Has jean sizing gone completely insane? - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Has jean sizing gone completely insane?

April

Veteran

I know that somewhere, Angie mentioned that premium denim has gotten smaller and smaller over the past several years.

I'm just looking for confirmation that others are finding themselves in increasingly larger jean sizes? I have not gained weight (have in fact lost a couple of pounds recently) yet all the jeans I've bought lately are between one and three (!!!) sizes above what I think of as my "real" size.

I could be kidding myself, but that size still fits me fine in non-jean pants.

I use jeans rather than a scale as my canary-in-the-coal mine for whether it's time to pay attention to my weight, so I just want to know if it's me or the clothes.

I don't really care what the label says if I like the way they look, but what is going on?

General

36 replies

Latest reply was from April

adorkable

Veteran

Yes. Absolutely yes.

It's especially odd since nearly everything else goes the other way. I wear a much smaller size in other clothes than I think I should, and a larger size in jeans. Go figure.

Anonymous

Yes I find this maddening. I used to be able to have a fairly good idea if something would fit, but lately I have been striking out. I find a lot of manufacturers haven't updated their sizing measurement charts too, which makes me cross.

Lisa

Veteran

Yes! I thought I was losing my mind, when I tried on jeans recently, but I kept having to reach for one size up. Yet my older pairs, still fit fine. I went home and measured myself and those numbers are the same. I'm not sure what shifted.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Yes. I've seen this too. I find it even more infuriating because I am at the upper end of premium denim sizing anyway. Jeans from two years ago I can still wear in a size 29 are now snug in new cuts in a 31. WTF, denim makers?

leopardluxe

Veteran

I've found the opposite in general to be true (not specific to high end designer jeans, though).

When I was in high school many, many, many years ago I wore a size 3 or 5 jeans (this was the smallest marked size they made). I'm approximately the same size I was in high school (give or take a pound or two) and often times a size 0 is way too big (and there is absolutely no brand where I could wear a 3 or 5 without it absolutely swimming on me).

So some companies have added 00 and recently I even saw a mass market retailer (I think it was Aeropostale) has added 000 to their size runs. It's freaking ridiculous.

My BF and I were joking that at some point I'll end up being a size negative 00000 at the rate these retailers are going. Vanity sizing run amok, if you ask me.

The premium jeans, on the other hand, I've consistently been somewhere around a 23-25 for years, depending on the maker. So, for example, I know I can buy J Brands in size 24 and they will fit, regardless of cut or model (and sometimes I can wear either a 23 or 25 depending on how I want the fit to be).

Aziraphale

Veteran

If it makes you feel better, I bought a pair of Rag and Bone jeans last year in a size 24 (which didn't make sense to me at the time because my actual waist measurement is 27, but whatever). I liked those pants so much that this January, I went back to try on similar Rag and Bone styles, only to discover that I couldn't get a 24 on past my knees. I required a 27. In most other brands on offer at that store (I think I tried on 40 pairs of pants before selecting a pair), I was at least a 26, maybe 27. I haven't changed size. All my old clothes fit exactly the same.

I haven't tried on a whole lot of pants in the past year, but that was my latest jeans experience. Sizing does indeed appear a little smaller.

April

Veteran

@LL -- yes, I'm not talking about the standard vanity sizing that occurred sometime between twenty years ago and now, but a different shift.

Specifically in jeans, and specifically in the last two years or so.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

YES. I posted about this at the end of last year. I am wearing a size 26 pretty often these days in premium denim and my measurements are exactly the same. I compare my old size 25s to my new 26s and the 26s look a dash smaller. You are not imagining it, ladies. Premium denim runs small these days. My size 31 clients are being sized out of premium denim because they need a 32 or 33 - which is not offered anymore.

Clients are generally sizing up one to two sizes - and sometimes in styles that are supposed to be exactly the same. J.Crews Matchsticks are smaller than usual too. But non-premium denim is pretty much the same size. I still wear a 25 in those styles and my clients take their regular size.

modgrl

(website)

Veteran

It is good advice. I just ordered R&B shorts and sized up from my normal size. The look is supposed to be oversized and I want to make sure they are sufficiently loose.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I wonder what specific brands . . . I find that I am a 27 and have been a 27 most of my adult life. And, yes, I have 27" waist and close to 37" hips. BUT, around 2010 I found most all jeans ran larger, especially Gap, woah. I was finding size 2's were closer. Now, this year, Gap is fitting snug in 4's - much closer to the sizes I had been wearing the previous years before the 2010's came around. I have to say, I haven't done much jean shopping beyond my search for white jeans this winter, but I didn't find the sizing crazy small.
True Religion I'm 27. This year's white Big Stars 27. Vigoss last year, 27. The only size up I can recently recall is Free People cords from 2012 fall in size 28. Maybe I'm just not shopping the same brands that are shrinking?

Catnip

Veteran

Yes! I have had to size up in jeans this spring. And it's not just jeans. I just bought a rain jacket and it's a size larger then my usual size. I weigh almost exactly the same as I did last year at this time. This is very frustrating and makes shopping much more difficult!

Laurinda

Veteran

Mini rant: How about they size women's pants in waist (inches or cm) x inseam? It works fine for men!

pastrygirl

(website)

Veteran

Yes. I wear 29s in Joe's, but have to size up to 31 in Rag & Bone, Paige, and others. I also have to size up *again* for regular pants vs. denim.

shiny

Veteran

I don't know if I'm hallucinating or what, but it seems that jeans at Bloomingdale's all run smaller than other places including online. What i mean is that if I order the exact same jean online from Nordie's or shop bop or (anywhere else), including Bloomie's web site, I need one size. But go into Bloomie's and try on the very same brand & model jean, and I have to go up a size, or even two. It's kind of bizarre.

Jules

Veteran

I noticed on the Gap size charts recently that the jump in inches from 14 to 16 is way more than the jump from 8 to 10, say. When I imagine that in reality there is just as much body variation at the upper end as at the smaller - just fewer options for bigger women, apparently. Which come to think of it makes sense because I've always found pants toughest to buy when I am a 12 or 14 - I end up between sizes. Whereas 10 pounds down between 10 and 12 things are much easier.
Anyway... I got onto this tangent because I wondered if Mo's 27 had remained more standard while upper and lower sizes changed more. But it looks like women of all sizes are having these issues.

April

Veteran

I recently bought a pair of high-waisted skinnies from Guess. I love them -- very soft denim, no distressing, very flattering. When I went into the store, I told the SA that I wanted to size up at least once so they wouldn't be super tight. She handed me a couple of pairs and off to the fitting room I went.

I thought the first pair was extremely comfortable and I liked the way they looked, so I didn't even try on any of the others.

I wore them yesterday. Love. Then when I took them off to put them in the laundry, I finally saw the size: 27.

People, my usual size is a 24.

As I said, I don't care what size they are if they look okay, but THREE sizes above my usual, and they weren't falling down? How can that be?

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Ugh, ugh, and more ugh. I need to get some basic blue skinnies, mine are almost six years old. Reading this, I don't want to. Maybe I'll just stick to boyfriends.

Neel

Veteran

Interesting ... My jeans are the same size (since 3 years) .... But they are not premium denim. Just cheapo high street ones.

April

Veteran

I know that skinnies have gotten way tighter and that seems to be more about the style than about the sizing, but I recently found a new-with-tags pair of Citizens of Humanity Ambers on eBay in a size 24.

I have two pairs of Ambers, both several years old, both size 24. They fit me really well.

The ones that came from eBay, I could not get above my thighs.

Same make, same model, different year.

I thought, since it was eBay, that maybe they were from some defective batch. But now I think they're just making them smaller.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Hmmm, I wonder, do the size charts reflect this change, if so?

elpgal

Veteran

I found the Gap Sexy Bootcuts to run larger by a size or two and find Levis slightly snug.

Inge

(website)

I've had the same experience yes, and it's very frustrating, as I'm one of the people that are now often sized out, or if the larger sizes do fit, I can't get the relaxed or slouchy fit I'm after -(

shiny

Veteran

On the bright side, there are oodles of petite women who are much slimmer than I am who can now find jeans!

I suspect also another factor is all the new denim technology, which enables jeans to have quite a bit of stretch. That makes it more difficult to slap a size label on it, since it may stretch a size or two with wear (especially skinnies). When I bought my Joe's (not the new white ones, the blue ones), the SA insisted I size down to accommodate for stretch, but even though I could zip that size, I just knew they were not going to stretch much where I really need them to stretch (waistband). But I can imagine someone with a different shape (pear or hourglass) would get a lot of benefit sizing down.

psychedelicate

(website)

So are they making the sizes smaller, without adding additional sizes in the upper range? That does not seem like a smart business move to me!

abc

Veteran

This is why I haven't even bothered trying on premium denim even after losing fairly significant weight and being mostly in size 12s. I'm just too afraid they won't fit and it will make me want to cry. I want to be part of the premium denim wearing club, too, but I sadly doubt it will come true unless I lose more weight. I am happy with the jeans I have but still secretly (now apparently it's not too secret anymore) long to wear the fancy pants (aka premium denim).

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Good thing we don't need to own premium jeans to have killer style. xo

Laurinda

Veteran

(((abc))) those premium jean brands do not deserve our beautiful backsides.

Kristin L

Veteran

@Laurinda - I wish they'd size women's pants like men's.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

For those of you that think men's sizing is true. It's not. I think it was Consumer Reports a few years ago bought a whole slew of men's jeans from different brands. The sizing was all over the map & rarely matched the stated size

12