Shopping for clothes is meant to be a pleasurable experience - right?
Whether you shop online or on the High Street, the correct size is important when buying clothes. But why do the sizes vary so much from shop to shop? It is really frustrating! How can one be trying on a coat size 8 in White Stuff for instance when in M and S for a very similar style it needs to be a size 12? The same applies to cardigans. A White Stuff size 10 is a perfect fit, wheras in Debenhams a size 12 is required.
I wrote about some Cotswold Collection garments and their jumpers come in sizes S, M , L etc yet their blouses are 10, 12, 14 etc. The trousers range are in 10, 12, 14 etc yet leggings are S, M, L etc. I know they give you the measurements in inches for the S, M and L but they are different to a lot of stores. Lead image is of me in sunnier times 'modelling!.'
Good friend Adrienne Laverick was experiencing problems in a well known chain store. Here is an extract from her article. 'The garments sizes are anther gripe of mine I'm afraid. Being a size 12/14 used to mean you could go into the store and buy an item of clothing with that size label attached and it would fit very well, but not any more. I bought a blouse which looked fine on the hanger (didn't have time to try on due to time spent searching) but when I tried it on it was so tight across the shoulders I thought I was going to have to either rip it, or 'phone a friend' to come and extricate me from it so I could return it to the store. When I took it back, we measured it against a size 8/10 across the shoulders and it was no bigger, even though the rest of the garment from under the arms was the same as other 12/14's. When I asked if there were quality control checks that should have picked that up, the assistant simply shrugged her shoulders and said that they have a lot of complaints about sizing now. How encouraging was that then !!!!!!!'
This is an interesting article about jean sizes here. The following extract taken from it is interesting.
We spoke to Dr Simeon Gill, Lecturer in Fashion Technology at the University of Manchester, who explained:
"Sizing should be improved, but to do so would need to recognise population variability and requires more sizes or a fundamental change in how we provide products. Sizing for jeans – in fact, for all clothing – should be based directly on body measurements of the individual it is made to fit. There is no good reason that women’s jeans should not be sized as men’s jeans are, with waist and leg length. Most of this is about existing practices, and fear of change [and] lost sales."
It looks like we all need to find an individual talior.....!!! (May have to win the lottery first though.)
