Outside is cold and miserable, and the last thing I want to do is leave the cosiness of my living room for the high street, but I’m in desperate need of a new pair of jeans.
Last year, I pounded the pavements for Fabulous in an attempt to find the perfect pair. After trying on endless options in shop changing rooms, I found that, when it comes to sizing, there’s not a lot of consistency.
In fact, it’s all a bit of a guessing game. It’s no surprise to me that a new poll by NatWest has revealed jeans are the second most likely to be returned item by Brits.
So, this time, I’ve decided to steer clear of poorly lit, cramped changing rooms, and instead shop for jeans from the comfort of my sofa.
In theory, it should be pretty straightforward. After all, brand’s websites have their own size guides. But, in practice, some use waist measurements, some more traditional dress sizing, and others a generic small, medium, large, short, regular and long.
I'm midsize and spent an afternoon on my laptop ordering eight pairs of straight-leg jeans using these guides, placing the responsibility on retailers to decide what size they believe is best for my body. Here’s how I got on…
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What’s My Size?
First up, I need to establish my size with each brand.
Half of the retailers I want to buy from use a simple, generic size chart, which asks for my waist and hip measurements (35in and 41in, respectively), in order to direct me to my “correct” size.
The other half uses a more advanced method called Fit Analytics – a series of questions about everything from height and weight, the shape of your stomach (flat, average, curvier), hip shape (straighter, average, wider), age, and how you would like your jeans to fit.
It then goes on to ask what brands of jeans you currently wear and what size you take in them, before calculating what it believes to be the best size for you, giving you a percentage of how well they believe they will fit.
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