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I'm a technical designer (which means that I determine the fit of garments, I specialize in sweaters) in the NYC apparel industry, so I hope I can provide some insight as to why sizing is not standardized for the entire industry. When I fit a garment, I use that companies "fit model" (that's a model who does fittings primarily), and since no two people are exactly alike, the fit models measurements vary amongst each other. For the mass-market Missy category, the standard fit model (in the U.S.) is a size "8". And sometimes one size "8" fit model can have a completely different body build than another size "8" fit model. I've seen variances as much as 4" in the waist of size "8" fit models.
To further complicate things, a size "8" dress form will change every year to have different measurements. If you saw a size "8" dress form from this year, versus a size "8" dress form from 20 years ago, you'd be amazed by how much bigger this year's dress form is. Dress forms are expensive, so companies don't get new ones every year and throw out the old ones. At the company I'm at now, we have dress forms from 1952. Talk about a major shape difference.
There was an interesting story in Shop Etc. magazine last year, in which they had a size "8" fit model go into several different stores and try on pants to see which size fit her best. Depending on the store, she was a different size (at some places she was an "8", but not all of them).
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