This is a safety aspect. I usually wear a size 6 but sized up to a 6. I bought this waist trainer belt after reading another customers reviews. Had a lot of wear out of these in the summer. The controller surprisingly works very well but it suffers from being a retro design crammed with modern conveniences. And that fact that it has all your necessary B-Vitamins and Vitamin C was a HUGE bonus that attracted me to it. And we had to move them from the spot that we originally wanted to put them so that wed have more room to maneuver the bikes around. Returned item. 5 and these fit perfectly. The fabric is nice and thick, covers all the important things and does it well: not to mention in a stylish and not-at-all frumpy way.