A woman shared this photo of 'unrealistically small' H&M jeans to send an important message about clothing sizing

Ruth Clemens/Facebook

Clothing company American Eagle recently faced scrutiny after a young shopper's complaints about inconsistent sizing went viral. 

Now the spotlight is on H&M after a woman called out the brand on Facebook for selling "unrealistically small" clothing. 

Ruth Clemens tried on a pair of size 16 jeans-the largest size H&M stocks-at the Leeds branch of the retail chain. She could not even button the pants. 

The 25-year-old posted a powerful open letter to H&M on the company's Facebook page - including a photo of herself wearing the too-small jeans. The post has since been shared over 9,000 times. 

"I am not overweight (not that that should matter) and although I'm 5 foot 11 my body is pretty average shape-wise," Clemens wrote in the post. "It's already difficult enough for me to find clothes that fit well because of my height, why are you making jeans that are unrealistically small?"

Her message racked up thousands of comments as people agreed that H&M's clothing sizing is skewed. 

"Everyone is welcome at H&M. H&M works with the same measurements and sizes within all concepts and we work with the same sizing system on all 62 markets and online," the company said in a statement to Insider. "However the fit of a garment may vary depending on fit and style, cut or fabric."

H&M made a similar comment when replying to Clemen's post: