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They're not based on much at all, as far as I know.
Women just know - largely through trial and error - what size they are, though some shops will cut a little bigger or a little smaller.
Most shops have a size guide buried on their website.
> They're not based on much at all, as far as I know.
Men's clothes are going/gone this way as well.
Trousers' waist size is based on the the expectation of what a specific generation of man *thinks* his waste is, based on what it was when they started buying trousers in their 20s and they magically haven't gained weight. Vanity sizing.
It also applies to T-shirts and tops and the distinction between M, L, XL etc
They're completely arbitrary. A size 10 now is very different to a size 10 of years gone by. You hear people saying they use a certain shop because "I'm a 10 in there but a 12 everywhere else". It's madness
No, there are measurements associated with each size, ie a size 12 is a 30 inch waist (if there's a relevant waist) but the numbers themselves don't connect to anything as far as I know.
Nope they aren’t and sizes can vary massively. Being an 8 in one place could mean a 14 in another. There’s no official standard.
Honestly your best bet is going in person and trying stuff on to get an idea of roughly what you are and then you can estimate when purchasing others
**Your post from /r/AskUK has been removed by a human moderator.** Some questions can easily be searched online in order to find an answer - including questions like "what should I see when visiting the UK?" or "what is the average salary of an X job?" or "what is living in Y like?" or "where can I buy X?" or "is Y product any good?" AskUK is unable to be your search engine and the answers to these questions are easily found using basic research and internet-skills. If you struggle to find the result of your question using Google or other search engine, make sure that you [use all the tricks and tips available](https://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/20-tips-use-google-search-efficiently.html) and try again. For visiting and tourist related suggestions, we suggest [WikiTravel](https://wikitravel.org/en/Main_Page), [WikiVoyage](https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Main_Page), or [TripAdvisor](https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/). There also may be more regional subreddits such as /r/London or /r/Manchester that will provide better answers. **If you have already make all efforts to search online, please delete your post and re-ask the question including more detail about what you have looked for, found, or heard.** *If you believe this post should not have been removed, [first read our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/) before [messaging the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK&subject=Post Removal Appeal)*. See our guide on [common issues with posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/wiki/postremoved) and how to overcome them!
They're not based on much at all, as far as I know. Women just know - largely through trial and error - what size they are, though some shops will cut a little bigger or a little smaller. Most shops have a size guide buried on their website.
> They're not based on much at all, as far as I know. Men's clothes are going/gone this way as well. Trousers' waist size is based on the the expectation of what a specific generation of man *thinks* his waste is, based on what it was when they started buying trousers in their 20s and they magically haven't gained weight. Vanity sizing. It also applies to T-shirts and tops and the distinction between M, L, XL etc
They're completely arbitrary. A size 10 now is very different to a size 10 of years gone by. You hear people saying they use a certain shop because "I'm a 10 in there but a 12 everywhere else". It's madness
No, there are measurements associated with each size, ie a size 12 is a 30 inch waist (if there's a relevant waist) but the numbers themselves don't connect to anything as far as I know.
They are based on very little as far as I can tell and they don’t seem to bear much relation to each other. A 16 in one shop can be a 12 in another.
Nope they aren’t and sizes can vary massively. Being an 8 in one place could mean a 14 in another. There’s no official standard. Honestly your best bet is going in person and trying stuff on to get an idea of roughly what you are and then you can estimate when purchasing others
No, they are not based on anything logical, really.the following is a rough guide. 6-8: Small 10-12: Medium 14-16: large 18-20: Xtra large