Vanity Sizing

I hate shopping for clothes! Not because of body image issues but because I cannot go into a store and buy an article of clothing without trying it on first. Why? Because there does not seem to be a standard any more for sizing. 

To make matters worse, clothing designers and manufacturers are playing into our insecurities with vanity sizing!

So, why do clothing brands do this? It makes shopping for clothes more difficult when manufacturers don’t use the same standards for labeling, and no doubt increases return rates when products don’t fit as expected. The simple answer is that the downsized labels make customers feel good. 1

My first experience with vanity sizing occurred when shopping at a popular women's clothing store. I grabbed the size pants I knew I was typically at in most stores and found the jeans way too big. I had to go down 4 sizes! I asked the clerk what the deal was. She said something about changing the sizing for self esteem reasons. I was angry and told her I did not support that strategy, pointed out it only made the self esteem issue worse and walked out without buying the jeans.

Want to know more about vanity sizing, check out the following articles from Forbes and the Huffington Post.