This should become less of a
problem in the
near future. It seems there was never any set
size that
clothing manufacturers went from, it was kind of an
arbitrary thing, which is why they
somewhat match, but not
always and not well.
Men have an easier time with, say,
pants because their
sizes are based on the
measurements and not anything else.
There's some large project that's been going on where they've been using technology to measure the sizes of the bodies of a large number of people of all races and sizes to try and set up a standardized system for clothing sizes. If I remember correctly, within the next year or two a few clothing manufacturers will be able to start using the data to better design clothing, as they helped with the project, and then not long after everyone will have access to the measurements.