If I know that I’m a size L at one clothing store why is it when I go to a different clothing store I’m forced to move to a XXL or M to get a decent fitting option?
In: 14
The terms “small,” “large,” and so on, do not have any meaningful measurements associated with them. The same reason a “small coffee” can change from one restaurant to another. There is no standard or governing body that sets what a “large” means, so that size can vary from place to place, brand to brand, or even shift over time.
Because “Large” is a word that has no fixed meaning except in comparison to something else. You can, in certain contexts, assign expected values, but generally speaking there is no standard sizing for these loose terms.
This is why actual tailoring uses specific measuring – 52” chest, 44” waist, 20” neck, etc., to find your right size.
Btw, it’s doubly ridiculous for women’s sizes, which are all over the place based primarily on how the brand feels about fat people and body shaming, mostly.
Because it’s easier for manufacterers: they can create their own sizes. And that way they create customer loyalty / binding: a customer knows size X of brand Y always fits.
Furthermore, there is size vanity because customers are getting … “larger”.
The EU has tried to standardize clothing sizes, but did not succeed.
See [https://fashionunited.nl/v1/columns/de-maat-is-vol/201007159049](https://fashionunited.nl/v1/columns/de-maat-is-vol/201007159049)
Having said that: there are standards for clothing sizes:
34×36 inch for my jeans
285M (length in mm) for military boots, ski boots and my Adidas sneakers (at “China size”)
Women’s sizes are based on the number of live ducks that can be placed inside the garment. Due to the variances of the standard duck size, there may be some variation to the sizing chart. Many attempts should be made to stuff live ducks into the garment and the average number of ducks should be used for best practices. It should also be noted that domesticated ducks tend to be slightly more docile than wild ducks potentially allowing a greater number of ducks to be inserted into a garment, this is generally offset by the typically larger size of domestic ducks that counter acts the slightly more docile nature.
Mostly different markets.
L for US is very different than L for Europe and very different from L for India. If a company makes clothes for a specific country and expands to a different country, they will probably carry over the same measurements, otherwise it would be a logistics nightmare, and it will further confuse the customers.
In time you will learn what fits you from various brands, and how are the sizes relative to what you know.
Brands typically assign their size labels based on their perceived customer base. So one brand might have an overall thin customer base so their XS will be smaller than an XS from a brand with bigger customers on average
why is it that sometimes even the same size from the same company will fit differently. sometimes even the same shoe model in a different color way will also fit differently. looking specifically at you nike.
Along with L/M/S not being set standard and every company’s sets what L/M/S is, the manufacturering process also can force a variance. Cloth is stacked in layers 20/50/100 to be cut. The more layers more the bottom gets squished causing it to be expanded when it’s cut to size. Think paper cutter. The bottom is smaller than the top.
One of the many reasons expensive clothes cost more to make is they use smaller stacks to prevent size variance.
Not exactly what you were asking but just another way clothes can vary in size.
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