Shopping for jeans is, for most women, a particularly stressful pastime.
From the stretch in the denim and the room in the waist to the length in the legs, finding even two pairs of jeans that have been created equal often seems like an impossible task - which is why a viral Facebook post highlighting the discrepancy in jeans sizing has struck such a chord.
Lucy Horsley, from East Yorkshire, took to the social media site to share a picture of two pairs of jeans from her own collection - one a size 14 from New Look, the other a size 18 from River Island. Bizarrely considering their labelling, the size 14 pair appear to be significantly larger around the waist than those that are supposed to be a size 18.
'So the black jeans are a size 14 from new look and the blue ones are a size 18 from river island. How on earth can the bigger size be smaller?!' she exclaimed.
'No wonder so many girls have confidence issues and hate buying new clothes, why can't the sizing be the same in every shop??'
'NOTE - as this seems to be causing arguments, both of these jeans are high waisted, super skinny and super stretchy with the exact same fastening.'
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Since she uploaded it at the end of January, Lucy's post has had more than 18,000 shares, and received comments from women across the country who've faced similar struggles.
'I can't believe this, I'm one of these people that gets easily upset in the changing room and finds it hard to buy the next size up as it really effects my confidence and worries about my weight,' one wrote. 'This just highlights the truth of sizing from shop to shop but this could also be so dangerous for young girls.'
'The crazy world of clothes buying. It does impact on how some women feel as public pressure is huge to be small and a certain size,' another agreed.
'I do think it is time this country came up with size guidelines and EVERY WOMAN should take back and ask for refunds under false advertising for incorrectly sized clothes. Inform the ombudsman every time. They soon get fed up of thousands of complaints and will enforce this.'
After her post took off, Lucy spoke to the Daily Mail to explain why she felt it so important to show the difference between the two pairs.
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'I tried a size 14 on in them all and I couldn't get any of them past my bum cheeks. So I got the bigger sizes but still none were comfy enough,' she said.
'I realised it wasn't me and it was the clothing itself. I was so shocked by the difference, it's disgraceful.
'From being a girl who has always fluctuated with weight, it really hurt me. I felt embarrassed buying size 18 jeans.'
'I know people say it doesn't matter what it says on the label, but to a lot of women it does and I feel I can speak on behalf of the majority of women that sizing does matter and has a huge influence on your confidence and self esteem.'
