Yeah, I see this too. I always used to be a M in t-shirts, but I've gradually changed into a XL or even XXL, even though I am the same weight. With shoes, I used to be a certain 11, now a 10.

I can't explain the shoes thing, but I think the clothes issue is because so many of them are made in China that the sizing now reflects the size range of smaller people.

dg, here as we all get progressively bigger, in women's clothing, I think it's part marketing, like, I'm supposed to be more willing to buy an item of clothing if I fit into a ten instead of a twelve, even though thirty years ago, I'd be a twenty. And I see the point of that, marketing wise. but why am I supposed to feel better about fitting in a smaller shoe?!? Feet aren't fat! Feetz is feetz!

Hm, that is strange. I don't think they will resort to vanity sizing for shoes but you never know. I do know of people that would prefer their shoe size remain a secret.

I was always a perfect 9. Now I am a 10. I was a 9.5 after my first child. After two, I'm a 10.

Strange, I had shirts in high school that I bought as an XL that still fit me now even though in today's clothes I wear a 3X. And those XLs aren't even snug.

I sew clothes sometimes. I can be a 14 in RTW and a 22 in patterns. It's a bubble burster.

NO NO I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT, I'd rather believe that my feet are losing weight.

Numbered/lettered sizes are pretty arbitrary anyway; they have changed constantly since they were invented, which wasn't even until at least the 1940s. Before that, people's clothes fit them, because they were either made or tailored to the individual. Nobody expected to be some given size or other, because there were none of these concepts we call "sizes" -- there were just your unique set of measurements.

It makes sense to be frustrated with the disorientation caused by changing sizes - shoe, dress, or other - but it helps me some to realize that the sizes themselves weren't something handed down on a stone tablet by God himself. They were marketing solutions to the problem of selling mass-manufactured clothing to a human populace whose proportions are not standardized, and are all over the place.

I'm two different sizes of two different styles (sandals and oxfords)of the same brand!

My feet are about a half-size apart so I wind up with a bitch of a time finding shoes. (Especially since they'll range from 10-11 depending on the hour.)

Clothes are a whole other clusterfuck. Especially Old Navy. One would think that tow pairs of pants in the same style, cut, color, size, etc, would fit the same. Nope! One will be too short and the other will be too long.

My feet grew over the past year - I was an 8 1/2, now I'm a 9. Perhaps "downsizing" will work in my favor if they grow again while I'm preggo. It's always hard to find cute shoes in larger sizes - maybe this trend will save me.