Sizing of breeches

J

Jesstickle

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can someone please explain to me why when I buy a pair of jeans a 30 inch waist is considered to be a size 12, but when I buy a pair of breeches this suddenly becomes equivalent to a size 16?!

For the life of me I have never understood this.
 
I believe it is because breeches are made to the old sizing templates whereas jeans have been subject to vanity sizing for a while now and modern manufacturers have updated the sizing templates that they use. Wedding dresses are the same and people often need to go up a size or two.

Years ago I bought a pair of Levis from a seconds shop, I was chatting to the assistant and she explained that they were in the sale because Levis were changing their sizes and they were going to get bigger so they were all mis-labelled and the size 8 I was buying would be smaller than their smallest size if you see what I mean......
 
Kind of confusing though. Wouldn't it be easier if people who make breeches just did what the rest of the world does? P'raps not. Or perhaps I should invest in a corset to squash my waist in!! :D
 
i think the waist sizing in inches is fairly standard (ish) in jeans and in breeches, it's the generic sizes 8, 10, 12, 14 which have been fiddled with big-time in order to flatter an ever-growing population!
i'm now down to a 26-27" waist in breeches and jeans, but Next seems to think that makes me a size 8. Hmm, i don't think so, although it's very flattering!
 
O yeah, definitely a 30 inch waist fits me. I just wondered why it was a 12 in jeans and a 16 in breeches. I guess 30 years ago I would just have been a size 16. Food for thought hey?

Better get on with my diet!
 
I always thought it had alot to do with where the 'waist' sits. Jeans are made to sit lower (more hips than waist), whereas I like my breeches to sit on my actual waist which is a good few inches narrower than my hips!
 
I gave up on the sizing. 30 in breeches fits. The positive is that, unlike "normal" clothes, breeches sizes are standard so regardless of whether they are Pikeur, Dublin or Ariat - 30 is the same. Happy days!
 
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