Introduction
Shopping for clothing should be easy and fun, provided you find the right size, style, and color. A more frustrating concern is that your sizes are not available and this makes the hunt even more complicated. In the US, the average height of a woman is 5’3" or roughly 163 cms. To address the clothing needs of a wide range of women in different sizes, manufacturers adopted a standard catalog size that would classify sizes as misses, women’s petite, and women’s sizes. In all catalog sizes, size 18 clothing exists.
History
The US standard size of clothing was developed from 1940 to 1950 using research statistics gathered from consumers across America. It is similar to the standards used in the EN 13402, a measuring system for clothes used in the UK and other European countries. An equivalent measurement of size 18 clothing could be found in the European way of measuring women’s garments. Across Europe, size 18 clothing also varies because the different races differ in length, width, and size. The Spanish even commissioned a separate study to adopt the EN 13402 to the Spanish size. In the US, using the standard norms disappeared and was replaced by catalog sizes. Body measurements used inches and women’s sizes were divided into several categories including a size 18 clothing.
Features
Because the body size of every person is different, there was a need to make broad categories to include size 18 clothing. This gave way to the use of catalog sizes with several categories to accommodate different shapes and sizes of bodies. However, since manufacturers eventually decided their sizes based on loose catalog sizes, there are plenty of differences across sizes of clothes.
For example, you might be wearing a size 18 clothing using the Guess brand. However, if you try on or buy another brand, you will find that the size 18 clothing is too small or large for you. In other words, there are discrepancies in the way the clothes are sized.
There are several factors accounting for the differences in size 18 clothing. One is the style of the clothes. A loose pair of pants will fit a wider range of women than skinny jeans. Those with bigger legs and thighs will find it hard to get in a size 18 clothing even if that is the typical jeans size for that person. On the other hand, a person with narrower legs and thighs will have no problem using her usual size 18 clothing on a pair of skinny jeans.
The type of fabric used for clothes is another factor explaining the discrepancies in size 18 clothing. An elastic, spandex, or lycra fabric expands and as such, women who try these clothes will find that they cling to the skin. However, since they are elastic, there are plenty of women who will fit in the spandex clothes.
To get the right size 18 clothing, using the catalog sizes guide can help. It is also important to understand that extended sizes are not the same as plus sizes, which a size 18 clothing could already be depending on the manufacturers’ sizing chart.
Tips and comments
Misses’ sizes are 4 to 20; women’s petite (half sizes) from 12 ½ to 20 1/2; and women’s sizes from 34 to 50. If you compare a size 18 clothing in the misses’ size, it should fit a person who is 5’6” in height and weighs 180 lbs. A size 18 clothing in the women’s petite is for a shorter person, 5’2” , but the same estimated weight.
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