What does SIZE mean?

Basically, there's been some major vanity sizing going on lately. Jeans at places like Old Navy & Gap (owned by the same company, I'm pretty sure) vanity size so that if you're a 12, your jean size will read 10 or 8. It supposedly makes women feel better about themselves and more likely to buy. But most true jean companies (where selling jeans is their bread and butter) don't vanity size. Think Se7en jeans, Citizens of Humanity, J Brand, etc. So if you want to know your true size, try on those jeans. Or measure yourself and compare on this chart:



(I got the chart from Asos. To get US size, subtract four from UK size. It seems to correspond with the measurements of the jean companies mentioned above.)

I know all about vanity sizing, but that chart doesn't seem right. A 22 inch waist is a size 4? O_o

These are UK sizes. Subtract 4 to get your real size. Therefore, a UK 4 is a US 0.

So is 4 their smallest size?

As far as I can tell. They might have smaller sizes in their petites section.

Well, that makes more sense then. I assumed they had a a 0,1,2 and the thought of living people wearing those sizes was freaking me out.

So honestly though, those sizes aren't necessarily "true" sizes. They are just the UK's sizing system which is completely different from the US's so it's really irrelevant to anyone living outside of the UK.

It changes generationally.

My mother was trim woman in her early years. In 1970 she said she wore a size 12. HA! She was 120 pounds and 5 foot 6. Yea. Size 12 now is NOT that size.

ETA she is still trim. She works out and eats right and is in a size 8/10 :-)

I've done costume design classes and we learned that the sizing chart has changed a lot over the years. It's a vanity thing- people buy clothes more easily if they're pleased by what the size says. When people say "Marilyn Monroe wore a size 16", yes, yes she did, but her size 16 was more on par with a size 10 of today.

Different retail places have different sizes for their "sizes" often because of use of "vanity sizing".

Pants I have in my closet that all fit me relatively the same range on the lable from a size 8 (!? I am NO size 8) to a size 16. Most of them say 10 or 12. But even that is tricky because if I look at a sizing chart, my waist measurement usually corresponds with a size 8 and my hips to a size 16.

There's a store here in Omaha called "B Yourself" that uses colors instead of number sizes to help stop women from identifying themself with a number. I've never shopped there, but it's a kinda cool concept.

What's a gal to do?

I once got 2 pants same size, same brand but different color(1 light and other dark blue). One fits right and other is tight. Go figure!

I typically wear a size 12 or 14 in my favorite brand of clothing, so "size" is really just a quick way to sort through their clothes to find what fits me.

Size is an just another number to me.

I wear gap jeans and depending on the style I'm anywhere between a 6 and a 10.

In American Eagle Jeans I wear a size 10.

I wouldn't worry too much..as long as it fits and you feel good in it, thats all that matters!