1% or 2% but it makes a difference).
I gave up on women's jeans because stretchy pants (literally the only thing you can find at Macy's and also the only thing Stitch Fix was sending me) just don't fit me right. Like they will hug the hips appropriately but gap out at the waist, or the seat of the pants is big enough to stuff my butt in there twice.
I started getting men's jeans (Levi's 514). Only some of THOSE even have elastane in them. A pair of 514s with elastane is so big in the rear end that I can pull it off without undoing the fly. A pair of 514s in the SAME SIZE with no elastane (e.g., 100% cotton) will fit just fine. Even though this example is for men's pants, the same thing happens with women's (I've seen it in women's Dockers, for example -- I'd need to go to 0 or even 00 with stretchy Dockers -- if such things even exist -- when I wear a 2 normally).
So anyway, in my experience, it is not just an Old Navy thing but instead it follows from the trend in stores to carry spandex/elastane-containing garments, which just fit much more loosely.1 -
Old Navy is the worst for sizes. I'm a 10 in regular pants, but can easy get into a pair of Old Navy size 2 jeans. So whack!0
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I'm pretty good at assessing whether something will fit just by looking at it, rather than the tag, but I do hate having to take two of everything into a dressing room just in case. However, proving that some fashion houses are simply confused, I came home from Esprit last week with two t-shirts of the same cut but one was a L and the other an XS. What made it more ridiculous was the XS was slightly bigger than the L.0
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OK - here is another strange vanity sizing thing. Workout bras. Only the vanity sizing is going the other way! I have NEVER in my life been a "large" in a workout bra before so I ordered my normal mediums when the elastic and arm area got too stretched out. What a shock. They were WAY TOO tight. And I haven't suddenly grown chestier. LOL. Anyway, I guess now I have to order LARGE and that is supposed to make me feel like I am well endowed or something? I actually went over to Kohls to figure our what the hey and tried on a bunch of them...1
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I definitely understand! I just bought all my jeans and shorts this past summer from Old Navy. I normally wear a 2-4 in most brands, but at Old Navy I am a zero. It really is insane. Basically anywhere I shop for pants, I take in a couple of different sizes to figure out what I am in that brand. It changes every with every brand for sure0
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Old Navy has always seemed to run large to me.
On the flip side, I order a lot of clothes online and let me just say, European sizing sure does screw things up! It’s like reverse vanity, make-you-feel-worse, sizing!2 -
Vanity sizing annoys me so much! Especially when the measurements on the size charts don't align to the actual size of the clothes. I don't care if I'm an XXS or a XL, but if your size chart says a Medium bust is 33-26 and the waist is 24-26, PLEASE just cut it that way!
I basically only buy things online that have belts or I can belt because then it doesn't matter as much how horrendously off the sizing is. I never buy pants without trying them on. I did so on Modcloth once and followed their sizing guide and I literally took the pants off with the button fastened they were so big. Elle brand is also really bad with vanity sizing - I fit size 2 shorts from them when my hips were 42+ inches.0 -
See, this is where being tall absolutely SUCKS. Old Navy doesn't even CARRY pants in long/tall sizes in the store. They're only available online. And then if you order them and they don't fit, chances are good that you're paying either return shipping, or at least paying shipping AGAIN on your next order. GRR.
(However, I have learned that boots hide a too-short hem quite nicely!)2 -
Sports bras are a clusterfudge. I have to get a small because I have a very small underbust and a medium would give me no support but then my boobs are squishing out the top because I have boobs. I like the Adidas techfit bras because they come up higher and mitigate a lot of that.
HM is the weirdest offender of odd sizing, imo. In trousers I get a US8 but they're a little bit too big but the US6 is too small, I get my dresses in a US4 or 6/XS-S and my tops are the same usually more towards 4/XS. I prefer when things are S/M/L as the small is much more likely to fit me even if it's a little big. I can't be dealing with this am I a 4 or a 6.1 -
What I hate is the clothing companies whose sizes are a combination of sizes. They're always the wrong combination of sizes for me. So I'm in between a size 10 and 12 (UK) but whenever there are combined sized clothes they always come in 8-10 (too small) or 12-14 (too big) very frustrating.3
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@VictoriaTuel YES to the sports bras. I’m a 32DD, no way I’m squeezing the girls into a S or XS regular sports bra LOL. Which means I get to spend lots more $$ on fancy cup-size sports bras, hooray.1
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I recently fit into a size 8 Ralph Lauren pair of jeans. I am a solid size 12 (5'8" and 175 lbs) and I haven't seen a size 8 since middle school, so I know vanity sizing is alive and well.2
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Old Navy definitely runs large, and what's worse, their sizing isn't consistent, even WITHIN the same size of the exact same item! You can try on 3 different pair of the same blue jeans in the same size, and all 3 will fit a little differently. It's maddening.0
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I'll add to the sports bra rant! I barely fill out a 34B and in tops I usually wear a small, so I thought I might wear a medium sports bra at the largest. Tried a couple on at Target--nope. Nope nope nope nope. I ended up buying larges, and probably could have gone with an extra large! I also wear XL underwear, but I've come to terms with my giant butt.
It's weird and frustrating, though, to have clothes in my closet that are XS and fit perfectly, and then XL that are too tight. This is why I exist entirely in one size fits all leggings!0
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