GAP...vanity sizing gone mad?

I bought a pair of GAp black trouses a few months ago after having lost 10lbs and my work trouses looking a little saggy. I know gap sizes come up a lille big so i bought a 4US (supposedly 8UK) in most shops i was a 12UK dropped to a 10UK. Anyway i went in GAP this weekend and bought pair of trouses size 2!!! Admittedly they are a different style but surely when im normally a UK10, it seems obsurb that GAp is reinventing sizes so much that im now a 2US/6UK. No wonder theres now a 0 and 00, because in fact its the sizes getting bigger not women getting smaller.

Vanity sizing drives me nuts! Im currently a vanity sized us 12 but do you think I can fit into a pair of my older sized 12 jeans from a few yrs ago? NO WAY I cant even get them button and zipped. My vanity size 12 is more like a 14 and before I started losing the weight I was a vanity size 14/16 *shudders* in reality it was more like a size 18/20. Im not sure who they think they are fooling but most of us know the sizing is bs I want a true size to tell my weightloss story not this *vanity* stuff!

Vanity sizing is extremely annoying.

I went to shop at GAP and found I could not fit into anything. Everything, including their lowest size was too big. Old Navy and Express is the same way. I don't know what to believe anymore. (I'm currently sitting here swimming in my size 2 express pants and I look ridiculous, but I can't afford to buy new clothes right now.)  I know I'm not underweight (at least according to my BMI), so I have NO idea what thin people do. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I reach my goal. Shopping in vintage stores is most likely the key. It's annoying and frustrating.

And those three stores are not the only ones. I am a size 2 in juniors jeans in most juniors stores (in the US). Believe me...I'm no skinny minny. I can't stand vanity sizing.

...arguably, when I was 50 pounds heavier, I LOVED it. I guess they're never going to win in my eyes.

its funny that gap have taken it to such as extreme as i would expect much of their client base to be very slim teenages, and now theyve almost sized them out the shop. I have to buy their XS tops, even though im 5'7 and have a 35" chest, what would a small person wear XXXS?

I understand brands that are aimed at mature or larger ladies to do this vanity sizing as we all know we are happier when we can buy a little smaller. But when the difference in sizes becomes so extreme it just makes me distrustful of the shop.

I have a 31" chest (size A here) and cannot wear any tops in Gap or Old Navy.  I'm an XS top in Express, but if the top is cut funky, I cannot wear it because it is simply too large.  I shop in the girls' section of Old Navy and Gap.  Someone suggested I try their pants, but...seriously....I work in an office, Gap girl pants are usually frilly and pink...not exactly my style for the work environment.  (Seriously...I just bought a training bra in Girl's Medium at Old Navy.....)

Ebay old style clothing is the way to go.  If you can find pants cut in the 70's/80's without that 70's/80's look, you're doing pretty good.  I'm about a 4 or 6 in those.  Which equates to:  Average as far as I'm concerned.  It's wonderful women are embracing their bodies and learning to love themselves, honestly it is, but when it impedes in the average woman store, it becomes too much.  Rightfully at 160 pounds I should have been shopping at Lane Bryant, but because of the vanity sizes...I was shopping in the Gap, Old Navy and Express.  ...and I never got above a size 12.  I'm sure I'm going to get bashed but....whatever.

There's something in the milk...call it hormones or whatever, but people are much larger than they used to be.  (When I go to a musical/show in Boston, the seats are WAY small, snug even for me and a lot of people cannot fit into them comfortably.....arguably, most buildings are from the 1800/early 1900's, but...no doubt, we're getting bigger.)

I don't shop in GAP (mostly because the "HI!! NAME IS SARAH DO YOU NEED ME TO HELP??!" shop assistants annoy the crap out of me) but I find a lot of shops (i'm from the uk) have irregular sizes. I don't understand why they don't set some kind of standard sizing that all the shops have to stick to.

I hate GAP anymore. I can wear a smaller size, yes, but they fit funny no matter what. I feel like they make me look like I have a pooch:) American Eagle seems a little better, well at least they're a little cheaper sometimes, but I still have some jeans from there, same size, but one will fit & the other won't. I'm only truly happy in my PJ's anyways.

Have you noticed it's the OPPOSITE with winter jackets?  They are now skinny all over, especially the arms and armholes.  I always wore a medium, and often a small, but now I can't even move comfortably in a large or extra large, let alone zip it over a fleece or sweater, yet the shoulders are too broad and the sleeves come over my fingertips.

Ttatjana, try GAP online for petite tops. The XS will probably fit you perfectly.

Also try Ann Taylor Loft, the petite section. They have XSP, XXSP, and even sometimes XXXSP. And their petite pants would probably fit you great.

We have nearly similar measurements, except you're 2 inches taller and I am more curvy on top... actually your measurements are identical to my DD, so I can give these recommendations iwth confidence!

If you can afford to go up a bit in price range, also check out Banana Republic Petites. I see you are in Boston area so there's a petite-only store at Chesnut Hill Mall, if you don't want to gamble with online ordering.

You might also like Jcrew's jeans and cords, you're a size 0 in those, and they fit really well.

Incidentally when you were talking about tiny theater seats, were you referring to the orpheum, by any chance? We saw Dresden dolls there recently and I couldn't believe how tiny the seats were!

Thank you jenmcc!!  I really appreciate it.  You're the second person to suggest Ann Taylor Loft, my mom shops there and she's very petite as well but she has a chest.

I'll definitely head to the Chestnut Hill Mall this weekend, my dad lives in Wellesley so maybe I'll stop in for breakfast first!  

And yes...the Orpheum and also the Colonial Theatre, the Wilbur and the Opera House all have the smaller seats.  Fenway was notorious for not fitting people until they changed them out a few years ago.   

Wow... "XXXSmall" actually exists? That's insane.

there's an ATLoft in the Atrium, so you can hit both. I have a B/C cup and I can't fit in ATL's smallest size tops, I usually take a small or if they are sized with numbers, a 4, so I'm sure you'll find something there! In the pants I take the size 0 but they also offer 00's.

And do try the GAP petites online... I was so relieved to discover them. I used to live in Gap XS tee shirts, but now they are HUGE on me... too long everywhere. The petites are perfect. I just wish they'd sell them in the stores because it's a pain to order everything. I like to try on before I buy!

Vanity sizing is going crazy.

My youngest sister buys XS shirts but she has to pin 2 inches in the back to make them fit right.

Perhaps I'm crazy but I find the opposite is true with the Gap. If I shop at Old Navy, American Eagle, even Abercrombie, my pant size is a 12 (US). Yet, at Gap, I can't shove myself into any pants.

I am not built for Gap pants. I think this has a lot to do with it; more so than vanity sizing... I have a large waist but small legs and an average bottom. I cannot button the top button of a lot of pants without having that oh-so-lovely "muffin top." Yet, when I go a size up, the pants are hanging, unbecomingly off my butt.

Perhaps there needs to be more selection in the ratio of clothing than vanity sizing...

Different cuts fit very differently on me.  Older pants (still dockers but 10 years old) are not fitting well in the size 10 (tight in waist and baggy elsewhere), but I can wear a size 4 in the new pants.

I definitely notice that some stores sizing fits different than others....

I'm happy with my weight and overall look, but I have a boooooty (always have,always will) so I don't have the same issues w/ "vanity sizing" in pants.  What usually happens for me is if they fit me in the waist, they don't fit me in the butt.  Hee hee!  And Gap is just a bad fit for me in general...except for one pair of jeans...and the funny thing is that they're actually a size UP from all of my other pants.  Classic.

Oh, and LOVE Ann Taylor Loft....the best clothes, and a great fit for me...

What kills me is that we just can't get universal sizing.  Why can't we have pants like a guy--waist/length sizes????  CRAZY!  every pair of pants I buy my husband fit him just fine.....

I would love universal sizing standards. This is getting so rediculous. Anyhow, as for GAP, maybe I am in denial but...I have a pair of GAP jeans "curvy" that are a size 10 and they fit snug. Then I have a pair of GAP jeans "long and lean" that are size 6 and they are loose. It's so dumb.

This is starting to drive me nuts too! I went shopping a couple weeks ago and went into a store. I saw some really cute t-shirts and decided to buy some. I picked up a small - my size- and decided it looked kinda baggy and that I should try it on. It was huge! I shrugged and decided maybe I'd have to go down to an XS in this store and chuckled to myself "go me!" not that I'm fooling myself into believing I'm really a size xs, but hey, I don't mind seeing an xs tag in my closet. Tried it on too, feeling sure it'd be too snug. Turns out it wasn't quite huge, but definitely big enough to look foolish on me.

Seriously. I am NOT too small for an XS! thats ridiculus.

Sure enough every store I went in the mall that is an American branch had X-small's that were too big for me. Then I'd go into the Canadian stores and, surprise surprise, still a size small.

For me, it's neither here nor there. I still wear the same kind of jeans I wore when I was at my heaviest, so I know I'm down three sizes (the fact that my "18 to 12" was really a 20-14, or heck, even if it was a 22-16, doesn't matter to me).

I wonder if it has to do with the expanding waistlines of the population. Maybe they are just considering an "average" woman to be a size 10 or something, and that average BMI just keeps increasing...

Does vanity sizing hold true for shoes too? Cuz I swear in high school I was a size 9, now I find myself fitting into an 8... I'm pretty sure my feet didn't shrink!

Sizing is messed up, I don't get how I'm an XXS in one store and an L in another store. How does that work? I agree that our sizing should be more like men's, but even with men's clothing now it has become a bit ridiculous (my bf is a medium in most brands, but in some, especially D&G he's an XL).