You guessed it: Loving, old corporate America strikes again. Studies (like this one ) show that when people feel thinner, they feel better about themselves, and are more likely to go ahead and swipe the credit card. Yes, fitting into a smaller size actually raises your self-esteem so much so that you are more likely to purchase an item. Conversely, research in this study also showed that if a consumer didn’t fit into the size they thought they were (for example European brands are notorious for running small), the negative sentiment transferred to the item they were trying on and they were less likely to purchase it.Vanity sizing is a psychological attack that can hurt your mind, confidence, and wallet. It feels as though, as a society, we are finally making some progress with body diversity and plus-size representation, slowly moving away from being obsessed with the numbers sewn into our pants (or showing on the scale), but vanity sizing is a constant negative reinforcer. A number of inches of fabric is not a measurement that can be interpreted — 28 inches is 28 inches, no matter which store you're standing in. Garment sizing should be standardised industry-wide for the consumer's sake. There should be no case-by-case interpretation of what it means to be a size four.Though seemingly inconsequential, vanity sizing affects all of us in a negative way. Even if an individual doesn't notice the problematic practice, vanity sizing adds fuel to fire in terms of misinformation about weight. We aren’t going to change the fabric of our skinny-obsessed culture overnight, but instead piece by piece. We need to look at all the factors that contribute to our skewed perception of size, and neutralise them. A piece of fabric with a number on it does not define us, which is why we need to standardise sizes. Clothing sizes are a utility — a measurement of cloth, not the measure of who you are.