Vanity sizing
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Vanity sizing, also known as size inflation is used to refer to the phenomenon of ready-to-wear clothing of the same nominal size becoming larger over time, with the implication that manufacturers do so to satisfy the buyer's wish to appear thin. This also means that some customers may have to wear smaller nominal sizes without much change in their body shape.
The issue of vanity sizing occurs primarily in the United States, where manufactures are allowed to devise and change their own sizing system (the US standard clothing size is not in use). In many other parts of the world where sizing is standardized by objective measurement, it is not known to be a significant problem.
Vanity sizing may result in the removal of a garment of smallest measurements. If, for example, all garments were taken down a size, what was previously the smallest garment would no longer exist in that line of clothing. So as not to lose customers, companies often add smaller and smaller size labels, the smallest thus far being subzero.
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