After losing more than 70 pounds, Katy Hamilton noticed her jeans were too big, so she decided to hit the mall in search of a new pair.
“I saw Express had a ‘buy one, get one for $20’ sale for jeans, so obviously I stopped in,” she told TODAY Style.
Hamilton grabbed two pairs of their low-rise legging jeans (one black, one dark blue) in the exact same size and cut. The only difference should have been the color. "Should" being the operative word...
“I tried on the dark blue ones first and was pretty excited ... they were a little loose around my hips,” she said. “Then I grabbed the black ones — expecting the same results and a really solid deal on a second pair of jeans — but this time, I couldn't even get them over my thighs.”
She was sure she just grabbed the wrong size and was shocked when she saw they were both marked 10 on every label and tag. If that’s not proof that women's clothing sizes don't make sense, we’re not sure what is!
On a whim, Hamilton decided to share her experience on Instagram. “I had been snapping pics of things I was trying on to send to a friend for an upcoming trip, so I already had my phone out, knew I had a decent platform of people who can relate and felt really compelled to remind people that the sizing is what needs to be fixed, not our bodies.
“Having lost more than 70 pounds, I know all too well what it’s like try on one item of clothing after another that doesn't fit and internalize it,” she said.
Hamilton shared with TODAY Style that she really just wanted to spread some body positivity and self-love to remind people that: 1) objectively, the sizing here was wrong, 2) she understands what it's like to find faults in her body instead of clothes and 3) laugh at how ridiculous this specific example was.
“I think sizing inconsistencies are, unfortunately, really common. In this case, the frustration was that these jeans weren’t just a little tight or a little loose; the fit was probably a difference of three sizes! At the end of the day, it is what it is, but it's pretty ridiculous and seems like there should be an easy fix.”
Hamilton's message to other women (and men): "We shouldn’t be defined by some arbitrary size. I'm a huge proponent of finding the value we place in our lives and ourselves outside of numbers — calories, followers, salaries, weight or clothing sizes — and wanted to spread that message to others."
We couldn’t agree more!