Once upon a time (at least up to the 1960-70s) it was a good bet that more expensive, high quality clothes were cut “generously” (eg to size or a bit large with enough in the seams to be let out) and cheap ones were cut “economically” (eg small with the minimal fabric possible). - a family member owned a clothing store.
As for the lack of predictability in today’s sizing across the board, right on - there is none excepting by accident.
Today the market is flooded with vanity sizing, more openly vain people who worry about whether the clothing is a 6 or 10, so they are presented with a 10 labelled as a 6, and fewer people get clothes let out as they gain weight and prefer to buy new to stay in “fashion”.
Further many if not most modern garmets seem less durable than those of decades ago, so why let them out when they will soon wear out? I have clothes I regularly wear that are about 20 years old, timeless fashion (I am male so that makes it somewhat easier) and are still in excellent nick, but most I have added in the past few years only last a few years before they fray or worse.
As a mere male I went to K-mart to buy a couple of pairs of 4XL cargo pants as I have done before, only to find in spite of the size advisory signs above the racks going up to 6XL there was no pants of any description in this size in the store. I found my last purchase of these from this store was next to useless for my purpose when I got them home anyway as the pockets on the legs had been reduced to flaps only at the same price which I did not notice till I got home. I thought leg pockets defined cargo pants from trousers but not at k-mart it seems and no warning signs, I think the Bangladesh makers have found a new scam!
I then went to Rivers who mark their Bangladesh made cargo pants as 44 instead of 4XL the largest they stock, and they do have leg pockets but when I put them on I found they are only equivalent to 3XL.
I agree wholeheartedly. Here is another example of how stupid this is. I was on a committee which is involved in flying clothing for ADF aircraft (the green overalls that the pilots wear). It was pointed out that during the Gulf War, the Iraqis wore green coloured overalls whereas the US and most other Allied nations wore tan overalls in the desert environment. Our crews going over to the Gulf requested they get tans coveralls as well, to reduce the chances of them being ‘mistaken’ for an opponent. No problems - we got the same coveralls from the same manufacturer, just a different colour. Then we ran into issues… they weren’t fitting! Same manufacturer, same cut, etc, just a different colour… and they were having to order one or two sizes larger than their ‘green’ suit.
How ridiculous is that? When I shop online, if buying from China I buy 3 x sizes larger than normal. For the US, I tend to drop one size.
I did not know this! From a newscorp article today about bikini sizes…(don’t go there! )
The Australian Standard Size Coding Scheme for women’s clothing was scrapped in 2008, allowing retailers to develop their own sizing scale based on sales data.
Government has apparently created the problem, not just the industry who takes advantage.
I now either try on or use labelled measurements (garment or in store) to determine if it will fit. Having being 5XL when living in China to XL/L in Australia (depending on length), I don’t look at sizing such as S, M, L, etc.
Children cloths are different as they tend to be in average size forva particular age (sizing 000 onwards to 13?). Having a child one needs to know if they are average or not.
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