Not all stores vanity size, however; the study found that larger brands were more likely to skew the numbers than smaller ones. But for those that do, it creates a ripple effect, creating a completely new, teensy weensy, number scale.
Size zero used to be the smallest size out there, reserved for the extremely petite. Now it’s common to see something even lower—the perplexing size of double zero. Extra small and extra, extra small take up shelf space in the t-shirt aisles; ten years ago, they would’ve been categorized as small and medium. Lowering the numbers are retailer’s way of convincing us we can be tiny without actually being it, that our ever-increasing obsession with being small can come true, if in number alone.
Lying or Just Shifting the Scale?
But if the numbers don’t mean anything anymore, what’s the point? Part of the allure of size inflation is that it helps sell clothes to a shifting demographic. Americans have grown taller, but mainly we’ve grown heavier. SizeUSA, a national survey that digitally analyzed thousands of Americans, found that the average size of an American woman is no longer a 35-inch bust, a 27-inch waist, and 37.5-inch hip—the industry’s standard size eight. Now the average American woman is more like a size fourteen.
But no one wants to be a fourteen. So, instead of acknowledging it, retailers have simply changed what used to be a fourteen into a smaller size, say an eight, ten, or twelve. This not only creates brand loyalty, it also makes consumers feel better and keeps them coming back.
“I think the psychological trick worked,” said Anderson. “I liked thinking I was an eight instead of a ten.”
However, reality sometimes does bite. If the numbers are inconsistent, they don’t carry as much weight as they used to. Then there’s the realization that numbers in some stores and countries don’t quite translate.
“I got slapped in the face when I went to Europe and realized there was a huge discrepancy.”
One would think that men have it somewhat easier. The numbers on their tags denote dimensions, and those aren’t up for fibbing. A 32-inch waist is just that—32 inches. Measurements seem like a sure-fire way to go in keeping a standard—except that some retailers have even altered these.
