Originally Posted by
SamanthaBNYC /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some of the companies offer the smallest sizes online only. A lot of the time, it's hard to sell sizes like "00" or "XXS" in the stores, so they end up going to clearance. With online, they only make a small amount of those sizes, so they're easier to "sell through" (that means they sell the entire inventory). It's also difficult to guess which stores have the smallest customers, so if it's in stores it could be in the wrong store.In my job, we constantly struggle with which sizes to get into the store. The average American population is changing by moving towards obesity.
Companies re-assess on a yearly basis now what our "average" customer size is. It's getting bigger all across the board (misses, juniors, and (heartbreakingly) even childrenswear). Sometimes, you'll find that while you've maintained the same weight, you now buy 1 size smaller in the same brand--that's because they've changed their average size to be more like the average American (who is getting chubbier, but gets alarmed if they need to buy 1 size bigger). It's up in the air if that's vanity sizing or just re-assessed customer sizing. But, it leads to more customer confusion because the same person could end up with different sizes from different stores that all fit the same (say, a 4 at Old Navy, 6 at J. Crew, 8 at H&M, 10 at Express, and a 12 at Hollister and they all fit perfectly). If America continues on the obesity trend, you'll have even worse luck finding small sizes (especially at mass market retailers). I'm not criticizing anyone, as I'm not a pencil myself, but it was shocking to find out that the average 7 year old now is way bigger than I was at 7 (and I was the average size).
When I go shopping, I always observe what the customers look like, what they're buying and what sizes they buy. I think my job subconciously taught me to do that.
Yeah, that does make sense, I keep hearing statistics like over 60% of Americans are overweight or obese, that the average American woman wears a size 14, etc.... And I've definitely noticed that the same sizes fit very differently in different brands! Most of my pants are a Juniors size 5, but I have a pair of Misses size 2 khakis that are too big, and a pair of Juniors size 9 pants that fit perfectly!
I've also found a few brands where their khakis are much bigger than their jeans in the same size, which doesn't make sense to me at all... Maybe if clothing manufacturers used the same sizing they did a few decades ago, more people would realize they're overweight
No offense to anyone on this board who is overweight, of course! My metabolism is slowing down and if I don't make some changes I could definitely be overweight as I get older! But I think everyone will agree that it's just not healthy to be very overweight or obese, regardless of whether you think it looks good or not... But I've also heard studies where a surprisingly large percentage of people thought they weren't overweight even though the doctors said they were! That's why I wonder if going back to smaller sizes would help people realize they are overweight!