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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Interesting Article

Since I have devoted so much of this blog to ranting about clothing sizes, I thought this article would be appropriate to include.

The article is a little long, so here's the best part.  IMO
The ASTM recommendations have evolved over time to accommodate a very real trend: vanity sizing. Women don’t want to know their real size, so manufacturers re-label bigger sizes with smaller numbers. In 1958, for example, a size 8 corresponded with a bust of 31 inches, a waist of 23.5 inches and a hip girth of 32.5 inches. In ASTM’s 2008 standards, a size 8 had increased by five to six inches in each of those three measurements, becoming the rough equivalent of a size 14 or 16 in 1958. We can see size inflation happening over shorter time spans as well; a size 2 in the 2011 ASTM standard falls between a 1995 standard size 4 and 6. (This may also explain why smaller sizes are constantly invented. The 1958 standard listed 8 as its smallest size. The 1995 ASTM standard listed a size 2. In 2011, ASTM lists a standard for size 00.)

2 comments:

  1. I know that is definitely true! I still have clothes in my closet from the late 90's/early 2000's, and the sizes are much smaller than now.

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  2. yep usa today did an article last year about it..........most mens sizes run true. but occasionally they size them SMALLER than normal usually means made in china! lolol

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