I've always pretty much have had a 30" length (or inseam I guess) when it comes to pants. The waist has changed, but I have neither shrunk nor grown taller.
The past few years it seems like whenever I buy pants that have a 30" inseam, they are always at least 2" too long. Im not talking fancy dress pants, but regular old khakis (dockers, savanne, etc)...
Anyone else notice this??
haha, yes
it has been going on for a while actually.
plenty of marketing studies have shown that people tends to purchase more garments if they are of the size they have convinced themselves they wear, or the would like to wear.
this is especially true for women's garments and i detest it because it makes it particularly difficult to shop clothing for the wifey.
a dress that was size 6 10 years ago today is size 4 or even 2, so the ladies don't have to face the fact that they grew bigger. pretty sad.
the inconsistencies between brands are unbelievable, and even within the same brand at different times the 'size' has become completely useless.
not to mention the small/medium/large system where they don't even try to have any sort of industry standard
measures used to correspond to actual measurements, but not anymore.
now they are all relative and allow much more marketing leverage.
that said, man's pants sizes have remained much more consistent (for example levi's sizes haven't change, i don't think), but not all size 30 have the same waist length.
edit: here is a link on
'vanity sizing'