(In coming Rant) Ok I havent blogged in a while, but I need to say this so please stick with me ;)All though the Uk has many laws in place to protect consumers, for clothing it dithers.
Manufactures more and more are making bigger clothes while using the same smaller random sizing labels because they can. Shops stock them trying to fool us in to thinking we are smaller than we are, to vainly get us to buy in their shops over others to increase their profits.
This is Vanity Sizing.
Vanity sizing has been annoying me for quite sometime, even before I found out it had a name and it has gotten to the point, that I have been for years been slowly sized out of the main stream shops, as the demographic in this country for women’s sizing has gotten bigger and I have stayed the same. That how ever is not my gripe (I take a tape messure with me when I shop anyhow so no big deal), I haven’t changed weight/height or shape in many a year and I’m not even 35 yet!
In the 50’s I would have been a random size 16, in the 60’s I would have been a 14, get to 1980 and I was a size 10 and now in the current market I am anything from an 8 to a 4 if it doesn’t stop soon I am afraid I will disappear! And its not like I’m a stick.
Will I find anything in this shop that fits me? is always on my mind. 50% of clothes shops in the UK I no longer go in because I know nothing will fit me, I have been Vanity sized out. Considering women have gotten bigger and taller and the shops are stocking bigger sizes for maximum profit I fully understand and resigned to the fact I will have to custom fit most things, so i’m not winging about the fact that poor me cant find clothes to fit here.
To actually walk in to a average shop in the Uk and for them to have my original size that fits now I would have to go against NHS guidelines on my healthy diet and being the right weight for my height that I am happy with. I would have put on weight to still fit in to my original size of 10 years ago. To which I am sure would impact my health and at the detriment and cost to the NHS later in my life. Wither we like it or not we have been programmed as a nation someway into thinking a size number means your fat or not. I am not surprised that the UK has some of the highest obesity rates in Europe, when we no longer know where we stand, when the clothing industry keeps on moving the goal posts and no one is refereeing.
What I don’t understand is the increase in Vanity sizing that is going unchecked and that there is no official national sizing measurements in place or that garments should carry it's correct measurements on the label, for a government that supposedly cares about its public so much that it sticks it nose in to everything, this is the one place it does not?
What I do have a problem with is the unclear labelling which means I have a problem finding something that might semi fit in the first place. Stressful and frustrating it is no wonder people more and more tend to shop on line. Personal time, resources and fuel are wasted each year now because of poor labelling on returned items to be exchanged, because measurements and random numbers may not correlate to the actual measurements of garments. If this was any other manufactured consumable in this country I am sure it would fall under some consumer act or weights and measure act, it would be monitored and we would be protected and everyone would know where we stood.
It’s not as if it would be so difficult to do, there is already a random numbered label attached, why it cant have the garments actual measurement in it whither metric, imperial or both for practical use of everyone concerned and to stop wastage in a time we can ill afford it is beyond me. We did it in the past and for practiacl reasons the Armed Forces do it, so it cant be a bad idea or unachievable.
We all know that people come in different shapes and sizes as time and diet are evolving even more so in current times, so this making a random number for sizing to become obsolete of late. Reviewing of sizing has been done by a multitude of people in this country and although it helps shops in sizing stock for shops in this country increase their profit, it does not help the British public who it mostly effects, who waste time, money and fuel, hunting for sizes that might or might not fit.
Is clothing our nation considered so trivial and frivolous?
When on a personal level its not just frustrating, its also our health and pockets suffering but on a wider level its uneconomical and unenvironmental to our country in terms of increased transportation fuel costs and time waste in terms of returns and find ability for consumers. Not forgetting that of increasing and future problems for our NHS on this issue and then there is the crippling physiological effects to mostly women and men of our country suffering from conflicts of interest and general poor information.
If this bugs the heck out of you too... lovely Retro Chick has a page Campaign For Clearer Clothes Sizing and more information, like writing and informing our MP's of our complaints....that is if they aren’t out there wasting time on finding the right size clothes to wear to work.
''You can also Tweet this campaign, post the link on Facebook, and generally let everyone you know know about it!
If you’re feeling even more pro-active then you can write to, or email, your MP and your Euro MP. This handy website gives you a convenient search system, plus a form to fill in that will immediately zip off your message to the person concerned. Tell them your concerns and how it affects you, and your desire to spend. Tell them you think the EU and Government should carry out a review of clothing sizing in the UK and Europe and that you think that measurement labelling should be mandatory.'' Retro Chick
Vanity sizing has been annoying me for quite sometime, even before I found out it had a name and it has gotten to the point, that I have been for years been slowly sized out of the main stream shops, as the demographic in this country for women’s sizing has gotten bigger and I have stayed the same. That how ever is not my gripe (I take a tape messure with me when I shop anyhow so no big deal), I haven’t changed weight/height or shape in many a year and I’m not even 35 yet!
In the 50’s I would have been a random size 16, in the 60’s I would have been a 14, get to 1980 and I was a size 10 and now in the current market I am anything from an 8 to a 4 if it doesn’t stop soon I am afraid I will disappear! And its not like I’m a stick.
Will I find anything in this shop that fits me? is always on my mind. 50% of clothes shops in the UK I no longer go in because I know nothing will fit me, I have been Vanity sized out. Considering women have gotten bigger and taller and the shops are stocking bigger sizes for maximum profit I fully understand and resigned to the fact I will have to custom fit most things, so i’m not winging about the fact that poor me cant find clothes to fit here.
To actually walk in to a average shop in the Uk and for them to have my original size that fits now I would have to go against NHS guidelines on my healthy diet and being the right weight for my height that I am happy with. I would have put on weight to still fit in to my original size of 10 years ago. To which I am sure would impact my health and at the detriment and cost to the NHS later in my life. Wither we like it or not we have been programmed as a nation someway into thinking a size number means your fat or not. I am not surprised that the UK has some of the highest obesity rates in Europe, when we no longer know where we stand, when the clothing industry keeps on moving the goal posts and no one is refereeing.
What I don’t understand is the increase in Vanity sizing that is going unchecked and that there is no official national sizing measurements in place or that garments should carry it's correct measurements on the label, for a government that supposedly cares about its public so much that it sticks it nose in to everything, this is the one place it does not?
What I do have a problem with is the unclear labelling which means I have a problem finding something that might semi fit in the first place. Stressful and frustrating it is no wonder people more and more tend to shop on line. Personal time, resources and fuel are wasted each year now because of poor labelling on returned items to be exchanged, because measurements and random numbers may not correlate to the actual measurements of garments. If this was any other manufactured consumable in this country I am sure it would fall under some consumer act or weights and measure act, it would be monitored and we would be protected and everyone would know where we stood.
It’s not as if it would be so difficult to do, there is already a random numbered label attached, why it cant have the garments actual measurement in it whither metric, imperial or both for practical use of everyone concerned and to stop wastage in a time we can ill afford it is beyond me. We did it in the past and for practiacl reasons the Armed Forces do it, so it cant be a bad idea or unachievable.
We all know that people come in different shapes and sizes as time and diet are evolving even more so in current times, so this making a random number for sizing to become obsolete of late. Reviewing of sizing has been done by a multitude of people in this country and although it helps shops in sizing stock for shops in this country increase their profit, it does not help the British public who it mostly effects, who waste time, money and fuel, hunting for sizes that might or might not fit.
Is clothing our nation considered so trivial and frivolous?
When on a personal level its not just frustrating, its also our health and pockets suffering but on a wider level its uneconomical and unenvironmental to our country in terms of increased transportation fuel costs and time waste in terms of returns and find ability for consumers. Not forgetting that of increasing and future problems for our NHS on this issue and then there is the crippling physiological effects to mostly women and men of our country suffering from conflicts of interest and general poor information.
If this bugs the heck out of you too... lovely Retro Chick has a page Campaign For Clearer Clothes Sizing and more information, like writing and informing our MP's of our complaints....that is if they aren’t out there wasting time on finding the right size clothes to wear to work.''You can also Tweet this campaign, post the link on Facebook, and generally let everyone you know know about it!
If you’re feeling even more pro-active then you can write to, or email, your MP and your Euro MP. This handy website gives you a convenient search system, plus a form to fill in that will immediately zip off your message to the person concerned. Tell them your concerns and how it affects you, and your desire to spend. Tell them you think the EU and Government should carry out a review of clothing sizing in the UK and Europe and that you think that measurement labelling should be mandatory.'' Retro Chick
