Same Brand, Two Size Charts: Which One Should You Use?

The gist — Open the size chart attached to the exact product you are buying, not the brand's general size guide. At three of the five brands we track, those two charts are different documents, and the gap runs up to two inches per size.

You found your size once and now you buy that letter everywhere. When it fails at the same brand you bought from last month, it feels like the brand changed. It didn't. You read a different chart.

Which size chart should you actually use?

The one that opens from the product page you are about to buy from. If the page has a "Size chart" or "Size guide" link next to the size buttons, that chart belongs to that style, and it outranks anything on the brand's site-wide sizing page.

It stops being obvious when a brand puts a tidy sizing page in the footer and you assume it covers the catalog. Baleaf's own size guide page carries no measurements at all — it points you back to the chart on each product. A footer link simply looks more official than a pop-up.

Does one brand only have one size chart?

Rarely. Here are two Bubblelime high-waist leggings, pulled from the chart embedded on each product page on Sept. 20, 2026, waist in inches:

Source: Bubblelime product page size charts, checked Sept. 20, 2026.

The hips move with it: 33" at XS on the first style, 35" on the second. Every rung is shifted two inches, so a 27" waist reads M on one page and S on the other. Both charts are live, on the same site, under the same brand name.

That two-inch step is roughly one whole size. If you once ordered the same brand twice and thought the second pair ran small, this is the likeliest reason — not the fabric, which we tested in does fabric change the size chart.

Is a size M the same M across one brand's leggings?

Not at Baleaf. Four of its fleece-lined leggings share one waist ladder; the water-resistant running legging uses a different one.

Source: Baleaf product size charts, checked Sept. 20, 2026.

Read the last row against the four above it. A 30" waist sits at the bottom of L on the yoga leggings and in the middle of M on the running pair. A 28" waist is a comfortable M on four styles and the very top of S on the fifth. The brand's wider catalog sprawls further still, which is why we counted its charts one by one in Baleaf's chart audit.

Why does the chart list a height next to your size?

Because it helps with length, not with size — and on some charts it has clearly been pasted in without checking. Baleaf's 25" fleece-lined yoga legging assigns XS and S to the same 5'0"–5'2" band, L and M to the same 5'2"–5'4" band, and XL, 2XL and 3XL all to 5'4"–5'6". Its 27" thermal legging, by contrast, climbs cleanly from 5'1"–5'3" at XS to 6'1"–6'3" at 3XL.

Both cannot be describing how bodies work. Treat a height column as a hint about where the hem will land and nothing more; the waist and hip rows are the ones the pattern was actually cut from. The length question has its own answer in inseam by height, and taller shoppers get the long version in the 31-inch roundup.

Is the inseam in the product name your inseam?

Sometimes. On Baleaf's 27" thermal legging the inseam grows with the size: 26.6" at XS, 27.4" at M, 28.3" at 3XL. The number in the title is roughly the middle of the range, not a promise.

On the 25" fleece-lined pair it is frozen at 25" for all seven sizes, so a 3XL gets the same leg length as an XS. And the petite version runs 24.6" to 26.4", overlapping the "regular" pair at the top of the range. Two inches of difference decides whether a hem stacks at the ankle or stops above it.

Does the chart measure you, or the leggings?

This is the line most charts bury, and it flips the whole comparison. CRZ Yoga's size guide tells you to put the tape on yourself — waist at the narrowest point, hips at the widest — and lists a single number per size: 24.4" at XS, 26.6" at S, 28.5" at M, 30.5" at L, 32.5" at XL.

Girlfriend Collective also measures the body but gives ranges that touch at the edges: M is 28–30.5" and L is 30.5–33", so a 30.5" waist appears in both. Bubblelime's chart ends with a different kind of note — it says the sizes were measured flat, meaning the garment on a table rather than the person in it.

Stack those three without reading the small print and you will conclude one brand runs huge. Do the comparison properly and the gap shrinks. We ran that exercise side by side in CRZ Yoga vs Girlfriend Collective.

What nobody tells you about size charts

• Charts carry typos, and nobody proofreads them. The 3XL hip row on Baleaf's water-resistant running legging currently reads 40–53" — a 13-inch range that starts below the 2XL hip. If a cell looks impossible, it probably is.
• The chart can change while the product doesn't. Brands re-grade patterns quietly, and the old reviews stay on the page underneath.
• "Runs small" reviews are usually chart confusion. Before you size up on the strength of three reviews, check whether the reviewers were even reading the same chart you are.

What should you do when two charts disagree?

Work in this order, and it takes about a minute.

• Open the chart on that product page. Ignore the footer sizing page unless the product has no chart of its own.
• Check whether it says body or flat. If it says flat or garment, it is describing the leggings, and the number will be smaller than your body.
• Use waist first, then hip. When they land on different letters, the waistband is what you will actually feel all day — the reasoning is in stuck between two sizes.
• Read the inseam row, not the title. If the chart shows one inseam for all sizes, expect the hem to move on you.
• Screenshot it. If the pair arrives wrong, the chart you bought from is your evidence, and it may not be on the page any more.

Do this once per brand and you build a short personal list: charts you trust, charts you re-check. Shopping high waist yoga pants across several brands in one session, that list saves more returns than any single measurement does. Start from your own numbers with how to measure, then check the letters against five brands' labels.

FAQ

Why does the same brand use different size charts?

Usually because the styles come from different patterns or factories. A running tight and a fleece yoga legging stretch differently, so the brand grades them separately and never reconciles the two charts.

Should I trust the chart or the reviews?

The chart, if it lists waist and hip in inches. Reviews are useful for opacity, waistband roll and pilling, which no chart covers — see the waist-to-hip drop for why the fit complaints cluster where they do.

What if a product page has no size chart at all?

Use the brand's general chart, then size by hip rather than waist. The hip has less stretch to hide behind, and a hip that fits usually pulls the waistband into place.

Sources — CRZ Yoga size guide; Girlfriend Collective sizing; Baleaf size guide; Baleaf product charts for the 27" thermal, 25" fleece-lined, brushed fleece, petite fleece-lined and water-resistant running leggings; Bubblelime product page size charts for styles BWWB008 and BWWB009. All checked Sept. 20, 2026.