Creative solutions for arbitrary sizing of women’s clothing

April 27, 2011

Tags: Clothing

The meaning of measurements has changed over the years. A blouse formerly listed as a size 12 could now be a size 6 or smaller. Standardizing women’s sizes across the clothing industry would limit fitting-room frustrations, which could only be a good thing for retailers. Yet no such solution is in sight. The New York Times reported that last year, $194 billion in clothing was returned, according to figures from the National Retail Federation.

Instead of coming up with a simple standard of measurement for women’s clothes, there are various creative fixes to decoding arbitrarily shrinking size labels. One such effort is a body-scan booth at shopping malls that gives women a list of comparable sizes at different stores. The company behind the scanner, MyBestFit, says the scan takes about 30 seconds and shoppers don’t have to strip down for it to work. Retailers pay to be in the database, and may have access to the size data collected via scan.

“Curve ID” at Levi’s is a retail-specific effort to make the perfect pair of jeans less elusive. The line has three styles based on the shape of women’s backside”slight, demi and bold.” Levi’s is also testing a “supreme curve.”

By comparison, men have it easy. Virtually all sizing is done by inches. They pick up a pair of pants, look at the label and know they will fit. Now websites want to cash in on making shopping even easier for the retail-store-adverse man. Several high-end clothing sites are marketing their services to men who would enjoy buying clothes online without fuss or fanfare.

Here are some very quick dressing room tips from our sister publication ShopSmart magazine. First, remember not to get hung up on size. Pick clothing that fits your body, no matter what number is on the tag. None of us are ever going to be just one size. Cant handle buying bigger? Cut out the tags when you get home.

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