Vanity Sizing - Who are the worst offenders?

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Replies

  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    Chicos--no one wears more than a 3

    I was going to say Chicos, too! I wear their size 00 or 000... and I am not a tiny woman, but I am the smallest size for which they make clothes. I wear a size 6 most other places. LOL
  • wyllaya
    wyllaya Posts: 51 Member
    Costco is the other way around.....you have to bump your size by 4
  • CharlieBarleyMom
    CharlieBarleyMom Posts: 727 Member
    I have moved in 14 - 18 depending on manufacturer for slacks... but I have a pair of linen slacks that I bought some 20 years ago and never got the chance to wear - the tags were still on them and I refused to get rid of them... they are 18T... yeah, I have to SUCK it in to keep from popping the button on these... (still wearing them though!)

    But - when I got married 17 years ago, I went to David's Bridal knowing I was a 12 in most clothes... I had to buy an 18 wedding gown. Any place where there SHOULD be vanity sizing should be in wedding gowns! Gee!
  • booyainyoface
    booyainyoface Posts: 409 Member
    gap! i wear a six, and small or XS in their shirts---- hahaha!
  • sun33082
    sun33082 Posts: 416 Member
    For once I feel sorry for the small girls. What are they going to wear if the 0's keep getting bigger? Of course now I see someone said something about a 000?

    What's that about? lol
  • BAMFMeredith
    BAMFMeredith Posts: 2,810 Member
    Pink by Victoria Secret.

    SERIOUSLY! I have a shirt from there that's a size Small---that I bought at my heaviest of 170lbs. No WAY I was a real size small!

    Oh and Old Navy makes me feel like a skinny *kitten*, I usually wear a size smaller there than anywhere else.
  • Octopies
    Octopies Posts: 157 Member
    Old Navy has some pretty bad vanity sizing- I'm a 2x pretty much every where else but at Old Navy I'm a 1x, and sometimes even a Large!
  • elenathegreat
    elenathegreat Posts: 3,988 Member
    Chicos--no one wears more than a 3

    This^^^^. My mom LOVES Chicos LOL!
  • _SpeshK_
    _SpeshK_ Posts: 496 Member
    Old Navy! Sometimes I can fit a Medium, yuhhh riiiight
  • trm981
    trm981 Posts: 42 Member
    For sure Gap and Old Navy. I see a lot of other people agree with that!

    I tried on size 2 pants from Gap this weekend and they fit, and actually were a little big on me. I'm 5'4 and 130 pounds. Its just ridiculous. I wear a size 7 in Juniors or a loose 6/tight 4 in Misses (I'm in the middle right now). I sure as hell don't wear a size 2, or 0! Vanity sizing is stupid.
  • BAMFMeredith
    BAMFMeredith Posts: 2,810 Member
    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
    Old Navy for sure!!

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


    THIS
  • christine24t
    christine24t Posts: 6,063 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if vanity sizing is how we got size zero.
  • enduranc3
    enduranc3 Posts: 8
    Forever 21.
    Grrr.
  • Sassy922
    Sassy922 Posts: 399 Member
    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
    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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