Open Letter, Number Thirty Million Or So

[mrissa]

Dear Hosiery Company:

Please examine your sizing chart. You will notice that "small" goes up to 5'5". This is well and good: women shorter than I am should be able to buy tights. You will also notice that "medium" goes down to 135#. This is also well and good: women heavier than I am should also be able to buy tights. Here's my theory, though: I should be able to buy tights.

Could you not manufacture tights in additional combinations of height and weight? Or could you not build that much more stretch into your smalls so that they will go up not-proportionally-that-long 5'6" woman legs, rather than being the ever-popular low-rise tights and causing me to worry that they will slip over the widest part of my hips and make a break for it at any moment? One's tights ought never to make a break for it. This is a rule of life. Nor ought they to be baggy upon their removal from the package. The ever popular wrinkled-elephant ankle is not "in" for this season.

I just thought you should know. I don't really expect that you'll do anything about it.

Yours Wearing SmartWool Socks,
M'ris

Comments

[molnar-salomone.livejournal.com]

Yeah! And could you add a P.S. from me, that at 6' with a 34" inseam, I'd like to buy tights as well???

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's awful: this particular hosiery company has three sizes: small, medium, and tall. Tall has exactly the same height range as medium, but a higher weight range. I stood there staring at the package thinking, "You keep using this word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Does the Tall women's clothing store at the MOA carry tights?

Also, these things are generally more comfy if bought a size larger.

Extra also: good department stores might carry what you want. More expensive, but you'll get more than one season out of tights if you are careful with them. Handwash, I keep saying for good reason. Or at least get a lingerie bag.

K.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I had not considered the tall women's store. Since I'm 5'6" and would be just fine buying medium or "tall" (=large; if small is an acceptable size, so should large be) if I was in those weight ranges, it just didn't occur to me that they might have tights that wouldn't be too long.

I've been sticking the ones that work in a lingerie bag and getting good season-spanning luck, but one size up for me is immediately baggy without even having to throw it in the wash without a lingerie bag.

By the way, I looked at Nordstrom's at the bras because of your recommendation. They do indeed have many sizes and some pretty options. Most of the ones in my size were in the $70+ range, but if I ever have a bra emergency that's worth $70, I'll know where to go.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I've never met you and I don't actually understand the problem here. You're saying that you're too thin for the tights that are long enough? I'm sure another manufacturer will have something that fits you.

I think that well fitting lingerie is worth investing in, and have always bought the best bras I could possibly afford. Since they'll last several years, I justified an expensive initial outlay by considering the cost on a per-day basis. YMMV.

K.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the problem is that I'm generally (but not always!) too thin for the tights that are long enough for me. It's not even consistent within a hosiery company or a brand, and I haven't noticed more standardization now that I'm being decent hosiery than I was when I was buying the cheapest thing I could find.

One small will be too short for me, and the other supposedly identical pair I bought at the same time will be fine. One medium will be immediately baggy when I put it on, and the other supposedly identical pair will be fine. And it's not even that my size/shape is varying a lot from day to day -- this can be on the very same day, within a 5-10 minute interval. Of course, I've had some very strange hosiery experiences (one leg 3" longer than the other coming out of the package). I don't know if I just have the Bad Hosiery Luck or what.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Why is women's clothing so hard to figure out the sizes of? Men's clothing is pretty easy, overall. Why do they make it so hard for women?

Oi.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Women have more complex shapes than men, you may have noticed?

*And* much of their clothing is expected to conform to those shapes more exactly than men's clothing is.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

True, this is. Still, they could at least come up with a sane numbering scheme.

I understand that the size numbers have been changed several times.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The size numbers are constantly being changed. The size numbers vary from store to store.

But men's clothing does this, too. There are men's stores where a 34" waist allows for 36" of waist, and there are probably men's stores where a 36" waist only allows for 34" of waist. They just lie about different things.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I suppose I should just try stuff on, then?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think the latter is much more of a factor than the former. I mean, yes, there is the whole curve thing, but men don't all have the same proportions of waist and thigh and ass, either. It's not as extreme, but if clothes were expected to fit more exactly, it could make a much bigger difference in ease of clothes shopping.

Also, men who don't wear wetsuits do not have single garments that are supposed to fit them fairly exactly from shoulders to hips or knees or ankles. Not all women do, either, but dresses are a major fashion option for us, and most swimsuits are sold as a unit whether they're one piece or two.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Tights, schmights! Smartwool goes with everything. :)

[seagrit.livejournal.com]

I just try to avoid the issue altogether, regardless of whether or not I'm following the "rules" of fashion. If I want to wear a dress, it must be warm enough outside that I don't mind bare legs. Otherwise I go with pants or a long (warm!) skirt, with cotton socks and comfortable shoes. But I know you like wearing dresses...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes. I'm very comfortable in a dress and a good pair of tights. Emphasis on good....

And pants, we hates them, precious. Pants do not make shopping easier.