Ask Lemmy

As a tall thin person, I've always worn "Large" sized shirts (tshirts, button ups, jackets, etc). Over the last two years I noticed that the button up long sleeve shirts that I like have almost exactly the same overall length, sleeve length, and collar. The only obvious difference is that they're much larger around in the stomach area.

About a year ago I picked up a size L insulated flannel shirt and thought "sleeves/length is perfect, this'll do" and the person with me told me I had a carnival tent in the back that I probably wouldn't have realized until later. So I picked up the M size, sleeves/length were the same, but still a lot of extra fabric around midsection. Picked up a S size... perfect.

That blew my mind a little bit that the overall length and sleeve length of the Small to Large were almost identical, they just tailored in a lot more fabric to account for big bellies. Makes me think that probably sucks for people who are not tall and wear a Small....

75th percentile in weight for the US

Seeing how 30% of the US is morbidly obese, I'm rather shocked you're were in a size L at all.

Or you're using an outdated chart.

Am woman. Lived in both the US and Canada. Clothes never fit me. Sizes and numbers are meaningless. Everything is either tiny or 4X

I go between large and extra large, usually dependent on how close I want the shirt to fit. Also, most shirts are sized based on shoulder width over other dimensions.

As for pants, I usually have to try them on as the waist can be off by 2".

I was an American large T-shirt for most my life but for the last 10 years I have to get a medium. Americans are just getting too fat and companies dont want to upset them.

Nope. Clothes seem to have more stretch and fewer natural fibers every year. Sizes have always been inconsistent. But i think the increased stretch and elastic has accentuated the problem. It also makes fabric wear out more quickly. In the last year, I have purchased sizes from 8-18. I don’t trust manufacturer measurements. I always measure and have returned many items that were much larger than stated. That’s something I have experienced going back many years though. I think measuring the clothes themselves is the way to go. But unfortunately not always possible

Sizing is unacceptably insane. There has to be an explanation other than “everyone in the clothing industry is an idiot”, but I haven’t seen one.

Just got underwear for an 18-24 MONTH old and they’re bigger than my 14 year old niece’s underwear.

I'm a fat black man. Anything non Chinese is 3x. Anything Chinese is 2 sizes larger.

As a Canadian, I have to buy small size t-shirts from Costco (an American company) because the medium sizes are what Canadian retailers would label as large.

Something is definitely fluffed. That's all I can tell you for sure, matey.

Here, I'm just a 5'8" scrawny dude, and yet I need to buy "large" clothing, in the States.

What's up with that..??

Yeah I have ended up buying kids extra large lately. Extra small in women’s has gotten huge, even at stores where clothing has usually ran small. Thought I was going nuts.

No.

I've been having to size up, but that is probably because of my overly-sedentary lifestyle and fondness for good food. Trying to work on it when my mental well-being permits.

Pants are so annoying to try to buy. Every brand/version currently avaliable is a slightly different size even with the measurements so it's hard to try to buy them during sales in bulk online. I'm pretty active for work and have bigger thighs so I go through pants more often than the normal person, but even with that I feel like quality is getting worse causing more of those issues, especially unsuspecting shrinkage. I like the lees extreme motion pants but have noticed if I buy 2 pairs online one will be slightly more narrow than the second pair when it's both the same pant

I'm still a consistent 2x. 🤷🏻‍♂️