Editorial: When (clothing) size matters

Size matters.

Clothing size that is.

Many women use clothing size to measure self worth…. Size matters.

Clothing size that is.

Many women use clothing size to measure self worth. Unfortunately, the number on the tag is largely inconsistent — and not just from store to store.

As our society has been growing, so have our clothes. But the numbers stay the same. In the 1950s, a dress with the measurements 30-22-32 was considered a size 8. As early as the 2000s, the same measurements are found in a size 00, according to April Ainsworth, the founder of vintagevixen.com, an online clothier that carries vintage clothing from the 1980s and before. Soon enough, we might even see a size negative 2 grace clothing store racks.

This phenomenon is called vanity sizing, when clothing companies add extra fabric to pieces while keeping the size the same, according to a Cosmopolitan article.

“There’s a self-esteem effect of getting into a size 4 or a size 2, and clothing companies know that,” said Cait Lamberton, an assistant professor of business administration at Pitt. “Particularly in wedding dresses, the sizes are actually smaller because women want to say, ‘I wore this size dress on my wedding day.’”

One of the major problems with vanity sizing is the reason why companies feel the need to do it — our waistlines are continuously expanding. In 2007-08, 68 percent of the U.S. population was considered overweight or obese, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. Comparatively, between 1950 and 1960, 33 percent of U.S. adults were overweight and 9.7 percent were obese, according to the LiveStrong campaign’s website .

Once again, we see a need for our country to combat its obesity problem. By shrinking our waistlines, we could eliminate the need for clothing companies to practice vanity sizing.

Another problem with vanity sizing, of course, is that the clothing manufacturers deceive consumers by not following standards for sizes. In a study by Tammy Kinley, an associate professor at the University of North Texas, noted in the Cosmopolitan article, researchers measured 1,000 pairs of women’s pants and found as much as an 8 1/2-inch variation in the size 4 waist.

“The problem with it is it confuses us. It takes longer to find the right size,” Lamberton said. “Once you know you’re a certain size in a certain brand, you’re going to keep going there.”

Because many women are sensitive about their size, manufacturers should be required to follow a standard. After all, wearing a size 6 in one brand and then having to buy a size 8 in another can be upsetting.

“People get an inaccurate perception of their body and confusing messages about the way they’re built,” Lamberton said. “The downside is for the consumers.”

Finally, we wish women didn’t measure self-worth by the size of their clothes. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, psychological factors such as low self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy or lack of control in life can contribute to eating disorders. And because not being able to consistently buy and wear the same clothing size can have psychological impacts, it seems that vanity sizing could very well be a contributing factor to the 10 million women in the United States currently struggling with an eating disorder.

Because changing a culture’s eating habits and self-esteem principles is difficult, we stress the importance of ending vanity sizing by requiring manufacturers to adhere to standard sizes by implementing a sizing system more like the one used in men’s clothing that uses actual measurements by inches instead of arbitrary numbers.