Fashion’s Fit Con — How Brands Rig Sizing to Keep You Hooked
Vanity Sizing
Research shows vanity sizing can boost loyalty while driving waste. In the UK, online apparel returns reached an estimated 40% in 2022, costing around £7 billion. Globally, return losses were reported near $890 billion in 2024. Many items are never resold — they’re destroyed or dumped, undermining sustainability pledges.
The shopper experience
A size 10 in one brand can be a 12 or an 8 in another. Size charts rarely help: most people don’t know their exact measurements and translating them across hundreds of brand charts is slow and error-prone. The result is risk-averse shopping and high returns.
Two types of sizing solutions — and why they fall short
For retailers (embedded tools)
• True Fit — Personalised fit recommendations embedded on retailer sites. Helps reduce returns but keeps insights locked within each store, reinforcing loyalty silos.
• Fit Finder (Fit Analytics) — Quick size suggestions based on body data and prior purchases, used by major e-commerce players. Requires retailer participation; recommendations are confined to each partner’s catalogue.
• YourFit / similar virtual try-on tools — Visual try-ons and body mapping to assist fit. Useful within partnered stores but not portable across the market.
For consumers (direct-to-consumer tools)
• SizeCharter — Cross-brand comparisons with limited brand coverage and less real-time accuracy across the breadth of the market.
Tellar.co.uk — fit without the guesswork
Tellar.co.uk is independent, free, and built for consumers. It matches your exact body measurements to the size charts of 1,500+ brands in real time, or converts a size you already know from one brand to another — instantly and without bias.
• Real-time, cross-brand accuracy: proprietary data matching across 1,500+ brands.
• Two easy inputs: add your measurements (with our free printable measuring tape) or start from a size you already wear.
• Truly independent: no retailer lock-in, no paywall — built to help you shop confidently anywhere.
“Vanity sizing isn’t just about flattering the shopper — it’s about stopping them from looking elsewhere. We give people the confidence to try any brand knowing exactly what will fit.” — Ella Blake, Founder, Tellar.co.uk
Visit Tellar.co.uk: https://www.tellar.co.uk
Find your size now: https://www.tellar.co.uk/store-size-lookup/
Key facts & Sources
• UK online apparel returns estimated near 40% in 2022 (Vogue Business: https://www.voguebusiness.com/consumers/why-the-uk-online-returns-rate-is-so-high), costing roughly £7bn.
• Global retail return losses reported near $890bn in 2024 (Techstyle Edit: https://techstyleedit.com/2024/04/global-return-losses-report).
• Vanity sizing increases loyalty but contributes to waste (Fytted & Arizona State University Study: https://www.fytted.com/blog/vanity-sizing-study-arizona-state-university).
• Tellar.co.uk provides independent, real-time size recommendations across 1,500+ brands.
About Tellar.co.uk
Tellar.co.uk is the UK’s leading direct-to-consumer sizing tool and Fashion Hub — an interactive, searchable, free, honest, unbiased library with thousands of posts on brands, styling and sizing. Tellar.co.uk reduces returns, simplifies shopping, and helps people buy better.
Media contact
Ella Blake, Brand Director, Tellar.co.uk
Email: business@tellar.co.uk | Website: https://www.tellar.co.uk