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.

[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.

[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"...!!!

[Catrin]

It is just nuts - I wear size 6 slacks from Dress Barn (vanity sizing), size 8 jeans are baggy on me, I wear small bibs from PI, and large jerseys from PI. Terry apparently doesn't make a jersey large enough for me - it just doesn't make sense! I am an entire 133 pounds at 5'3....

I do think the jersey problem is because I have breasts Yes, I know it is shocking for a woman to have them, but have always been large in that department regardless of the size of the rest of me.

[moderncyclista]

I have to get men's jerseys and they are ill-fitting at best. It's still european sizing and mediums look like child's jerseys. Pffftttttt.

I wish someone would make jerseys for "real" women. (NOTE: business idea for someone who can design/sew!!! or a HINT: to TE that they should take up that torch! )

[Crankin]

I don't have any problems getting cycling clothes to fit me; that is if they carry x-smalls in a particular brand. I have had some "styles" of jerseys not fit well, or shorts that have the wrong kind of chamois, but not really fit. There's been a few PI things I liked, but PI does not make cycling clothes for women in my size, or at least most distributors don't carry them. Shebeest tops are generally too big for me, but I love the shorts. I think you need to look very carefully at the manufacturer's size charts, as they could be very different.
My problem is with regular clothes. Vanity sizing and the lengthening of petite sized pants is an issue. Petite pants used to be 28.5 or 29 inches. Now they are 30 inches, and even with heels, that's too long for me. And I don't like the longer style t shirts. Even in a petite xx-small, some are too long. I feel like the market is not catering at all to short people!

[hebe]

I'm 135lbs at 5ft5, and am a small around the hips, a medium around the natural waist and a large on the bust. It seems crazy when it's statistically normal for women to be larger, yet smaller women are often already at the large end of cycle clothing sizing.

I'm glad it's not just me.

[chryss]

I'm sensitive to this topic as I've lost a good amount of weight over the last 6 months (too embarrassed to say how much, but it's >50 pounds) and am currently at 162 pounds (and 5'4"), which is close to the thinnest (for generous values of "thin") I've been in my adult life. I'm now an L in most tops including soft/wind/rain shells, but haven't tried much cycling clothing yet. Being a regular L size is thrilling as until very recently even trying to buy outdoorsy protective clothing was just a long sequence of frustrations. I found a winter parka last winter, which you want to buy roomy for layers below -- well this IS Alaska where people need parkas and a lot of people are carrying excess poundage. But a nice rain proof Gore Tex hiking jacket? No chance to find it in my size. It was really a turn-off for getting more active as I'm sensitive to looking ridiculous.

The other day I was looking a high-viz vest (Bontrager) at the LBS. It looked M/L-ish to me and I wondered if I could close it, and maybe wear it over my (well-fitting) wind shell from REI (L). It turned out to be an XL, largest they had, and fit, but barely. A woman was eyeing me skeptically. I said something like "this is awfully small for an XL" and she burst out laughing: clearly she'd had the same thought. She was a bit taller (5'6"?) and thinner than me -- not skinny but normal weight.

[Marquise]

I'm resigned to being XL in most cycling clothes. And I don't get why I can wear L in PI shorts/tights but need XL in a PI jersey, the opposite of "normal" clothes, where I usually need larger bottoms than tops. Even trying to stick with brands I already own, I sometimes find a new item in a brand I've got multiples of doesn't fit like the others.

[ny biker]

I'm 5'7", 140 lbs, small busted, wear a small in regular shirts. But some of my workout tank tops are XL. In cycling tops I am anywhere from S to L depending on the cut -- even within one brand, I'm not a consistent size.

It's a problem for retailers, too, although I don't know if they know it. I rarely buy athletic tops online because I have no idea what size to get.

BTW right now I'm wearing a t-shirt that I got in the mid-90s on a trip to see Mets spring training games in Florida. It's a size large, but it's smaller than the "small" t-shirt I got at the Livestrong Challenge last year.

Oy vey.

[Eden]

Well - they are not adding the sizes onto the small end.... I'm 5' nuthin, relatively thin and I'm super lucky if I can find xs or xxs (or 0, 00 or what ever they add next) to fit into at all...... feel lucky if you can find clothing that actually fits you, no matter what number or letters they label it with.