Last updated at 1:13 AM on 25th June 2011
Trick: A size 12 can vary by three inches from shop to shop, researchers have discovered
High street stores are selling clothes with size labels that are wildly inaccurate to flatter overweight women.
Research has found some popular shops are up to five inches out in their estimates in the growing vanity trend dubbed ‘fanta-sizing’.
Critics say this tricks consumers into believing they do not have a weight problem and called for legislation which would force retailers to follow the standard British sizing chart.
Analysis of 12 major British retailers found sizes varied by as much as five inches on the bust, waist and hips, leaving shoppers baffled about their true size.
This compares with a study by consumer group Which? in September last year which discovered variations of 1.5in between shops.
Stores such as Gap, Debenhams and Reiss were accused of ‘flattering their customers’ with extremely generous measurements.
The study, by made-to-measure clothing company Tailored for You, was based on measurements published on retailers’ websites.
It found that one customer was identified as a size 14 in TM Lewin, a size 16 in Marks & Spencer, an 18 in Next and a 20 in Peacocks.
Younger brands such as H&M, Topshop and Zara used significantly smaller measurements, prompting accusations that they could be consciously discouraging larger women from wearing their clothing.
The variation has plagued online and catalogue shoppers, who are forced to guess their size depending on the retailer. According to the British Standards Institution, half of all refunds are due to poor fit.
Tailored for You’s managing director Lynette Morrison, who is calling for standardised measurements to be enforced by law, criticised ‘irresponsible’ retailers.
She said: ‘This yo-yo sizing is taking all the fun out of shopping. Forget vanity sizing, this is full-blown fanta-sizing.
‘Shops are cynically changing sizes to be most attractive to customers. If a woman is actually a 16 and can fit into a 14 or even a 12 then she will be delighted and more inclined to buy the clothing.
Equally, the trendier shops are producing very small sizes to fit the body beautiful and excluding larger women whom they might not want wearing their clothes.
‘If a teenager tries on their usual size in one of these stores and it does not fit, it could seriously damage the perception of their body shape.
Tailored For You uses a computerised body scanner to collate women’s exact measurements, and advises them what sizes they are in different high street shops.
Psychologist Mamta Saha, director of Think Spa London, said: ‘It is clear that many shops keep increasing their sizes so that an increasingly obese population can remain the same size.
‘Shops are well aware of how body-conscious we are and they are playing on this.’
Work to do: Topshop may be forced to fall into line with a new universal sizing scale
A size 6 bust could measure anything from 34in at Gap to just 31in at Topshop. In a size 14, Next was two-and-a-half inches smaller than Reiss.
For hip sizes, the greatest difference was 49in for a size 20 at Dorothy Perkins, but 44in at H&M. For size 12, Reiss was almost 3in bigger than Topshop.
The BSI introduced standardised sizes in 1982, which allowed a one-and-a-half-inch leeway, but shops are not compelled to follow these guidelines.
Four years ago, an EU committee was set up to look at forcing retailers to use standard measurements by law, but no plans have been announced.
Tam Fry, spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, said: ‘It is counter-productive from our point of view if people are getting larger but remaining the same size. It lulls them into a false sense of security.
‘It is undoubtedly a strategy to satisfy consumers.’
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