How do you find your clothing size?

I recently went shopping for jeans, and so the idea of “finding the right size” and clothing size in general is at the forefront of my mind.

Have you ever wanted find your clothing size once and for all? (I know I have.)

Here’s how to find your clothing size once and for all: You don’t have one.

You have measurements, but you do not have a clothing size.

You don’t have a clothing size because there is no clothing size standard across the fashion industry.

If you’re lucky, you’ll generally be a similar-ish size across brands or between a range of sizes. For example, I am anywhere between an extra small and a medium depending on what brand I’m shopping in.

But you will never be a standard size, because there is no such thing.

See, every brand comes up with its own sizing guidelines. In theory, within the brand those size and guidelines are consistent, and the range of variability is very small across batches of clothing.

But standardized sizing between brands doesn’t exist.

So it’s time to stop asking yourself what your size is. And start focusing on what clothes feel good.

Once you start realizing that the number or the letter inside a piece of clothing is completely arbitrary, it stops mattering as much.

An arbitrary number suddenly matters a lot less than how your body feels.

When you stop attaching value to that arbitrary number, it becomes a lot easier to ditch clothes that don’t feel good.

The quantity of cloth it takes to wrap around your body is not a marker of inherent worth.

If you’re trying to figure out what to take into the dressing room to try on, hold the garment up to your body. If it looks like it would get halfway around your body, it probably will, since it’s folded in half. But if it doesn’t, and it’s not particularly stretchy, it probably won’t.

If you’re shopping online, pay attention to measurements not sizes. (And read through Buying clothes that fit using the measurement conversion technique.) And try to remember that an inch or a centimeter is a measure of length not of worth.

Next read Taking body measurements without body shaming