stupid sizing?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Ok, just want to vent a bit here.
Why is it that a 5'5" 155 lb. woman needs to buy XL biking clothes???
I look in the mirror and I see a relatively normal sized mature pear shaped woman with a few curves and a little extra padding. 'Large' size might be logical for me, but... EXTRA large? No one who first meets me would ever think 'She's a big woman', much less "She's an extra big woman'.
If I am what is considered 'extra large', then what the heck do actual large women need to do? Am I simply deluding myself (tell me the truth, I can take it), or is this whole sizing thing just weird?

[zoom-zoom]

The sizing thing IS weird! And it REALLY drives me nuts when it's erratic within a single brand (I notice this with PI). I think I'm a pretty "medium" kind of gal, but I have smalls and larges in my cycling wardrobe, in addition to the mediums that seem accurately cut/sized.

[badgercat]

Sizing is wacky all over the place. I'm a petite-to-average-framed 5'5", and normally run between a small and medium in ladies' sizes, or large in "juniors" at department stores. I recently ordered a casual sleeveless top from TE that the item page warned ran big. So, I got the size small (the smallest available) figuring it would be fine, and was absolutely swimming in it. I had to return it.

[westtexas]

It's even worse I think when you don't fit the "standard image" of what the body should be shaped like. I'm an average built 5'6" and 130lbs. My pant size is the easiest thing to find (except for the whole not having a butt thing, but oh well). For shirts, it's even more complicated. Don't have much in the way of boobs but my rib cage is HUGE for my frame. If you follow the measurement guidelines given for sizing on most apparel, I should be wearing larges and xtra larges, but they just sag on me. I guess they assume if your ribs are 36 around then you must have the boobs to fit in there too! Sadly, I just end up with a lot of storage space for wallets and phones, LOL.

[CyclicChick]

I think either like most of the clothing nowadays, it is made in countries were people are 5' or they use female jockeys. Researching I'm a size 12 and I have to get XL jerseys.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I'm a size 12 and I have to get XL jerseys.

This is what I'm talking about- size 12 (or 14) should NOT be an "XL"...!!!

[Owlie]

Lisa, I had that problem with a cotton hoodie thing I bought from Target a few years ago. XL for someone who weighs 140lbs at nearly 5'7"?

I hate buying dress shoes because I have flippers for feet (and my right is nearly a half-size bigger than my left) and if they fit width-wise across the ball of my foot, they're way to wide in the heel. (Maybe I'm actually a duck...?)

As long as my legs are (my legs and torso need different bike sizes!), the woman that most clothes are designed for must have legs that are even longer! And she must not have fat or muscle on her legs either. That is the only explanation I have for why I can't find capris that don't look like my pants have shrunk in the dryer (rather than mid-calf where I'd like), or those shorts that are cut exactly like the top half of a regular pair of pants.

[Kitsune06]

This is why I loathe women's sizing, especially for jeans etc. If you want a pair of jeans with the perfect inseam, you go for guy's 501s, pick out your waist (or hips, however you wear them) then the inseam, and you have the exact dimensions you're looking for. Women's? Well... I think I'm an 8ish. Maybe a 10. Wait, what brand is it? They run small. Maybe I'm a 12 for them. Is 'petite' going to be too long or too short for this brand?

So if the numbered sizes seem this arbitrary, the s,m,l,xl sizes are completely chaotic to me. I'm about the same size as Badgercat, I think... 5'4ish and probably somewhere around 112-115 and often stymied by what 'small' might mean. Often it means "It's going to look huge on your waist but look like it's painted on your butt" or "It's going to be really long, but incredibly tight in your shoulders" or "It's hanging off of you but too short." :P

I want to find the lasts most companies make their stuff on.
...and burn them.