UK stores are trying to make standardised clothes sizing happen
Go to try on a pair of jeans at five different highstreet stores and you could well find that youre a different size at age.
Its confusing and frustrating and sometimes, it can be confidence destroying.
But hopefully, thatll soon be a thing of the past, as UK stores sign up to an initiative to introduce standardised sizing across the country.
Major retailers like New Look, River Island and ASOS are taking part in the Shape GB campaign – a nationwide survey designed to create standardised sizes in the UK.
30,000 adults are being invited to submit their measurements via an app which will then allow retailers to collect data which will help them to update their sizing charts.
Once downloaded, users will be asked to submit some personal information, along with two photographs of themselves. That information will be used to measure weight distribution across the body, combining it with data on age, weight, heights, gender and ethnicity.
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At the moment retailers have very sophisticated processes for size specification, but these are based primarily on linear measurements such as waist and hip and their own customer profiles, which will inevitably be different between different retailers, explains Richard Barnes, CEO and Founder of Select research, who are leading the project.
The plan to roll out standardised sizing has been in the offing for two years and Richard says that currently, the body shape of customers isnt integrated into part of the design process for many retailers.
More: Fashion
The retailers current sizing specifications are already very good, but by adding body shape, measured by part body volume, it means there will be an extra element to the process which should lead to more consistency.
A persons body shape doesnt change when they go from one shop to another and so once we have enough data to support integration of body shape, there is a real opportunity for the collaborators on ShapeGB to work together and get this right for the customer once and for all.
Prepare to say goodbye to frustrating shopping trips and poorly fitted garms, at last.
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