Rant on American Clothing Sizes

a reply to: 4003fireglo
Oh yes!!! I feel like my torso is just to long. It makes finding clothes to keep things covered quite hard sometimes. Most pants want to slide off my ass they are so low and shirts want to climb up to my shoulders they are so short! Who do they make this stuff for!?! URG!

originally posted by: VegHead
Awww... I missed it. Haha! I'm sure mamabeth has a lovely figure.

Maybe we should all just wear super stretchy one-size-fits-all spandex and call it a day.

Let's just say how she described herself was DDesirable.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

martin75..yes! I have a long torso as well! I wear stretchy tshirts...I have a few non stretchy they are sleeveless.....I can't tell you how many times I tried on a shirt with long sleeves. looked nice like it fits..then...I raise up my arms and the shirt rises like 10 inches!!!! (long torso wide shoulder combo..not good)!

a reply to: VegHead

Trendy, Fashionable, = ridiculous.

OP, I've noticed the sizes for smaller women have all but disappeared in some stores. That leaves "normal" ranges and what I dub "tent" ranges. And as someone in the process of dropping from a borderline size 18 years ago, down to a 12 now, aiming for 10, I ain't sorry for that one. The bigger we get, the more the clothing becomes a tent no matter how "stylish" it is.
I've noticed clothes in sizes smaller than what I'm aiming to fit into are becoming very sparse. I could still aim to shed more weight, but finding those smaller sizes might actually prove to be as difficult as trying to find a size 28 20 years ago was.

a reply to: Magnivea

No offense, but in my chick opinion, you wife is a little high maintenance in the materialism department. I also have 3 pairs of pants, and that's plenty. Hell, one pair I don't even get around to wearing anymore before everything hits the wash. 3 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of shorts for out of the house, "house shorts" I wouldn't be caught dead in public in for grubby work around the house, and a couple of PJs for around the house. Even counting all my shirts, I can pack every article of clothing I own into a carry-on bag and still feel I own too much clothing. I don't understand the women of the world who need a different outfit for every day of the month.

Each retailer has a target client. They tailor their fit size to the parameters of that sweet spot...proportion, age, etc. They price to their target demographic to some extent as well.

To get your fit, you will have to shop at stores that either cater to teens/preteens or the very rich, who tend to be thin or more appropriately proportioned.

originally posted by: kosmicjack
Each retailer has a target client. They tailor their fit size to the parameters of that sweet spot...proportion, age, etc. They price to their target demographic to some extent as well.

To get your fit, you will have to shop at stores that either cater to teens/preteens or the very rich, who tend to be thin or more appropriately proportioned.

Or just be 5 foot 4 like me and deal with rolling everything up

Or people could spend a day as my husband. He's a very slim 6 foot with hella wide shoulders. A medium shirt fits his torso best, but he can't wear them because they don't fit him in the shoulders at all. Larges do, but they're baggy AF elsewhere.
And his inseam and waist measurements never match much of what's available, he's got long-ass legs and a small waist. He's basically built like a Ken doll.

Clothing complaints. Not just for the wimminz.

a reply to: VegHead There's this thing called the internet...
Look up Zara, Stradivarius, and other European clothing stores. I was a size 6 when I was in Europe, and my size there was on the larger end. I bet once you figure out your European size, you'll have a lot more options.

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

Haha! You don't say...

I do order online but I dislike it, especially for things I want to try on- like jeans. But I'll look into the brands you suggested, thanks!

Haven't you girls heard?

In today's society it is illegal for a woman to be comfortable.

If you are comfortable people automatically assume you are a lesbian.

This has been my personal experience over six decades.

originally posted by: Martin75
a reply to: 4003fireglo
Oh yes!!! I feel like my torso is just to long. It makes finding clothes to keep things covered quite hard sometimes. Most pants want to slide off my ass they are so low and shirts want to climb up to my shoulders they are so short! Who do they make this stuff for!?! URG!

I have a short torso, at least it appears that way to me when I look in the mirror naked. Alas I am quite top heavy. This really creates an issue for me. If I purchase a shirt that is not only long enough but also provides a decent amount of modesty, it looks like a potato sack everywhere else. Almost every shirt is super tight in the front and excessively baggy in the back. Do clothing manufactures not know that we only have breast in the front and not the back?

They do all this playing around with sizes so they can ignore that women have different body shapes. I would much rather by clothes based different measurements for different areas. As far as pants go, thankfully the ultra low rise pants seem to be going out of fashion. I can finally find pants again where the "waist" is actually above my butt crack. However, I need a size 10 for my waist, a size 14 to go over my hips and an size 2 so it doesn't bag in the area of my flat butt.

Hawaiian shirts, Levi's, and Dänsko mules 24/7/365.

GD comfortable.

This may have already been stated (I didn't read through 3 pages of responses), but women's sizing is also dependent on the label and who is selling it. Upscale stores where the wealthy shop having clothing sizes that are generally much smaller than that of the average shopper. For example, let's say an average size 7 pair of jeans equates to an average woman with a 36 inch hip/28 inch waist. An upscale store would probably label this size as a 8 or 10, while a mainstream store (Walmart, Target, etc...) would probably label it as a size between 4 - 6.

In an upscale store, a smaller size (think 0 - 4) is usually reserved for women with bodies like supermodels...

At least that's been my experience.

originally posted by: calstorm
Do clothing manufactures not know that we only have breast in the front and not the back?

If I could be a geneticist this would be the first major problem that I would tackle.

As a man in the UK buying trousers and shirts has always been easy. Inside leg length, waist, chest, and neck sold in inches/cm's, so really simple.
Tee shirts and the like have mostly been sold in s/m/l/xl over the years though, and while I haven't changed in weight or build for say two decades, I am no longer an 'L' in most stores and I'm now an 'M'.

I can only assume British men are all getting fatter or becoming ripped gym monkeys and the clothing manufacturers are reflecting such.
I liked being large, oh well, I can embrace the mediocrity of being medium instead.

nvm

a reply to: VegHead

I absolutely agree, it is 'vanity sizing' to help fat women feel better about the clothes they buy.
Stupid non standard size scales by different manufacturers which have no correlation to standard measured size.

Why do you put up with it women?
Men just admit the truth of the tape measure.
This masking of actual body size with competing scales is ridiculous and yep, it's solely for vanity in my opinion.

...unless anyone can provide an alternative sensible explanation?

a reply to: grainofsand

who says we "put up with it?" I don't know many women who aren't frustrated with trying to buy clothes and having to take 2-3 different sizes in the dressing room because you aren't sure what "size" from that label will fit.

Given all the problems in the world worth fighting, this is an annoyance for sure but other battles that rise on my priority list than vanity sizing. Just saying....

a reply to: CIAGypsy

Lol no, it is clearly an issue women just put up with because if enough showed their dissatisfaction to the ridiculous size scales then manufacturers would switch to the sensible actual measurements that male clothes use.

Either it's just something women put up with then whine on places like ATS, or they secretly like a 45 inch waist being marketed as a size 10 or whatever lame figure is used by the manufacturer.

I agree, plenty more important issues in the world to fight for, but plenty of energy is wasted whinging about it here and on social media so if y'all aren't emailing manufacturers then yep, you are just putting up with it while complaining online.

a reply to: grainofsand

Sometimes you just gotta vent....but you don't have time to make it a crusade.