Women’s clothing sizes in America vary from store to store and item to item, sometimes even deviating from the official sizing charts made by those brands.
However, this phenomenon of incorrectly labeling sizes on clothing is not random or accidental. Sizing has not even been consistent through time. The number on the tag of the same size shirt has become smaller over the years.
“A size 8 dress today is nearly the equivalent of a size 16 dress in 1958. And a size 8 dress of 1958 doesn’t even have a modern-day equivalent,” Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post said.
Why has this changed through the years? The answer is all in what the company gains.
Sizing differences, known as “vanity sizing,” is a tool used to target different demographics, according to Time.com. The idea is that if a customer wears a size four in jeans from one store and an eight in jeans from elsewhere, they are more likely to buy from the store where the pants they fit tell them they are smaller and thinner.
The shrinking of women’s clothing is an attempt by the fashion industry to make women feel as though they need to fit into smaller and smaller clothing, while men’s clothing sizes remain the same.
In a study done by Tammy R. Kinley, a professor of merchandising, women of all different sizes recorded their measurements and tried on clothing of all sizes from all different brands.
“The women who fit into either a smaller size or an expected size had boosts to their self-esteem and body image. Those who achieved a smaller fit even felt their weight was lower,” Kinley said.
Similarly, this works in the reverse, too. People are less likely to buy from places that show they have a larger size, resulting in some companies putting objectively inaccurate sizes on tags.
Men’s clothing, in comparison, is often labeled by waist and length measurement directly, not an arbitrary number.
Women already experience discrepancies in the workplace with salary and job opportunities.
“In 2020, women earned 84% of what men earned, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers,” said Pew Research Center.
In addition, women encounter disadvantaged in more ways socially than I can count.
This use of insecurities to persuade women to spend money is the last thing we need as a society.
Women, especially in business, are expected to dress in a specific way in order to show they “care as much as men” or “deserve” to be there. This is evident in individual company expectations, as well as in large scale hiring companies like Indeed.com. The same companies that push this narrative, however, actively make women’s lives harder by sizing clothes this way.
This phenomenon is, unfortunately, not unexpected. The choice to sacrifice utility for vanity for monetary gain is not new, but we need to do better. States could pass legislation to standardize sizing, or penalize companies for having inconsistent sizing, for example.
The reality of the situation, though, is that the tag on your pants does not actually tell you anything about your body.
Although some companies do offer clothing true to size, those who don’t create dangerous complexes for young women. It needs to stop.
