Have you been lying to your customers to improve the customer experience?

You look marvelous! Have you lost some weight? Well, not really, but thanks for looking at me through your waist reduction glasses!

Did you read about the men's pants waist size investigation conducted by Esquire? Esquire’s investigation found that several men's pants brands are making waist sizes appear smaller to make their customers feel better. For example, pants from The Gap that say they are 36 inches are actually 39 inches, pants from Dockers that claim to have a 36 inch waist actually have a 39.5 inch waist, and Old Navy’s 36 inch waist really measures 41 inches.

Gentlemen, welcome to the world of "vanity sizing," and as its name suggests, it is designed to satisfy buyers' wishes to appear thin and feel better about themselves. In doing so the store hopes to sell more clothes, and to create loyalty so you keep coming back to them. It is a practice so widespread throughout the fashion industry that most shoppers accept that negotiating size inconsistencies between stores is built into the shopping experience. And since clothing sizes are not standardized the manufacturer is not technically lying to you.

I’ve discovered that my wife isn’t buying it. She told me you can’t take 10 pounds of stuff and jam it into a 5 pound bag because at the end of the day … it’s still 10 pounds. That means my diet and exercise program is not going to get waved anytime soon. It also means I need to start taking time to try things on - or make sure I can return the clothing if it doesn’t fit. Actually, I was trying to save time and avoid the fitting process, and I hate waiting in return lines.

Now that I consider all those factors my customer experience would improve if the labels would just state the correct size.