Why This Woman Critiqued H&M’s Clothing Sizes

While sizing is always tricky for women, H&M has taken things too far.

That’s Lowri Byrne’s message. The 22-year-old Swansea, Wales woman recently shared a social media post with the clothing/retail company that said what many already think.

“Please sort your sizes out because this is absolutely ridiculous!” Byrne wrote.

“I’m a size 12 and small busted and today in a H&M store I had to ask if this dress came in a size 18 (it didn’t…). The dress I have on in these photos is a size 16, and I could barely breathe.”

According to conversions on the travel website USA Tourist, UK size 12 is about a size 10 in the United States. Size 18 would correspond to roughly size 16 in the U.S. On the other hand, sizing for women’s clothes seems to be totally random, so conversions like these might not be that helpful.

Byrne explained why she was disheartened that H&M sizes their dresses with way lower numbers than other manufacturers and retailers.

“Not only was this annoying because I wanted to buy this dress, but so many women take what size dress they buy to heart,” she wrote.”If I was one of these girls (thankfully I’m not) requesting a size 18 dress would seriously devastate me!”

Apparently, the staff at H&M are aware of the sizing disparities between their clothes and other brands. How could they not be? Their solution, though, is simply to recommend shoppers add a few sizes to what they usually shop for.

“When I asked if this dress came in an 18, the store assistant said, ‘Ahh yeah you have to go up a couple of sizes with these,'” wrote Byrne. “A couple?!? Going up three to four sizes surely should make you realize that you need to seriously sort out sizing!!!”

Byrne isn’t the only woman who feels this way.

Commenters piled up on the social media post, echoing Byrne’s complaint and adding their own troubled stories.

“I’m ‘too fat’ for this shop because of the sizing,” wrote one commenter, quoted by the Independent. “It’s ridiculous and a big problem for [impressionable] young girls…It could have awful effects to some girls’ confidence.”

To their credit, an H&M spokesperson responded to the charges.

“H&M’s sizes are global and the sizes offered in the UK are the same in all the 66 markets in which we operate in and online,” wrote an H&M spokesperson. “As there is no global mandatory sizing standard, sizes will differ between brands and different markets.

“Our dedicated, in-house sizing department works according to an average of the sizes and measurements suggested by the markets we operate in. H&M sizes are continually reviewed by our in-house sizing department.”

Could it be that H&M just uses U.S. sizing standards, no matter where their clothes are sold? We’ve already seen that U.S. sizing for women’s clothing tends to run about two sizes lower than UK sizing. No matter what’s going on, women everywhere wish they could depend on standard sizes more often. H&M is certainly not alone among clothing manufacturers; it’s hard to find what fits at many stores.