--- title: Why It's Impossible to Find Clothes That Fit: A History description: America's government used to regulate clothing sizes. Here's the good reason they don't do that anymore canonical: https://time.com/4477865/clothes-fit-history/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-02T18:28:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:45:29.686Z og:title: The History of Why It's Impossible to Find Clothes That Fit og:description: America's government used to regulate clothing sizes. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=2c50886d-8b9c-4220-9bef-fc0903b6864f&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Evolution of Women's Clothing Sizes [Watch (HLS stream): The Evolution of Women's Clothing Sizes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WnDMWIcb.m3u8) (1:26)  _Published 2016-09-01. Why it's impossible to find women's clothes that fit, and how to fix it. Inside the fight to take back the fitting room._ by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/) and [Kenneth Bachor](https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/) Sep 2, 2016 6:28 PM UTC by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/) and [Kenneth Bachor](https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/) Sep 2, 2016 6:28 PM UTC It’s never been easier to find clothes or [harder to find clothes that fit](http://time.com/how-to-fix-vanity-sizing/?xid=homepage). As Americans grow physically larger, brands have raced to flatter us with vanity sizing, assigning smaller numbers to clothing sizes so that we can feel thin. The measurements that made a woman’s size 8 in 1958 has [shrunk to a size 00 today](http://time.com/4477888/clothing-vanity-sizing/). But brands have changed their sizing schemes at different rates. The result: A size 6 jean can vary by as many as 6 inches in the waistband across brands. The logical solution, it would seem, would be for retailers to all agree on standardized measurements for clothing sizes. But it turns out the American government already tried that—and it failed. In the early 1940s, a government body called the Works Projects Administration took 59 distinct measurements of 15,000 women. The data was used to create a universal sizing standard in 1958: Even numbers 8 through 38\. But by 1983, that standard had fallen by the wayside. The data the WPA had collected quickly became outdated, not only because Americans’ bodies were growing, but also because the WPA had measured exclusively white women. Experts say any effort of create a more inclusive universal sizing system in the U.S. today would fail too because there is no “standard” American body type. ## Transcript Clothing sizes are a modern problem. For most of human history, well to do women had their clothes custom made and less fortunate women sewed their own frocks. Ready to wear clothes didn't come to prominence in America until the Depression when few could afford food, let alone fabric The industrial boom of World War II ushered in the rise of factory made clothes and department store and catalogs. Sizes were born. In the late 1950s, the government tried to suggest a universal sizing standard, but it didn't work, because it was based exclusively on the measurements of white women's bodies. And America was becoming more diverse. With no rules to determine sizes, brands began to vanity size. As the weight of the average American woman grows, brands adjusted their metrics to help more customers squeeze into more desirable sizes. A size 8 in 1958 was a size 00 by 2011. This has led to a wide variance in clothing sizes Dresses labeled as a size eight today, can vary in the bust by as much as three inches. And that's just part of the problem. Many brands don't go beyond a size 12. Meaning it's harder for curvier women to find clothes. But that's starting to change thanks in part to new clothing collections. Including ones from celebrities like Sophia Vergara and Melissa McCarthy, which aim to be more inclusive. [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4477865/clothes-fit-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4477865/clothes-fit-history/"},"headline":"The History of Why It's Impossible to Find Clothes That Fit","datePublished":"2016-09-02T18:28:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:45:29.686Z","description":"America's government used to regulate clothing sizes. 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