By Stephanie Stoughton
The Virginian- Pilot

Pat Stecker suspected that the smallest skirts in the department store weren't so small anymore. It was almost as if they had grown and taken on a life of their own. They puffed out here, bagged out there and hung oddly from her body.

"I thought it was my imagination," said Stecker, a 52-year-old Norfolk, Va., homemaker and community volunteer. "But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out."

It's the mystery that clothing designers are reluctant to discuss. But there's a legion of puzzled shoppers who'd like an answer: Why is a size 8 not a size 8 anymore? And women like Stecker have another question: Why have you sized us almost completely out of the market?

The phenomenon frustrates shoppers, sales staff and those in the industry who have been screaming for changes. In the past decade, women's apparel sizes on average have dropped at least twice. That means what we now call a size 8 was a size 12 about seven years ago, said William Rankin of Dress Rite Forms, one of several companies that mold dummies for designers and manufacturers.

Here's what happened:

"First, it started with the big name designers, and then the entire industry had to follow suit," said Rankin. Everyone followed the industry leaders because if they didn't, "They'd be killed," he said. After all, if a woman likes two dresses and can afford one, which would she buy: the size 8 or the size 12?

It makes sense to designers and manufacturers because the average American woman is gaining weight. We are heavier than our mothers, and our children are expected to be even bigger, said Jan Larkey; author of "Flatter Your Figure."

"Manufacturers have discovered that as women mature, they gain weight, and they don't necessarily like to be a size 10 and then a size 12 and then 14," Larkey said. "So, they lower the number on the size tag.

Don't expect much sympathy from the industry, which sees thins, slims and even some average sized women as a shrinking pool of shoppers.

Spurned, dismayed and annoyed, the small and slim women of America are rebelling. Some refuse to shop. Some buy the smallest sizes from catalogs and return what doesn't fit - a costly experience for catalog companies. Others buy what they can and head for tailors. A true sign of desperation is the number of women hunting through children's stores.

An alternative is buying less expensive clothing. There, manufacturers tend to reduce costs by using less fabric, so: clothing tends to run smaller, industry observers said.

Career women who want quality clothing may consider more expensive solutions. One option is buying oversized clothing and toting it to tailors - one group that has clearly benefited from the down sizing trend.

"Our sizes are true sizes," said a spokeswoman for Ellen Tracy, a designer clothing company. "We haven't changed them."

D

ress Rite's Rankin laughs. Designers call in with measurements - waist, bust and hips. Then they'll say, "make it a size 8," even though they were previously calling it a size 10, he said. "I think they all do it."

Indianapolis Star