Vanity Sizing - Who are the worst offenders?

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  • BAMFMeredith
    BAMFMeredith Posts: 2,829 Member
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    Express and Pink by Victoria's Secret.

    I find that the stuff in numbered sizes at Express tend to run pretty true to size, but anything that's small/medium/large is total vanity sizing. I got a size medium dress from there when I was at my heaviest and it was a little big....ummm no way I was actually a size small!
  • missmuse06
    missmuse06 Posts: 50
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    Old Navy for sure!!

    Free People seems like it runs big, too.
  • jdploki70
    jdploki70 Posts: 343
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    Once again, glad to be a guy. We don't get that.
  • paleirishmother
    paleirishmother Posts: 242
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    size 10, every other store except Old Navy, where amazingly I am a size 6.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
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    Express and Pink by Victoria's Secret.

    I find that the stuff in numbered sizes at Express tend to run pretty true to size, but anything that's small/medium/large is total vanity sizing. I got a size medium dress from there when I was at my heaviest and it was a little big....ummm no way I was actually a size small!

    I had to get a pair of jeans in a size 4. Lol there's just no way. I'm usually a 6/7. I worked at Express back in high school. That discount came in pretty handy when they require you to only wear their jeans. :noway:

    Edited to fix a brain fart.
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
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    I find sizing varies so much from manufacturer to manufacturer that it is pretty irrelevant really. The most important thing when buying clothes is to buy something that fits your body size and shape regardless of the number on the label. I am technically a 16/18 UK but I will buy a 14 or a 20 depending on how it hangs on my frame.
  • Moyzilla
    Moyzilla Posts: 106 Member
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    It's so friggin' frustrating. Old Navy, Gap and Ann Taylor Loft are all huge offenders.

    Though I find Gap to just be frustratingly inconsistent. In the same size pant at Gap I run the gamut of not being able to get them up my legs to not being able to keep them up once they're on.

    The difference in sizing between Ann Taylor and Loft is hilarious and they're both Ann Taylor!!!!
  • neti_call
    neti_call Posts: 81 Member
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    Old Navy!!


    THIS
  • christine24t
    christine24t Posts: 6,063 Member
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    Old Navy!!


    THIS

    Oh, see, I think Old Navy is actually pretty right on. Generally speaking I'm a size Large in shirts and I wear a large there. In pants, I fluctuate between a 12 and 14, and when I tried on 14s at ON the other day, I had the worst muffin.
  • BVannillie
    BVannillie Posts: 140
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    I have the opposite problem. I am an 8/10 in literally every clothes shop except TopShop where I am apparently a 12/14. And they don't stock anything over 16 usually, so my size 20 friend can't even shop there.
  • bluefox9er
    bluefox9er Posts: 2,917 Member
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    I find Hollister and Abercrombie/Fitch to be guilty...they simply don't stock a size L and if they do, it fits like a small/extra small. .

    There's a brand in the uk called ' superdry' ( it should be called 'super chav') whose idea of a size L is a 'small' in any other store.
  • waffleflavoredtea
    waffleflavoredtea Posts: 235 Member
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    I find Gap and Banana Republic to be the worst. Most everywhere I am a 4, but at those two places I am a 0/2.

    I totally agree with the Banana Republic thing. As a teenager I was a size 6 but in their sizing I was a size 1/2... LOL. I felt so giddy when I wore them, I told my family that they were a size two and they just looked at me, smirked, and said, no, you're not, they must run big. xD
  • PattyG2
    PattyG2 Posts: 4 Member
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    Vanity sizing, also known as size inflation, is a practice (which is pretty much industry wide) where the manufacturers increase the measurements of clothes, but still keep the same numbers. When I lost a lot of weight a number of years back, I went shopping. I was amazed that I could fit in a size 10. I hadn't worn that size since I was in Jr High and hadn't finished growing.
    If you can find a vintage 60's dress pattern and compare it to current, you'll see a size different of three or more sizes. That's why we have 0 and 00. They never existed when I was young.
  • Musikelektronik
    Musikelektronik Posts: 739 Member
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    I find Hollister and Abercrombie/Fitch to be guilty...they simply don't stock a size L and if they do, it fits like a small/extra small. .

    That's the exact opposite of vanity sizing. The clothing in those stores runs really small, not large. So, for example, a "large" there would be a medium elsewhere.

    Until I lost weight, I had to buy XL t-shirts there -- and they barely fit! Polo by Ralph Lauren, on the other hand ... a medium t-shirt is big on me.

    I was just able to fit into a pair of size 34 Hollister jeans that I haven't been able to wear in, like, three years. Happy days! :smile:
  • Jennaissance
    Jennaissance Posts: 212
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    Eddie Bauer is terrible and always has been. I used to work for their call center taking phone orders. People would call ALL THE TIME needing to return things that were two sizes too big for them. Almost every customer I spoke with commented on the generous sizes and sometimes I dealt with people that were just too small to wear any of their clothes.
  • PattyG2
    PattyG2 Posts: 4 Member
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    I beg to differ on the pattern sizing. They are guilty too. I have old 'vintage' (60's-70s) McCalls that show different measurements for the sizes than today's patterns.
  • Jennaissance
    Jennaissance Posts: 212
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    In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if vanity sizing is how we got size zero.
  • enduranc3
    enduranc3 Posts: 8
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    Forever 21.
    Grrr.
  • Sassy922
    Sassy922 Posts: 399 Member
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    Certain cuts of Old Navy's jeans are worse than others. The Sweetheart are by far the worst. I can wear a 6 in those.
  • litatura
    litatura Posts: 569 Member
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    I'm in Canada and I find that Reitmans is bad. I'm 5'3" and about 140lbs, yet some of their size small shirts hang off me and I take a size 5 in their skirts and pants.

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