Size and fit: Formulation of body measurement tables and sizing systems — Part 2

Abstract

To obtain sizing systems a specialist knowledge is required to analyse statistically body measurements from surveys. Control measurements, size ranges, body proportions and size intervals have to be calculated. A survey of 100 young women was undertaken in 1993/93 at Manchester Metropolitan University and 10 body measurements were taken. This is used to illustrate the statistical analysis of body measurements, the formulation of sizing systems and body measurement tables. A review of previous surveys and their methods of analysis was undertaken. The main control measurements of height, bust, waist and hips denoting the size of the wearer were obtained by correlation. Size ranges and intervals were obtained by normalising the data and comparing the sizes young women bought and previous size charts. Sizing systems for five sizes 8 to 16 were suggested for three heights, short, medium and tall and bust fittings medium, small and very small. This retained the same proportion for the five sizes within each of the nine systems. A further system of changing proportion in girth measurements was developed from the survey of young women based on percentiles and bust fittings. The neck girth which did not correlate strongly with any measurement was analysed separately. Two examples of body measurement tables covering 30 measurements were formulated to illustrate the procedure. Analysing body measurements statistically is problematic especially in small surveys. It is hoped the suggested guidelines will clarify this area. The coding of sizes is still not uniform. A comparison was made with previous tables. It was concluded that the body proportion had changed and the young women were taller and broader in the waist and hips. Part 3 of this study will cover comparing the problems of taking accurate body measurements with different equipment, formulating size charts for different garments and fabrics and relating these to different systems of pattern construction, and finally, testing prototype garments for size and fit.