If you buy women’s clothing, chances are you have had to fight for your damn life when online shopping — or even just regular shopping — because of how inconsistent sizing is across different brands, an issue that is especially prevalent in plus-size clothing. According to one TikToker’s findings, sizing issues have become so widespread that it’s gotten to the point where two items from the same company — in this case, Cotton On — can still vary wildly in their fit.
Aussie TikToker Chantel (@chantelbilly) posts videos about “midsize” fashion (clothing sizes between 10 and 16, which are the average sizes in Australia).
In a video that’s racked up more than 360,000 views in five days, the influencer hit out at fast fashion company Cotton On Group, who she claims has made its sizes smaller.
“Every year at the start of winter I order two or three crew neck sweaters from Cotton On or Factorie just to get me through the winter,” Chantel recounted.
She said she recently ordered new sweaters in a size XL (extra large) from Factorie for “a more baggy fit”. However, she was shocked to find that when they arrived that somehow they were too small on her — despite the fact that she sized up.
In order to prove her suspicion that it was the sweaters, not her, that had changed sizes over the years, she conducted an experiment.
Chanel laid out a size L green jumper from Factorie that she bought last year, and placed two new XL jumpers on top to compare the sizes. And, well, the footage is pretty damning — the new jumpers do indeed appear to be much smaller than the old jumper, despite the fact that they’re meant to be bigger in size.
Chantel claimed that the XL jumpers were the biggest sizes she could find, too, which left her feeling pretty frustrated and demoralised.
“I wouldn’t have cared if I had to buy an XXXXXL, even a fucking 8XL, I don’t care what it says on the tag,” she said. She just wants to be able to buy something and know it’ll fit.
Other TikTok users in the comment section of Chantel’s video have shared their own experiences with the sizing of Cotton On’s clothes.
“I’m an Aus 14 and Cotton On never fits me consistently! Sometimes I’m a 10 and sometimes their 16 doesn’t fit!” one user wrote.
Another TikToker said they ordered their “usual” size 10 in jeans from Cotton On, but they “couldn’t even get them over my thighs.”
“[I] went in store to exchange them and ended up trying the same jean style in the same size again because how TF do they not fit, and they fit perfectly,” they said.
“The company has no quality control.”
Others complained about Cotton On’s sweaters (“I bought a large so it would be big, it barely fits me and I’m usually a size S-M”), but overwhelmingly the complaints were about jeans (“I once bought two pairs of jeans in the exact same style, only difference was one was blue and one was black, but I had to go three sizes up in the blue because their 14s were smaller than the black 10s.”).
Cotton On Group owns eight brands: Cotton On, Rubi, Supre, Factorie, Cotton On Kids, Cotton On Body, Typo and Ceres.
It began as a denim jacket stall in Geelong in the 1980s, and grew into a transnational corporation.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Cotton On Group for comment.
