Pants: Have the sizes changed?

[sewaneecook]

All through high school and college I was an 8 with rare exception.  My measurements and my weight haven't changed much since then, but now, 10 years after college, I'm a size 4 with rare exception.  Has the clothing industry changed the dimensions of pants? 

[physmom]

It really depends where you're buying.  In the US I'm definitely in a smaller size than I "should" be.  For instance, at old navy I'm guessing I'd be something like a 10?  However, I live abroad and wear a Eur 42~US12.  I wore this exact same size before getting pregnant (I'm about 15lbs heavier still) but my clothes (I'm wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes some of which are 5+ years old) also fit me better now because I do much, much more lifting so it's changed the shape of my body.  I think the only way you could really tell for sure about your clothes would be if you knew your measurements from when you were younger.  I know kids have really reshaped my body (I carry weight in my stomach, which I never used to do) but so has weight training. 

[BellinghamCrunchie]

I think its changed quite a bit. In my 20s I wore 12/14, and now I wear size 10 - and I'm 20 pounds heavier.

10 is the new 14!

[umsami]

There can be vanity sizing in the US--but it definitely depends on the manufacturer.

I've finally gotten back to my freshman college weight, and after 4 kids, I'm one size smaller than I was in college.  I don't carry my weight any differently, but I definitely have some lose skin going on in the abdomen area from the pregnancies. 

[spughy]

YES!!! I totally noticed this when I lost a bunch of weight - 6 years ago I was a pretty steady size 8, then after DD was born I packed on a pile of weight.  I took it off this past year but now all of a sudden the pants that fit me are size 4-6.  I still have some of my old 8s and they DO fit, I haven't changed shape much, but sizes are way smaller.  Gap and Mexx are the worst.

[lindberg99]

Definitely! I'm almost 45. When I was in college, I weighed about the same and routinely wore size 12's. Occasionally, I could fit in a 10. Now I usually get a size 8 in Levi's and at Old Navy. It is crazy! I am 5'8" and weigh around 160 pounds so a bit more than my average in college (but not up to my eating in the cafeteria and drinking a lot of beer max weight). That does not seem like a size 8 to me.

I wonder what size the women who used to be size 2 when I was in college wear now. Are there negative sizes??

[kristandthekids]

Yup! I was a 4 in High School. Now I sometimes have to wear children's sizes. I promise you that many years and multiple children later I am NOT smaller than I was in HS. I had a 23" waist back then. It' something like 25"-26" now.

I hate that "Marilyn Monroe was a size 12!" stuff. A size 12 60 years ago. She'd be like a 4-6 now.
"Wedding dresses are so messed up! I had try on a size 22 to find one that fit!" That's what you would have worn 20 years ago, sweetheart.

This is a huge pet peeve of mine because it's made it impossible for petite people like me to find clothes. Even shoes have started to become wider to accommodate those of higher weights who don't want the ego blow of buying Wide shoes. I haven't been able to find a pair of flats in a couple of years because they slide off now. And again my feet have gotten bigger after pregnancies, not smaller, so I know it's not me.

Vanity sizing is something I don't understand at all. No one sees your tag but you so why would anyone care what it says? If tomorrow they decided my XS was now going to be called size 30 I wouldn't give a rip so long as it fit me.

[treeoflife3]

I'm not sure its 'higher weights' causing shoes to be made wider... I know a lot of small people with wide feet.  it is STILL really hard to find a decent selection of wide shoes.  Quite frankly, I'm happy shoes are getting wider because now I have more options.  I personally think its silly that shoes don't come in size AND width options.  Some people need a size 9 regular.. some need 9 narrow and some need 9 wide.  It is baffling to me that most of the time its just 9 regular.

[TrishWSU]

Originally Posted by kristandthekids 
I hate that "Marilyn Monroe was a size 12!" stuff. A size 12 60 years ago. She'd be like a 4-6 now.
 

Probably more like a size 2! Here's an article Cosmo did about this very subject (Vanity sizing) and how a size 8 in the 50's is what is now a size 00. http://www.cosmopolitan.com/celebrity/fashion/vanity-sizing
 

Originally Posted by physmom 

It really depends where you're buying.  In the US I'm definitely in a smaller size than I "should" be.  For instance, at old navy I'm guessing I'd be something like a 10?  However, I live abroad and wear a Eur 42~US12. 

I travel through Dubai a lot and they sell mainy European brands. I wear a 6/8 in US clothes, but all the clothes I buy in Dubai are a size 14...still look great, and they're cheap so who cares what the tag says?!


 

[calynde]

Sizes have totally changed...at least in the US.

I (when not pregnant) have been the same size and weight since highschool...always a size 4. All through college...I bought size 4. Moved to Switzerland, still size 4...had a couple of babies...go back to the US to visit after some years...i am size ZERO! I am nothing now, zilch. And I went back to the very same stores where I always bought my clothes. Whatever. I don't really care, I guess...but I do wonder what comes next...the kids section? Triple ZERO? Have everything personally tailored? Buy everything in Europe? 

[physmom]

Originally Posted by TrishWSU 

Probably more like a size 2! Here's an article Cosmo did about this very subject (Vanity sizing) and how a size 8 in the 50's is what is now a size 00. http://www.cosmopolitan.com/celebrity/fashion/vanity-sizing
 

I enjoyed reading that article, thanks!  I did get annoyed, though, because someone posted in the comments to check out a site (www.sitewise.com) to find out your true size, what a joke!  It has me in a size 14 at the Gap according to my measurements and when I was over 10lbs heavier a size 14 was literally falling off of me. What really annoys me is between vanity sizing and tons of spandx in clothes the measurements listed on most sites are way off from the reality, which makes online shopping nearly impossible.

Originally Posted by calynde 

Sizes have totally changed...at least in the US.

I (when not pregnant) have been the same size and weight since highschool...always a size 4. All through college...I bought size 4. Moved to Switzerland, still size 4...had a couple of babies...go back to the US to visit after some years...i am size ZERO! I am nothing now, zilch. And I went back to the very same stores where I always bought my clothes. Whatever. I don't really care, I guess...but I do wonder what comes next...the kids section? Triple ZERO? Have everything personally tailored? Buy everything in Europe? 

I've wondered that too.  I have a good friend of mine who is very petite and I constantly wonder where she gets her clothes.  I'm lucky because vanity sizing doesn't seem to be nearly as much of an issue where I currently live.  I know, at least, in the last 5 years that they're pretty much the same because I went shopping here right before my wedding and I'm currently wearing a lot of the same clothes that I was wearing at that time (and when I went shopping here recently I'm still in the same size at stores). 

[kristandthekids]

Originally Posted by TrishWSU 

Probably more like a size 2! Here's an article Cosmo did about this very subject (Vanity sizing) and how a size 8 in the 50's is what is now a size 00. http://www.cosmopolitan.com/celebrity/fashion/vanity-sizing

Take it from Jenn, 23, of New Haven, Connecticut, who is usually a 6: “I have two pairs of size-4 jeans, and when I wear them, I get a surge of validation seeing that label."

I just don't get that. If you try on a 6 and that fits and then try on a 4 and that fits, you didn't lose weight in that 30 seconds it took to switch pants. You're still the same size. Are they daft?

Originally Posted by TrishWSU 

Whatever. I don't really care, I guess...but I do wonder what comes next...the kids section? Have everything personally tailored?

You will care when you're shopping in the kids section frustrated you can't dress like a grown woman and getting everything tailored. Wearing children's size clothing is NOT good for my ego. It's frustrating and more expensive. And a friend of mine summed it up pretty nicely when she told me I look like a cross between a 12 year old girl and a soccer mom.
It would be nice if we started selling pants in waist measurement like men do. But that wouldn't go over well at all with the silly brains who think they're actually smaller just because sizes were made bigger.

[sewaneecook]

Along with the size inflation, stores don't carry much in sizes below a 6 (at least in stores that I frequent) and it's hard simply finding a decent pair of pants!  The Cosmo article was interesting. 

When I started this thread, I didn't think I had any of my pants from college to compare my newer pants to, but I forgot about one pair that I use when I paint ... it's a size 8 and fits the same as they did when I was in college.  The new size 8s that I try on in stores can be pulled down without unbuttoning them! 

[DuckDuckGoose]

I am anywhere from a 6 to an 11 depending on if its misses or juniors. It is pretty frustrating that sizing varies so much.  I try to stick with only Gap curvy jeans but even THOSE vary! I have a 6 that fits me perfect, and 2 8's that fit me weird in different ways. I wish I knew when the 6's were from (got them at a yard sale) so I could buy more on ebay! I also have 2 pairs of 10's from years ago (non curvy) that fit me pretty good.

[StellaNuova]

Totally! I wear a size 4 (well ususally but right now am 7 weeks PP)...have never in my life been a 4 till the last year or two!  I am about 5'8" and normall approx. 130...when I was younger it was more like an 8 most of the time (I am in my 40's) but I wore a lot of stuff from vintage shops and those sizes were always much bigger like a 16 and they fit me....

[tinuviel_k]

Grrrr... I HATE vanity sizing. I envy my husband who can go to any store, grab a pair of 32-30 jeans, and they will fit. Not me... I have to grab a size 4, 6, 8, and 10 because I can't be sure which stores are lying about the sizing. Gap in particular pisses me off: I have 38 inch hips. I am NOT a size 4! I just want to yell "Quit insulting my intelligence by assuming I will buy your jeans because the tag has a smaller size!" Sadly a lot of women do fall for this crap, or they wouldn't do it.

[june'smom]

My sister used to wear a size 2-4 in high school and college.  Now she just can't find anything to wear.  Nothing.  She can try on 15 things at Gap or Old Navy and none of them fit her.  She sometimes gets lucky at thrift stores, but then it is usually older clothes/sizings, nothing new or trendy.  There aren't many stores that sell a 00, and sometimes they are too big if she does find them.

Seems crazy to me that women are actually tricked by this, but marketing and denial are a strong combo.

[Ruthiegirl]

I have been a lot of sizes in the past few years and I find that the lower sizes have really gotten out of wack. A a 2 is what a 6 used to be. And a 6 is what a 10 used to be. I do find that the exaggerated sizing slows down in the higher sizes. A 14 today doesn't seem all that different from a 14 from a decade ago (am I showing my age?).

It feeds into the mindset that women are supposed to be small, tiny, slim, etc.....and pulling on a 4 when I normally wear and 8 somehow feels good to my ego. And I hate, hate, hate that I buy into it.

[kristandthekids]

This interesting article on the subject just got posted.

Sizing has gotten steadily smaller since the 1930s: In 1937, a woman with a 32-inch bust would have worn a size 14. By 1967, she would have worn an 8, and today she’d be a size 0.
http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-size-aint-nothing-but-a-number-the-truth-about-vanity-sizing/


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/business/25sizing.html?_r=3&ref=fashion

[zebu]

Originally Posted by kristandthekids 

Originally Posted by TrishWSU 

Probably more like a size 2! Here's an article Cosmo did about this very subject (Vanity sizing) and how a size 8 in the 50's is what is now a size 00. http://www.cosmopolitan.com/celebrity/fashion/vanity-sizing

Take it from Jenn, 23, of New Haven, Connecticut, who is usually a 6: “I have two pairs of size-4 jeans, and when I wear them, I get a surge of validation seeing that label."

I just don't get that. If you try on a 6 and that fits and then try on a 4 and that fits, you didn't lose weight in that 30 seconds it took to switch pants. You're still the same size. Are they daft?

Originally Posted by TrishWSU 

Whatever. I don't really care, I guess...but I do wonder what comes next...the kids section? Have everything personally tailored?

You will care when you're shopping in the kids section frustrated you can't dress like a grown woman and getting everything tailored. Wearing children's size clothing is NOT good for my ego. It's frustrating and more expensive. And a friend of mine summed it up pretty nicely when she told me I look like a cross between a 12 year old girl and a soccer mom.
It would be nice if we started selling pants in waist measurement like men do. But that wouldn't go over well at all with the silly brains who think they're actually smaller just because sizes were made bigger.

regarding the part I bolded, I think they are starting to mess with waist measurement sizing, too. Right out of high school I would fluctuate between sizes 27-28, but ten years and two babies later I'm 25-26?  Wha??  I don't like my clothes lying to me.