'Our value should never come from a number' Woman praised for revealing the huge discrepancy in clothing sizes

A woman has been praised for exposing the problems with clothing sizes in her recent Instagram picture.

The poster, known only as Katy, caused quite the stir when she snapped an image of herself trying on jeans at American retailer Express, only to realise the shocking sizing differences between two identical pairs of jeans.

'LOL sizing is SUCH bullsh*t 😂😂', she captioned the split image, where in one picture the jeans stop at her thighs, and in the other the waistband gapes around her hips. 'These are both a size 10 short from express in their low rise leggings.'

'Literally the same store, cut, size, etc. The one was a hair too big & the other didn't even go over my thighs.'

It's a scene that many women will recognise, and one that can certainly affect self-esteem - which is why Katy felt it so important to call attention to the issue online.

'My reason for sharing is...If you ever find yourself in a fitting room ready to bust into tears when something doesn't fit (we've all been there, myself included...millions of times...ask my mom) REMEMBER THIS PIC!' she continued.

'There are times I'm a small, times I cant even muscle into a large, times a 10 falls off my hips & times, like this, it doesn't even get past my thighs. Sizing is silly...no one will know if you had to bump up or down because of the cut, style, or likely completely wrong sizing on the store's part. You mean so much more than fitting into the smallest size you can. Our value should never come from a number...on the scale or in our clothes.'

In the comments section, Katy's followers have rushed to praise her honesty and share stories of their own similar experiences.

'I complain about this all the time!' agreed one commenter. 'Sometimes I'm a 4 and sometimes I'm a 12. How does that work? It's ridiculous. My husband can just grab his size and be done. Not fair.'

Another said: 'Thank you. Why does the industry have to treat women like this? our razors cost more, are clothes are more cheaply made and we often aren't even previleged[sic] to have hello most of the time.'