Sometimes the shirt you want in your size is sold out or you're not sure if a bigger or smaller shirt would fit you better. Since I haven't seen any blogs that covered the way that different sizes fit on the same person (in this sort of detail), I figured it was time that someone put the information out there.

My stats: I'm 5'6" and I weigh about 125ish pounds (a lot of which is muscle). I wear a size 2 (US) in sized shirts, a 34C in bras (because it does make a big difference in how a shirt fits) and have somewhat broad shoulders.

First up, a size comparison with the shirts laid flat:



The black shirt on the bottom is a washed (non-Threadless) FOTL men's small. The grey shirt second from the bottom is an unwashed/unshrunk girly large Revenge Of The Sushi. The cream shirt above the grey is an unwashed/unshrunk girly medium Robin Redbreast. On top is an unwashed/unshrunk girly small Polar Gardening.

As you can see from the comparison picture, the unwashed girly large's body is about the same width as the washed FOTL men's small but the shoulders are wider and the sleeves slightly longer.

Straw8erry333 has provided the following picture showing the difference between a washed girly large (top), an unwashed girly x-large (middle) and an unwashed guys small (bottom).



(The bottom width of the girly XL and the guys small are the same.)

The following are pictures of me wearing the various sizes:

Girly Small:




Girly Medium (the size I normally wear because I prefer a slightly less-form fitting fit):




Girly Large:




Hoodie size comparison (laid flat, XS and S unwashed, M washed in cold water/no drier):



Medium (brown) hoodie on the bottom, Small (charcoal) in the middle, X-Small (navy) on top.

As you can see from the picture, Small hoodies are noticeably wider than X-Small hoodies, in spite of what the size chart claims. The body length of all is roughly the same on the Small and Medium hoodies while the sleeve length decreases slightly as you go down in size.

I also have pictures of me wearing (unwashed/unshrunk) hoodies for comparison:

XS hoodie with a tee underneath:


XS hoodie without a tee underneath:


S hoodie without a tee underneath:


Medium hoodie:


For those wondering how much Threadless shirts/hoodies shrink in the wash (under optimum, non-shrinking circumstances, meaning cold water, handwash cycle, no drier and laid flat to dry - none of these have been intentionally shrunk, just washed under optimum conditions), I've put together a few images to help you see the differences:

Unwashed Girly Medium (red, bottom) vs. washed Girly Medium (brown, middle) vs. Unwashed Girly Small (sea foam, top):



As you can see, an unwashed Girly Medium stays the same width but shrinks lengthwise about one to two full hems' length (from the bottom of the tee to the stitched line at the bottom) - how much seems to depend on the actual beginning dimensions of the shirt* (AA shirts, particularly those of different colors, tend to be a bit irregular in length) - and is a bit shorter, but still wider, than an unwashed Girly Small.

* An important note about this picture: I compared the washed brown tee to an unwashed brown tee and the difference was confined to 1 hem's length at the bottom of the tee with no changes anywhere else, so the more extreme difference shown here might be due to differences among the colors of AA shirts. I would have used the other brown tee for this comparison shot, but it would have been hard to tell where one started and the other ended with them lying on top of one another.

Unwashed Girly Medium:



Washed Girly Medium:



Unwashed Girly Small:



Unwashed Medium hoodie (first picture) vs. washed (cold water/no drier) Medium hoodie (second picture):



(My apologies for the bad picture and horribly clashing outfit, I put the hoodie on over my pajamas because I was too lazy to get dressed.)


The before washing picture is on top, the after washing picture on the bottom. In this case, the hoodie shunk all over somewhat (enough to makea difference in fit). It actually fits better now. The sleeves have shortened and the body has shrunk in width and in length.

Hopefully this helps my fellow ladies trying to decide what size to buy or whether a shirt in a given size will fit! And possibly a few guys wondering if a Girly L will fit (or whether the sleeves will be too short). :)

Things to look for in the future:

* I'll be slowly adding Threadless Custom tee sizes to the blog. Whether I buy the new tees or not in the near future depends on which designs are printed on them. I'm planning on buying Small and Medium in the new Custom Tees to get a feel for the fit, so those two will definitely be up here at some point. Whether simultaneously or separately, I don't know at this point.

* I’m not sure if I’ll ever be adding a XL girly shirt to my images of me wearing the tees because I think it’s going to be too big to be flattering (hence my not wanting to buy one, but if one comes my way, even temporarily, it’ll be added). I'm not ruling it out entirely, though.