Shoppers should know that sizes vary by label

Dec 10, 2009, 9:52 GMT

Cologne, Germany - When women go into the fitting room to try on a garment they've taken off a rack in their usual size and suddenly find it hangs loosely on their body it can leave them with the impression they've been on a slimming diet.

But after their initial happiness, they quickly become sceptical and there's a good reason why because there are actually no uniform sizes. Sales assistants should bear in mind that every clothing maker follows its own size guidelines. The industry doesn't consider truly standard sizing a practical idea.

It shouldn't be that way, said Petra Bleibohm of a German fashion association. People are not all the same. Many clothing makers regulate their sizes according to the style of the house and the targeted market. Lastly, they consider the average size. In Germany this was most recently determined in 2007 and 2008 by a size survey conducted within the framework of an organization called Size Germany.

'The last measurements prior to that were done in 1994 for women. For men the last measurements were taken almost 30 years ago,' said Rose-Marie Riedel of the international textile research centre Hohenstein Institute. The research centre conducted the measurement project together with the body scanner company Human Solutions. From July 2007 until October 2008 a team measured about 13,400 men, women and children throughout Germany between the ages of 6 and 87.

And this is how the proportions in Germany have changed: Women on average are 1 centimetre taller than in 1994, their breast measurement is 2.3 centimetres bigger and their waistline is 4.1 centimetres bigger. The hip measurement also is larger - by 1.8 centimetres - than 15 years ago.

'The measurements resulted in an average-sized woman, which is just a prototype that doesn't really exist,' said Riedel. The goal of the size survey in which more than 100 fashion companies and car makers participated was not the determination of a common size.

'In the survey 44 body measurements were taken for hip and breast size for the garment industry and 53 body measurements were taken for technical ergonomics,' said Riedel. Other factors such as age, gender and ethnic background were also considered. This data - all anonymous - results in a so-called cluster: How tall is the average 25-year-old, how tall is the average 70-year-old? Clothing makers adapt their lines to this.

The data provides clothing makers with important clues about people's sizes. A 60-year-old, for example, has a different figure than a 16-year-old, even if both wear a size 38.

'The various clothing makers don't transfer these values one-to-one,' said Ulrike Wollenschlaeger from a German textile trade magazine. Because fashion houses also rely on their own values, they get reports from shops and look closely at the data from special target groups.

'A clothing maker that has women over 60 in their sights cuts the garment less snugly than the clothing makers whose lines are aimed at young customers,' said Wollenschlaeger. This explains why many women have a different size if they try on something from a different label or they can't find anything at all that fits from a particular clothing maker. This is especially the case when a woman's figure does not concur with that of the target group.

The clothing makers also use the data differently. A company that makes only pants has a greater variety of styles than for example a dressmaker that has pants with only two different leg lengths in the collection, said Bleibohm. Most continually check their collections against the data gathered in the measuring project.

Another advantage of the size survey is that clothing makers and dealers know better how many garments to make in a particular size.

When, for example, more and more women are wearing size 40 when they previously wore size 38, it makes sense to produce more garments in that size, said Riedel. This also benefits customers with popular sizes because it means they still are likely to find their size even if the garments have been in the shops for a couple of weeks.

Sometimes there is a sort of company philosophy hidden behind the composition of the sizes, said Bleibohm. In the end fashion is largely about making customers feel good about themselves.

'And when a customer is happy, the clothing maker has met one of its goals and possibly also won the loyalty of a new customer,' she said. But it can also occur that a loyal customer finds her size suddenly is too big.