Womens Cycling Clothing Runs Small!

[itself]

So I am at REI yesterday, I wanted to use up the rest of my dividend points. So they had a Pearl Izumi sleeveless cycling top. I took an XL!! I am 5'5",, 135lbs, and usually take a womens large top. The large fit, but I like my tops a little bit loose. I usually take a medium in dress tops.

Why are they making women's clothing so small? I don't even bother getting women's shorts anymore, as I cannot stand how darn short they are. I always buy the $50 mens medium Pearl Izumi shorts.

Anyone else notice this?

[OakLeaf]

I would've said just the opposite ... there are few remaining brands of cycling clothes that retain honest sizing. I actually wouldn't have thought PI was among them, but I know even within manufacturers, different articles are sized differently.

I bought a pair of Lucky brand jeans last week on the recommendations of y'all. I asked for a size 6, which is the last size jeans I bought, even though I'm the same size or just slightly bigger on the bottom as 20 years ago when I wore a 12. (Before my time, when "Misses'" sizes were introduced, a 12 would've been the size of an average 12-year-old girl.)

Well, in 2011 Lucky brand sizing, I wear a 2. If I survive another 20 years and keep my current measurements, I guess that means I'll be wearing a negative 8.

I much more appreciate my Large LG shorts. No, I don't like the fact that I take a Large, but I know very well that at my size (29" waist, 37.5" hips), Large is what I ought to be wearing. I'm not huge, but I am chunky, I have some fat to lose before I look the same as the "average" woman lining up at a starting line next to me, and I appreciate LG's honesty.

Yes, people are getting bigger, and I don't mean (only) the obesity "crisis" - people worldwide are getting taller, bigger boned, more muscular. I don't think apparel companies need to revise their sizes every five minutes. Some of them probably need to make things in larger sizes. They don't need to call the larger sizes something different from what they are - IMO.

[owlice]

I was given an XXL Wild Goose Chase jersey, which I love (as I did the WGC last year with two friends), and which someday I hope will fit me, because right now, there just is not enough room for "the girls" in it. I can zip it up but am not into the uniboob look nor feel. Granted, I'm not small, but having to order several sizes up does not thrill me. Nothing in REI's women's biking section fits me; I don't even bother looking there any more. I order my shorts online, and wear cotton tee-shirts.

And yes, people are getting bigger, but some of us are already there! (I'm 5'10" and am, as my 6'5" first husband likes to remind me, the "runt of the litter." I asked my 5'8" grandmother, born in 1897, if she had trouble finding clothes that fit her when she was a girl, as she was certainly tall for her generation. Her response: "We didn't buy clothes; we had them made." Oh!!!)

[itself]

I think something must have changed at Pearl Izumi, as I always have taken larges. Perhaps a manufacturing error or something. I am very muscular up top, and thus either seek out large womens tops or mens mediums. But on the whole, womens cycling tops have never fit me quite right as they seem to cut them slimmer.

I don't get bogged down by sizes at all. I've been this weight forever, and have jeans that are over 20 years old!

[Biciclista]

funny you should mention this.
I needed a new pair of gloves. I always thought i had medium sized women's hands. But if that's the size I buy, i can barely get them off, and when my hands are hot, I have much difficulty getting them off. Discovered that women's large and some men's smalls fit me nicely a few years ago.

Went into the LBS yesterday and ended up buying two pairs of gloves, fingerless (Pearlizumi MEN's Medium!) and long fingered also men's medium!! what's up with that?

[Crankin]

Gee, I would say that Pearl Izumi runs large. But maybe it's because even if they make something in an x small, the stores don't carry it and the smalls are huge on me.
Craft is the only brand that I have found that runs a little small on me. It's more like the xsmall is too long and it is very tight. The small fits, but is waaaaay too long. Gore stuff fits me snugly, but I like that for cycling gear.
Currently, I only buy Terry Bella shorts or Shebeest S pro shorts. I don't even try other styles in the same brand. I can't wear Shebeest jerseys, the top part of the jerseys, even in x small, are huge on me or have weird shoulders, or some other defect.
Like Oak, I find regular clothes getting larger and larger. My body size has not changed much in the last 10 years. But, I've gone down 2 sizes in some cases. Yet, the dress I bought for my older son's Bar Mitzvah in 1995 still fits me, and I suspect that is my "true" size.

[limewave]

It may just be a different "cut" or "fit" than other brands.

I cannot believe the variety of sizes I have in my closet. I generally wear a size medium top. However, I have everything from XS to Large. It all depends on how it is fitted. I have a tiny chest, but a huge rib cage. Average waist for my size but big hips/rear. It makes for an interesting time shopping.

[jessmarimba]

I don't wear PI b/c the tops are generally too short on me. But I think they run about normal, but they don't have a lot of room in the chest. Which is fine for my A cups but I can see having to size up for the chest.

[LivetoRide]

I don't even bother looking at any PI branded jerseys or jackets. I love their shorts and I have one of their vests but their jerseys and jackets (at least the ones I have tried on) are sized ridiculously (way too small through the shoulders and arms, too short length wise...). I fit fine into LG's size small jerseys (and a medium for their "next to skin" race fit jerseys).

Edit: I too am just about 5'6", however, weigh a little more. I also wear a medium in PI shorts. And to the OP, PI makes some women's short models w/ a longer inseam, as does LG (they actually have a model w/ like a 10" inseam...way too long for me).

[Velocivixen]

I'm 5'6" and 135 lbs. I typically wear small tops & size 2 pants. My new Castelli jersey is Lrge and is a "form fitting" top. I tried on one of their vests and definitely wear medium. It's really just a cr@p shoot in regard to sizes.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I just posted a thread about this a few weeks ago, the fact that I have to buy XL biking clothes even though i'm not even 'heavy' or tall!
Here's that thread:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=42507

[owlice]

I took an XL!! I am 5'5", 135lbs, and usually take a womens large top.

Some of us are at the extremes: Crankin, for example, on the petite end, and me on the other. But a 5'5" woman -- that is average for women in the States -- who is a normal weight, as is the case here, should not require an XL, or even an L, top unless perhaps she's generously endowed, particularly wide-shouldered, or otherwise has something un-average about her build. itself is a medium woman; her clothes should be, too!

[jlnc]

I just posted a thread about this a few weeks ago, the fact that I have to buy XL biking clothes even though i'm not even 'heavy' or tall!
Here's that thread:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=42507

Just because someone wears XL, it doesn't mean they are "heavy". I know you are saying it is not the norm for you...but just wanted to comment on that :-)

[ny biker]

I'm 5'7", 140 lbs with broad shoulders and back, and I recently bought a medium PI long sleeved jersey that fits me fine. As a I recall, I tried on another PI jersey at the same time that was a "race cut," and although it fit it was too snug to be flattering.

In Shebeest, I'm anywhere from small to large depending on the jersey. I can't wear Sugoi jerseys because I'm between sizes with everything I try on, except I got one of their tri tops last year on sale in large, which fits great.

So for me cycling clothing is like regular clothing. Start with your best guess at your size and expect it to not fit.

p.s. I don't find women's shorts to be too short. I wear Shebeest century or SSS shorts and they're fine at mid-thigh length.

[Owlie]

I'm just a hair shy of 5'7", 135-140lbs (guess--I don't own a scale and haven't had a physical since I went to college). In street clothes, I take anywhere between a size 4-6 (current sizing, anyway), and a M in tops. In jerseys, I often take a L or XL. I usually have to size up to accommodate my chest--and I'm a B-cup! Castelli is the only brand that I haven't had to do that with. You really have to try stuff on.
In shorts, I'm mostly a medium.

Like Oak alluded to, I'm going to go with the assumption that they base sizing for cycling clothes on the average woman at the starting line, rather than the population average. I'm probably bigger than that.

NYbiker--I'm between sizes in most Sugoi jerseys too. I'm still keeping my "Tentacles" jersey!