Jordana Stier
Life Reporter

Nicknamed vanity sizing, a new fashion trend makes consumers think they’re thinner by re-working garments size system, Humber fashion teachers said.

Manufacturers are tailoring to the obsession of being thin by providing new scales of sizes that go down to double zero and extra- extra small.

It makes a woman who’s normally a size six fit into a size four or two, said Rose Rutherford, a fashion business teacher at Humber.

She said the trend is a “reflection of our time, and not so much the fashion industry. It negatively reflects our time in what we see as right.”

According to Rutherford, the modern woman is expanding, and sizes that seem smaller are designed to make women feel better.

“I’ve talked a lot about it in my classes and this (trend) came up, and I think (students) understand that it is somewhat of a marketing tool, but they’re not going to get affected by it,” she said. “I think that they’re rational. They’re smart enough to figure it out.”

Some fashion business students don’t see vanity sizing as a form of exploitation by the fashion industry, they view it as a trend that ties into people trying to look a certain way, Rutherford said.

She also said young people are fed up, and understand that, “there’s more to life than just this.”

Carla Rice, a women’s studies professor at Trent University, said retailers are contributing, “to a culture in which no size is small and no body shape is thin enough.”

She said vanity sizing targets women’s insecurities and anxieties about their size and shape.

“To buy a garment where the size is double zero, in a context where smaller is better, clearly will help to alleviate a woman’s anxieties about her shape,” she said.

Rice urged students to think about the trend in terms of its impact on them personally and relate it to women on a broader level.

“Twenty to 25 years ago, a small size was considered to be about a size eight or a size six,” she said.
The vanity sizing trend is most popular among the more upscale clothing lines.

“The fact that not only more affluent, wealthy and expensive stores, but also the less expensive stores are doing the same practice, really suggests to me that there’s an economic incentive as it is advantageous to them, and that is helping them make sales,” Rice said.

Kristi Kennedy, a Humber fashion business teacher, said Banana Republic instigated this marketing tool.
“(It) just gives consumers something that’s going to fit them a bit better.”

She said your size is still your true size according to the store, and manufacturers are just making garments that stretch more.

“I think that the girls at Humber want to wear things that are tighter, so they’re going down a size,” she said. “It’s just that students are wearing tighter stuff… It just gives you more options.”