I'll be honest they've done something odd at North Face in the past year or so. I have my circa 2003-04 pink Denali fleece, size large. It is getting a little worn on the inside from rubbing against my pants that have rivets. It still fits and I wear it. I was at REI in January and considered getting a newer one in a different color and it didn't fit, went up a size, still didn't fit, yet I had on my original one which fits just fine. I don't think that I've gotten a bigger chest or shoulders, and the salesperson told me that people had been making comments about the sizing. I just looked online and I think they are making them longer and more womanly cut, but mine was for zipping into a jacket so that would be a problem anyway.
Considering that kind of sizing change, and that your friend wore hers out, perhaps something is afoot at the North Face design center and factory. Maybe it was a bad batch, but I was not impressed and went with Arc'Teryx which didn't make me question my perception of my body.
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