There is going to eventually have to be more consistency in sizing if the current trend to more on line and less in store shopping continues. If not returning will get to be a nightmare for on line retailers. Only Fed X and UPS will be making the bigger profits.

I think part of the issue is the expansion of national brands to an international model.

J Crew changed all of their sizes upon entering the Asian market to avoid creating negative numbers.

I imagine many brands have made the same choice for the Internet era.

Personally I have no issue with the number on the label providing the size guide is accurate.

I compared my last years 8 AEO skinnies with this years 6 ( they didn't have 8s in the store) The 8s were slightly bigger in the waist, same in the hips. Shorts seem to be sized smaller to me in general, but these seem to be mismarked.

It probably is a quality control issue in this case. Or as I morbidly say at work when I find a scrub part that doesn't fit, some factory worker in Central America didn't get their daily bowl of gruel.
Currently I'm pretty much sized out of anything I like, ie the entire 2nd floor of the downtown Nordies, all of Zara. But eh, I'm saving money.

I wonder if the size 10 shorts were destined for another country and mistakenly ended up in the US market--a quality control issue as Angie and others say. A UK size 10 is equivalent to a US 4.

Aliona, I thought the SAME thing, actually.

Interesting point and I think Jules has raised a very valid point as well.

I agree with Angie. If anything, I see that size numbers are now fitting larger than they used to. Of course, with some retailers, they always have. I remember when I was in my early 20's and consistently wearing a size 4 to 6 and Banana Republic's size 2 shorts were enormous. But because the vast majority of American women are now larger than they used to be, number sizes are fitting larger, too. That makes it next to impossible for a true size 2 to find clothing that isn't too big.

But like Aliona stated, clothing numbers run quite differently in other countries, too. It is absolutely possible that some things intended for overseas markets end up here, with what we consider wonky sizing.

But I find the same thing as Ledonna, except I don't thrift. At places like Marshall's or TJ Maxx, there are often things left because what is marked as a size small fits like a large. I go by eye more than number size in places like that because that is likely part of the reason some of those items ended up there in the first place.

This is one of the reasons I find it so difficult to shop online. Unless I have bought the brand before (and even then that is not a sure thing) I am always debating what size to order. It is so much easier to go to a B & M store.