Comments on Overcoming Life's Obstacles: Clothing Size Maketh The Woman

Good thought woman are very conscious about their ...

2009-07-12T08:13:30.335+12:00

Good thought woman are very conscious about their clothes size.

I cannot even go clothes shopping anymore without ...

2009-01-29T13:28:00.000+13:00

I cannot even go clothes shopping anymore without getting extremely frustrated--I have to try on at least three of every size to know which fits. I wish we could standardize. I wish we could learn to let all of this go and know that clothing size means nothing about what you look like or your body shape. I wear the same clothing size as a friend who is the same height as me but a good fifteen pounds lighter than I am because I am narrower and muscular while my friend is thinner and broader. So you cannot judge a book by its cover or a body by its clothing. Personally I think we all look better naked!

jen boda
boda weight loss blog

Pretty informative post. I choose clothes that fit...

2008-11-13T12:46:00.000+13:00

Pretty informative post. I choose clothes that fit me and I don't even care about the size label. Well, I just check for it one sec but then the most important thing is if it fits.

You wrote: Experts estimate that today’s size clot...

2008-11-11T04:22:00.000+13:00

You wrote:
Experts estimate that today’s size clothing in New Zealand is approximately 5cm (2 inches) larger than the same label size 20 years ago.

The reason is, the average consumer is also 5cm larger. A size 10 was never intended to be static. Post WW2, a size 10 became the arbitrary number designating the average size. It was never intended to be static but fluid -and all the other sizes line up behind or in front of it. Like a census, the average MEDIAN size would change every few years, recalculated to reflect evolving changes in body sizes. In other words, a size 10 was/is intended to reflect the average customer of a **designer's given demography**. The latter is pivotal and explains why a 10 from line to line is different. Thinner people tend to have more disposable income so expensive designer clothes are actually SMALLER than the commensurate sizes of budget priced apparel. Iow, exactly the opposite of what everybody thinks.

So what is the solution? Some in the industry want to see standardised sizing across all apparel manufacturers,

There's two basic solutions, neither of which should be standardized sizing.
1. Labels could include the inch or cm dimensions of the body the garment was designed to fit. Unfortunately, the "size" will still be needed by retailers to sort garments in appropriate categories.
2. The average consumer could lose 20 lbs apiece. That way, the average size "10" would scale back down to where it was 20 years ago. Sizing has become inflated because consumer girth has. If industry is guilty of anything, it's following the market.

Standardized sizing would fit fewer people and increase consumer outrage. Why do people assume that the adopted standards would fit their unique body? What if the standard adopted was hourglass dimensions? That'd leave apple shapes with no clothing options and vice versa. As bad as it is, it is better to not have standards so a given designer can fit the customers she considers to be her core customer. If you like a given designer and she/he isn't producing clothes in your size, why don't you write her? Organize a petition or something.

This post is so true! If the size of jeans I am u...

2008-11-07T05:15:00.000+13:00

This post is so true! If the size of jeans I am used to barely fits when I am shopping, I still get them. I just have to remember to suck in my stomach every time I wear them.

That's amazing Fraise! I have the same problem wit...

2008-08-24T11:00:15.512+12:00

That's amazing Fraise! I have the same problem with clothing but not as big a variation. I notice Asian clothing is still quite small, so I need bigger sizes for the Asian clothing

Great post -- all the women in my family, from my ...

2008-08-22T21:39:00.000+12:00

Great post -- all the women in my family, from my mother and grandmothers back through the ancestral line, are and were seamstresses. It used to be that clothing sizes were based on actual measurements, which seems now to be the case only for sewing patterns. I'm glad to have been raised in such a family, where the *fit* mattered.

Nowadays I have jeans and pants that range from size 6 to 14, when my waist and hip measurements haven't budged in fifteen years. Last month I went to buy a pair of shorts in my favorite store, and everything was too big... lo and behold, a size 4 fit. Size FOUR! I'm supposed to be a size 12 according to my actual measurements and classic sizing!