I doubt 32" jeans are 32 inches either. It's just "a size formerly related to inches, now denoted 32 or 32" but not really inches". I think imperial remains for a lot of these "sizes" which aren't quite the same as "measuring". I call my TV 55 in, but if you were to ask me to measure it, I'd call it something in centimeters.
Yes. An extreme example: "Shoe size in the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Pakistan and South Africa is based on the length of the last used to make the shoes, measured in barleycorns (1⁄3 inch) starting from the smallest size deemed practical, which is called size zero." (Wikipedia)
