One community health issue that must be talked about is sizing in American clothing stores. For many years, questions have been raised regarding the varying sizes, in particular women’s sizes, amongst different stores. One store, H&M, has been criticized for marketing a clothing item bigger than it is. For example, one buyer went on Facebook to reveal the sizing difference between a “size 16” jeans from H&M and a size 16 jeans from a different store. Time Magazine wrote an article comparing measurements for different store’s size 8 clothing. H&M’s size 8 has a 34.5” bust, while Guess’s size 8 has a 37.5”. Zara’s size 8 has a 27.6” waist, while Calvin Klein’s size 8 has a 29.5” waist. This large difference amongst stores sets women up to feel bad about their bodies. Walking into a fitting room and having something not fit is one of the worst feelings. We wonder why the United States has an eating disorder problem, but we set women up to develop such eating disorders. Especially when being a smaller size is considered “ideal” in American society. This mentality leads women, who may already be at a healthy size, to believe they need to lose weight to get down a few sizes. Even more harmful to American society is when stores stop selling larger sizes. I believe stores are getting better with this, but some stores continue to only sell clothes in the small to extra large sizes. This is extremely damaging to someone who may walk into a store and not be able to buy anything. This toxic culture needs to change or American society will only be damaged more. I hope to see a wider range of sizes and the same measurements across stores in the future because it cannot be that difficult to standardize measurements for any given size.
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