Shopping for clothes could be seen as an adventure into the unknown or as a challenging labyrinth of price tags. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to the size tag.   

It’s a universal hassle of squeezing into a small claustrophobic room to try something on only to find it a size too small or too big. It’s not a distaste only shared with women, but men as well.

Clothing suppliers, like Macy’s and Old Navy, all have their own idea of sizes for the normal person. For example, a person goes to H&M to buy a regular T-shirt. But it turns out the size is way too small, even if the tag is marked as their size. So they venture to another store only to find that the size there is two sizes too big.

It’s an annoying struggle that many can relate to, though women have this issue more than men. Clothing sizes for men follow measurements using measuring tape, unlike women’s clothing which is limited to phoney numbers on what the company thinks is the size of the product.

I don’t enjoy shopping for various reasons. It’s because stores are just way too crowded and I can’t walk out of a dressing room without thinking that someone is judging me. It’s not my fault that some stores don’t have my size. This is an opinion I share with freshmen Debbie Zuleta, who wears a size small.

“Sometimes they don’t have large, medium or an extra small,” Zuleta said.

I share a house dominated by men so I know a thing or two about their fashion choices. It mostly consists of oversized    T-shirts and some pants they found that fit. No specific system, no tricky numbers.

“I think people should have the size people need. I go to a store and I look at the sizes and they don’t have my size, that irritates me,” sophomore Ethan Coffee said.

Stores have been accused of “vanity sizing,” the act of selling larger sizes than what it says on the tag, as stated in, “Here’s How Sizing Varies at Different Retailers,” published in 2014 by Business Insider. It could  be seen that the fashion world is  trying to make people feel better about themselves or that retailers are being dishonest about the products they sell.

A size small in stores like Forever 21 and American Apparel is actually a size large in other stores such as Banana Republic and Gap. Stores should have the same sizing standards to make it less confusing for the public.

However, the public can’t leave all the responsibilities to retailers. Mentally preparing oneself and having a strategy when  looking for what to buy, like high-waist pants, a shirt that’s a few sizes bigger or making your own fashion statement, can make a world of a difference.