Gap (among other stores) & Vanity Sizing

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  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    UK and European clothes sizes are the same, I can vouch for the fact they've definitely gone up A LOT in the past 20 years or so. I remember being UK size 10-12 in high school and then I was skinny without any fat on my body except for a very small amount on my stomach. I can't have weighed more than 120 lbs. Now I weigh 144lbs and am wearing the same clothes size!!

    At my heaviest which was in the late 90s/early 2000s I went up to a size 14 (although clothes were tight) but I weighed around 178 lbs, that's crazy.

    When I lost that weight in 2003 I was wearing a UK size 8 (US size 4 I believe) and there is NO WAY I was that small in reality. I weighed 122 lbs then and was skinny fat.

    I'm now in Spain and can find some shops selling UK sizes and other Euro sizes, I generally fit into a Medium or Small in some cases and Euro 38-40 and but I know I should be more like a 42 or L. The clothes shops are trying to flatter us because we're all getting bigger and I don't think it's good at all.
  • faster_than_flash
    faster_than_flash Posts: 114 Member
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    I went to go purchase underwear for my gf at victoria's secret. I rarely go clothes shopping but I figure, how hard could it be?

    I ask the lady for help - I say, hi I'm looking for a small. She says "Regular small or VS small". I'm like..."what...?". She's like, yes, we carry two sizes of small. So with that said - I took a stab in the dark and got the right one.

    But tl;dr - having 2 small sizes is just confusing.
  • RunDoozer
    RunDoozer Posts: 1,699 Member
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    I really wish womens clothing was like mens, Just inches and that's it. A 34/32 is always that no matter what brand.

    Womens clothes I can be anything from a 5 to a an 11.

    Yea that's not true same thing applies for mens clothes too. I can be a 32 -38 depending on the brand. I just think they cant measure.
  • RunDoozer
    RunDoozer Posts: 1,699 Member
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    I went to go purchase underwear for my gf at victoria's secret. I rarely go clothes shopping but I figure, how hard could it be?

    I ask the lady for help - I say, hi I'm looking for a small. She says "Regular small or VS small". I'm like..."what...?". She's like, yes, we carry two sizes of small. So with that said - I took a stab in the dark and got the right one.

    But tl;dr - having 2 small sizes is just confusing.

    Why I stick to jewelry
  • CALake
    CALake Posts: 269 Member
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    I shop a lot of consignment and always look under the tags for the year for Gap/ON/Banana REpublic. The change in sizes seems to be around 2005-06 somewhere. If the pants are newer than that, I'm a 6. Older, an 8 (or even 10).
  • figomezzo
    figomezzo Posts: 29
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    I don't know about Gap and Old Navy, but Anne Taylor Loft definitely is guilty of this! I was always a medium in their shirts and now I am a small. I am the same size. Last year I bought a spring skirt there in a size 2. I could have gotten the 0. There is no way I am even close to that size! Usually an 8 in skirts.
  • Joreanasaurous
    Joreanasaurous Posts: 1,384 Member
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    I'm pretty tiny, barely 5' and vanity sizing is the bane of my existence. I'm anywhere between a 0 and a 3 and there a lot of stores that I can't wear anything from. Old Navy and Lucky and Levi are the worst. Their smallest is a tent on me and the short lengths are all half a foot too long. The Gap and NYC are some of the only places I can even find parts that fit.
  • cubbies77
    cubbies77 Posts: 607 Member
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    Yup. When I weighed 165 pounds and wore an XL sweater, their L sweaters fit me perfectly. I thought the tag was wrong, and the saleslady told me their sizes run a bit big. This was back in 1997, so it isn't new. :)
  • bmqbonnie
    bmqbonnie Posts: 836 Member
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    I went to go purchase underwear for my gf at victoria's secret. I rarely go clothes shopping but I figure, how hard could it be?

    I ask the lady for help - I say, hi I'm looking for a small. She says "Regular small or VS small". I'm like..."what...?". She's like, yes, we carry two sizes of small. So with that said - I took a stab in the dark and got the right one.

    But tl;dr - having 2 small sizes is just confusing.
    I wear size small underwear from there and I'm 150 lbs and have 36" hips. Ridiculous! Basically at VS add a cup size for bras and subtract a size or two for anything else.
  • errorika
    errorika Posts: 89 Member
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    I worked at a Gap Outlet for over two years. It's a pretty consistent inconsistency (heh) with them I noticed.... Their skinny jeans run VERY small and their dress pants usually ran a size small. As far as their tops went, it depended on the fit. If it was to be a loose fitting top, I found that they ran VERY large. I don't see it as a vanity sizing issue, though. I think it was more of a quality control thing. Gap, Inc. owns Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic. If you think about it, Old Navy is the worst as far as sizing and fit, Gap in the middle, and Banana always has pretty consistent fit, I've found. Which, if you think about it, makes sense. Banana is the most high-end of their brands, so of course their clothing is the best quality. Gap floats somewhere in the middle, and Old Navy is the cheapest. You can't really expect much from Old Navy if you're getting jeans for $15.

    I think it pretty much lies in the quality control of the company you're shopping with. Higher-end retailers usually run alike (mostly in dress clothes which I basically live in), I've found.

    I used to work at Old Navy, and it was awful. You'd think after a year and a half that I could find something I like and buy it without trying it on... not the case at all. In order to actually fit into their skinnies, I had to go two sizes up! And don't even get me started about the length. I would go into the fitting room with a pile of size 8 long jeans, lay them all out on top of one another to find the longest pair. I swear there wasn't a pair of pants that was within an inch of another. You're taking a huge gamble there if you leave the store without trying it on.

    The Gap is way better than Old Navy, but once I get their clothes home they seem to stretch out a lot. Especially their Curvy jeans. Yeah, I'm curvy, but I don't need to drown in my jeans!
  • mizzie1980
    mizzie1980 Posts: 379 Member
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    I'm not sure about Gap or ON, but Lane Bryant is the WORST offender I've seen. They've completely redone sizing. At my heaviest, I weighted 220 and that put me in a size 20 or 22 jeans, depending. But at LB, I wore a size 4!!! I understand it's a clothing store for plus sized women, and they are trying to make you feel good about buying their clothes, but come on. I can understand being a size, or maybe even two, off, but not 18 sizes off. No one on earth is going to buy that a 220 pound, 5'5" woman is a size 4. I weigh 166 now and I'm typically about a 14, lol.
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
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    I really wish womens clothing was like mens, Just inches and that's it. A 34/32 is always that no matter what brand.

    Womens clothes I can be anything from a 5 to a an 11.

    It's crept into men's clothing as well.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/08/vanity-sizing-mens-pants_n_709004.html
  • PitBullMom_Liz
    PitBullMom_Liz Posts: 339 Member
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    I'm not sure about Gap or ON, but Lane Bryant is the WORST offender I've seen. They've completely redone sizing. At my heaviest, I weighted 220 and that put me in a size 20 or 22 jeans, depending. But at LB, I wore a size 4!!! I understand it's a clothing store for plus sized women, and they are trying to make you feel good about buying their clothes, but come on. I can understand being a size, or maybe even two, off, but not 18 sizes off. No one on earth is going to buy that a 220 pound, 5'5" woman is a size 4. I weigh 166 now and I'm typically about a 14, lol.

    Are you sure you aren't thinking of Torrid? Smallest size LB carries is 14/16. Torrid has wonky sizing.
  • sweetpea129
    sweetpea129 Posts: 755 Member
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    I dont notice it at Gap but definitey do at Old Navy. I tried on a pair of their jeans last week in a SIZE 8. THEY FIT. Im not an 8. 10-12 everywhere else.
  • Jaulen
    Jaulen Posts: 468 Member
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    US Clothing sizes have definitely changed over the years. When I was in my 20's (40 years ago), I wore a size 10. At that time I weighed around 115 pounds. Now at age 60 I weigh 123 pounds and wear a size 4 or 6 easily. Believe me, in NO WAY do I think I should be that size, but it is what it is. As we have gotten larger as a society, clothing manufacturers have found a way to make us feel smaller. I always wonder what this means for the models and celebrities that we see. What size are they??? A triple negative 0? I guess the bottom line is, it doesn't matter what size we can wear, but how we FEEL that's important, right??

    Was at a Tommy H. store.....saw a pair of pants in a size -2.....yes, that's right, -2.

    Funny thing is, the 16's had the same width leg as the -2.

    I find the high end retailers don't account for people with real thighs.

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