Just a related note.
If this happens as part of a EF migration roll-back/'Down()' method, they you can *consider* setting ANSI-Warnings to off & on before & after the column length-decrease (- 'Set Ansi_Warnings Off') - using the 'Sql()' method to do it, as the '-Force' option won't fix it; e.g.:
Sql(@"Set Ansi_Warnings Off");
AlterColumn("whitelabel.EquipItems", "Name", c => c.String(nullable: false, maxLength: 128));
Sql(@"Set Ansi_Warnings On");