The results of "How big are your thighs?"-survey!

Some time ago, I created a survery, as I had a theory that the most common tights size-charts do no account for the diverse ranges our bodies (and thighs, specifically) come in.

Well, the results are in!

Some notes first, though:

Only the first 100 answers are free for me to read, so they are the only ones included. Which, is a shame, as I noticed around the 60mark that I didn't have so many 250lbs+ answers, so when I continued to spread the survey link, I specifically called out for the heavier women.  I can tell this was listened to, as the later respondents tend to be heavier, so I assume those beyond the 100 first responses would have represented that range better.

Another thing to note, is that out of these 100, only 86 people provided enough information - I had a few that answered "no idea" to all but the height for example, which is very difficult to use in any regard to tights.

To present the data, I've used the size guides that I mentioned in the original post: Evans and WeLoveColors:

According to Evans, I got 49 (57%) women as size 1, 31 (36%) as size 2 and 5 (6%) for size 3.

For We Love Colors, I got 8 (9%) for Medium, 9 (10%) for Tall, 22 (26%) for 1X, 11 (13%) for 2X, 21 (24%) for 3X and 14 (16%) for 4X.

They both use height, but one uses hip measurement, and the other uses weight, so continuing with the theory that we are very diverse, this will give very different sizes.

So, let's see diverse the results are.

For all those who fell into the "size 1" at Evans, here is what their sizes were at We Love Colors:

WeLoveColors sizes

Hmm! That seems a little odd, eh? Can it really be right, that tights in size 1 from Evans is to fit both those who go for Medium or 4X at other tight manufactors?

Well, since my theory is that most tight size-charts inadequate, so let's see how these ladies compare with their regular jean sizes:

Jeans sizes

Well, that's probably more diverse! From a UK size 4 to 32! There seems to be no system at all.

And last, let's see how their tighs match up:

Thighs

There's 15" difference between the largest and smallest thighs who would be recommended the size 1! It seems quite unlikely that these women would have much success trying to follow the chart.

Going on to those in Evan tights size 2 we see much of the same trend:

WeLoveColors sizes

Again we see that the women who are recommended the same size at Evans, will be recomneded widely different sizes at WeLoveColors. Though, it's worth it to note that there are no Medium's this time around, so they do afterall follow along a little bit.

Jeans sizes

Here both the smallest and largest sizes we saw for jeans sizes in Evans size 1 are gone, but this is most likely due to the smaller sample size. So this batch just about as diverse in their regular sizes as the one before.

Thighs

Again we see that the largest thigh is almost twice as big as the smallest! How could the possibly fit the same tights?

For Evans Size 3, I had too few respondents (5) for it make sense to graph. This is probably partly down to the fact that I had a bit too few of the largest ladies, and the very important reason, that it takes a lot to be an Evans Size 3: I'm pretty sure a 5'3" women with 61" hips will in many cases need at least as wide tights as a 5'5" women with 57" hips, yet the shorter women will be catagorized as a size 2.

All the women who were size 3 at Evans, were size 4X at WeLoveColors, and their thighs were between 31"-43", and jeans sizes from UK 26 to 34. Even with so few respondents, that's a huge diversity still!


So, there you have it, that's how the tight sizing compare to both each other, but also to what usually fits our bottoms as well as our actual tigh size.

In the comments section of my survey, the vast majority felt exactly like me about the sizing: It always ends up to small!
A problem I ignorantly hadn't considered was the diverse heights as well: A lot of complaints were from shorter women who always ended up with way to long, as well as to narrow, tights: This of course makes sense when looking at the typical height/weight size chart: Often the shortst heights aren't represented at all - and if you then choose only by the weight, they are made for 5'7"+ for example, as is the case for the larger sizes with WeLoveColors. Or, it will be done as Evans, where a short women will be recommened a smaller size than a taller but narrower women, thus ending up with perhaps good lengt, but way to narrow.

So, my theory that tight sizing does not match up well with actual sizes needed, is looking pretty likely!

Plus size ladies: How big are your thighs?

I hope some of you will do me the favor of answering this quick survey, asking for you height, weight, and thigh measurement, and jeans-size :)

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LMDKXNL

Why I'm curious:
When buying tights, it bothers me that they size chart is often based on height and weight (even rarely including hip-measurement) With such diversity in bodies, I feel like this can't possible be accurate size-advice. And I've seen the inaccurcy on my own body too: I know my thighs are proportionally larger than so many other women, so I always make sure to buy at least a size larger than recommended - yet, they are still too small.

For my last 2 tight purchase, I've payed extra attention to how I matched their sizing chart:

I bought pairs from WeLoveColors: I weigh 225lbs, and I'm almost 5'9", so their 3X size ought to be enough - I could even have had 35lbs more on a 2" shorter body (thus, you'd expect the body to be wider), and my hip measurement of 49" was also within the limit - I opted for the 4X, though, which ought to fit someone who is 105lbs heavier than me while being 3" shorter - additionally, the hip-measurement is for "over 50" - they don't state how much 'over', but their other sizes can accomodate a difference between 8"-10", so I'd think these were up to 58"ish, which is much larger than me.

But, you guessed it, when they arrived, they were too small at the thigh.

I also purchased from Evans - their sizing chart puts me in a 'size 2', which is for 49"-55" hips (so I'm the smallest hip they are made for), a height of 5'7"-5'10" (So I'm smack in the middle). Yet again, I opt for a larger size, which is made for hips up to 62" (they even recommend that if you are under 5'4", you should take the smaller size, even if your hip still measures 62")

Yet, again, too small: I couldn't even get them over my knee!

It might just be me who is build in such a way no tight-producer even thought of, but I still find it difficult to believe that they would fit the majority of people they say they do. Thus, I want to use this survey, to see just how different sized thighs we have, even if we fit the same criteria for hip and height/weight!