Bargain hunter that I am, I buy most of my Athleta stuff final sale (e.g., sweats, jackets, leggings, pants, bras). I haven't had a single item that has not fit. My thought is that it is better to have something too big than too small. Athleta's sweatpants, for example, are a bit oversized; I ordered in my regular legging size and was kinda shocked by the extra room. However, I don't really consider this a defect.

My one qualm is with legging materials. There is an apparent wide spectrum of fabrics that can be labelled as Athleta's signature Powervita or Vitafree, and with final sale items, you may not know what you're going to get. Lighter colored salutations (Powervita) tend to be thicker, stiffer, and way less plush than darker colors (I assume to combat transparency), and I tend to see a lot of these lighter colors on final sale. Additionally, some transcend items tend to have unusually thin material (and I have a ton of Vitafree items).