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Lesley Carranza
English 115 H
Professor Spitler-Lawson
Project 3 Final Draft
28 November, 2016
Word Count: 1914
What Size Am I?
A woman walks into a trending store and immediately grabs items with her size and gets
ready to try them on in the fitting room. She puts on a size 8 denim pair of jeans and realizes that
the pants fit a little loose on her, so she tries on the next size down. When the smaller size fits,
the woman is proud of herself for dropping a size and purchases her item as a reward. When she
goes to the store next door, her hips do not fit the size six and she continues to try on different
sizes until she finds that size twelve fits her best. She leaves the store disappointed, not
understanding why she is double the size in one store and smaller in the other. What she does not
know is that stores utilize vanity sizing, which has been created to boost consumers self-esteems
by tricking them into believing that they are a smaller size than they really are. This concept can
either make or break a sale because the customer may either be satisfied or offended at the
inaccurate sizing amongst stores. While some may believe vanity sizing is not an issue, many
agree that the practice causes confusion, makes shopping a lot more difficult than it should be,
and may lower an individuals self-esteem. Thus, vanity sizing creates an inconsistency amongst
womens sizing because it caters more to the retailers success rather than the customers
satisfaction with accurately-fitting clothing.

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Vanity sizing is not a new practice in the fashion industry, rather it has finally come to the
consumers attention. The issue dates back to when sizing was introduced and the government
wanted to create a system for retailers to follow, which ultimately failed. According to an article
by Yahoo, the United States Department of Agriculture sent two statisticians, Ruth OBrien and
William Shelton, to collect the measurements of almost 15,000 women around the country. In
result, the study found that Womens sizes ranged from 8 to 42. A size 8 woman had a bust of
31 inches, a 23.5-inch waist, and a weight of 98 pounds, according to Christopher Ingraham
from The Washington Post. Unfortunately, their results were faulty and inaccurate because the
measurements were taken from particularly white, unmarried, undernourished, and economically
disadvantaged women whose measurements did not equate to the rest of the diverse set of
women throughout the country (Yahoo). The attempted sizing system, however, aided the vanity
sizing system in the sense that manufacturers compressed the numerous sizes into a smaller set
of sizing, forcing women to decide between what fits better, not what fits correctly. This marked
the beginning of an inconsistent standard held throughout retailers agendas.
Sizing has only gotten more complicated since the initial study in the late 1900s. As time
passed, retailers began inventing their own sizes in order to attract more customers by fooling
them into believing they are a smaller size than they really are. The practice has created a fallacy
in clothing by taking an extra-large shirt and labeling it a size medium. In his article, Ingraham
says, The measurements that added up to a size 12 in 1958 would get redefined to a size 6 by
2011. Moreover, sizing has been cut in half because women are more inclined toward buying a
pair of size 6 jeans than a size 12 simply because one label makes them feel thinner than the
other. Retailers have taken full advantage of this psychology, and according to Eliana
Dockterman in her Time article, By the late 2000s, standard sizes had become so forgiving that

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designers introduced new ones (0, 00) to make up the difference. That being said, smaller sizes
were actually made up because the real smalls got pushed off of the scale. Moreover, designers
target consumers self-esteems and manipulate them into purchasing a smaller pair of jeans.
While designers take common measurements to create their sizes, they still pick and choose what
sizes they will make available, which gives them the freedom to label whatever they want
however they want it.
The altering in sizing is evident, however, because the sizes in 1958 are not what they are
today. Retailers have intentionally decreased sizes to create a more appealing product for the
consumer. According to Eliana Dockterman, As the weight of the average American woman
rose, from 140 lb. in 1960 to 168.5 in 2014, brands adjusted their metrics to squeeze us into
more-desirable sizes. Thus, women have gotten larger over the years, and the average woman
today is taller and thicker than the average woman back then. This observation has been utilized
by designers influencing them to create a system falsely encouraging the self-esteem of women
and making them believe they have the same body as an iconic female from the fifties. Ingraham
claims, A size 8 dress today is nearly the equivalent of a size 16 dress in 1958. And a size 8
dress of 1958 doesnt even have a modern-day equivalentthe waist and bust measurements of a
Mad Men-era 8 come in smaller than todays size 00. This suggests that some thinner body
types have diminished or become uncommon throughout the years because the smallest sizes in
the late fifties lack a sister size in todays system. That being said, women have in fact grown
heavier than the average woman in the fifties, resulting in designers sizing accordingly to create
the allusion that women today still share the same sizing as women in the past, making it difficult
for women to find their true size. The problem with todays sizing system is not limited to vanity
sizing, but also includes one size fits all sizing.

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In the sea of retailers are some name brand stores that limit their sizing to particularly
thinner women. Some stores stop after a certain size, bluntly excluding a large amount of
individuals from shopping in said stores. Some brands, like the Italian originated store Brandy
Melville, have gone as far to offer mostly one size fits most sizing, when in reality most of
their clothes fits tweens and teenagers, or really small women. This eliminates the chances of
many customers finding something that fits and may imply that they are too fat to shop at the
store, causing self-esteem issues. Brandy Melvilles visual manager, Sairlight Saller, told USA
Today College, I dont think [one size clothing] causes a negative effect on the body image of
any one of our shoppers because anyone can come in the store and find something. At other
places, certain people cant find things at all. Moreover, she argues that that despite the retailers
limited sizing, non-apparel merchandise is offered to everyone that enters the store. While her
claim is partially reasonable, most women enter the store in hope to fit into their clothing, and
when they fail, they leave the store empty-handed or disappointed with a Brandy Melville purse
and necklace. Thus, while vanity sizing mostly tricks customers into believing they are a smaller
size, they do not have much flexibility when only one size clothing is offered.
Eliana Dockterman, a journalist for Time, expressed her experience shopping at Brandy
Melville in New York City. She is a 5 ft. 9 in. tall woman, ranging from a size 4 or 6, which is a
size most would assume fits one size fits most apparel. Usually, one size clothing fits the most
common sizes like small, medium, and large. However, Dockterman states, When I try on the
stretchy shorts and skirts, the fit is so tight it feels like Im wearing underwear. Furthermore,
Brandy Melville probably fits up to a size 2 or 4, which is definitely not what most people wear.
While Brandy Melville attempts to attract young adults and women in their twenties, their

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clothes, more often than not, fail to fit women in that age range and instead fit ten and thirteen
year olds.
The sizing inconsistency reached online shopping and turned it into a tedious task
because some customers end up returning their items due to them not being true to size.
According to Dockterman, Customers return an estimated 40% of what they buy online, mostly
because of sizing issues. Sizing problems affect the convenience of online shopping such as not
waiting in line, getting ones items shipped directly to her home, and getting online exclusives,
and creates problems when a size medium shirt is really an extra small and the customer has to
ship back the items to return or exchange them for larger sizes. While some online stores offer a
sizing chart, not everyone may have a measuring tape to figure out their bust size or hip width
and instead result in guessing their size. Thus, vanity sizing is inconveniencing shoppers in both
physical and virtual stores.
The differences in sizing not only make shopping difficult for larger women, but also
smaller women whose sizes have practically become close to extinct. According to Molly Triffin
from Cosmopolitan, Designers created [00s] because as 4s morphed into 2s and 2s became 0s,
smaller-framed women were sized out of the normal range. Thinner and shorter women are now
stuck settling for the smallest size available, even if it fits them big. In her research, Triffin
discovered that in Tammy Kinleys, PhD, studies, Researchers measured 1,000 pairs of
womens pants and found as much as an 8.5-inch variation in the size-4 waist. The variation in
sizing that researchers found demonstrates how flawed vanity sizing is and how consumers are
being tricked into this tactic. That being said, a single sizes variations alter the accuracy of other
sizes and the chain goes on.

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The problem with vanity sizing is eimply its lack of accurate sizes for specific
measurements, which creates an immense issue amongst retailers apparel, resulting in confusion
as to what size one truly is. Erika Adams from Racked claims, Out of the 25 different retailers
we compared, the average measurement for a size eight was 28.9-inches for the waist and 38.7inches around the hips. Although most of the stores were close to the average size, some
retailers were off by several inches. Still, some brands went beyond the average size acquired.
Adams states that Need Supply was the worst offender, with their size eight measured at 32.5inches on the waist and 42.5-inches for the hips, which is equivalent to Urban Outfitters size 12
measurements. Needless to say, the world would benefit from an average or standard sizing
system to offer a more efficient experience when shopping.
In conclusion, vanity sizing affects consumers everyday lives by creating a difficult
sizing standard to follow, or more so fit into. A woman can no longer enter a store, pick out her
size, pay, and leavethe process has become more complicated. Now she must try on a wide
variety of sizes and hope that one of them will be comfortable enough to purchase. The issue of
vanity sizing being utilized by retailers has caused wide-spread confusion and continues to insult
consumers through the use of falsely advertising their sizes simply to make sales. Shopping for
new clothes has become a complicated task since consumers are now more compelled to try on
their clothes instead of confidently choosing items by just looking at the size on the tag.
Altogether, vanity sizing sets a false and inaccurate standard of sizing and ultimately takes
advantage of consumers by toying with their self-esteems to suggest they are a smaller size than
they truly are.

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Works Cited
Adams, Erika. "Vanity Sizing: Compare These 25 Retailers at Your Local Mall." Racked. Vox Media
Inc., 18 July 2014. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.
Clifford, Stephanie. "One Size Fits Nobody: Seeking a Steady 4 or a 10." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 24 Apr. 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2016.
Dockterman, Eliana. "Why a Size 8 in the 1950s Would Be a Size 00 Today." Time. Time, 2 Sept. 2016.
Web. 24 Nov. 2016.
Dockterman, Eliana. "Why It's Impossible to Find Clothes That Fit." Time. Time Inc., n.d. Web. 24
Nov. 2016.
Ingraham, Christopher. "The Absurdity of Womens Clothing Sizes, in One Chart."Washington Post.
The Washington Post, 11 Aug. 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2016.
Mills, Madison. "Brandy Melville: One Size Doesn't Always Fit Most." USA Today. Gannett, 4 Apr.
2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2016.
Style, Yahoo. "The Reason Why Your Clothes Don't Fit." Yahoo. Yahoo Style, 26 Oct. 2016. Web. 24
Nov. 2016.
Triffin, Molly. "Vanity Sizing: The Insanity of Size 0." Cosmopolitan. Cosmopolitan, 10 Oct. 2016.
Web. 28 Nov. 2016.