Sizing in Clothing

S Ashdown

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9781845690342
• eBook ISBN: 9781845692582
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Industrial Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

The basic concepts behind sizing systems currently used in the manufacture of ready-to-wear garments were originally developed in the 19th century. These systems are frequently based on outdated anthropometric data, they lack standard labelling, and they generally do not accommodate the wide variations of body sizes and proportions that exist in the population. However, major technological improvements have made new population data available worldwide, with the potential to affect the future of sizing in many ways. New developments in computer-aided design and sophisticated mathematical and statistical methods of categorizing different body shapes can also contribute to the development of more effective sizing systems. This important book provides a critical appreciation of the key technological and scientific developments in sizing and their application.The first chapter in the book discusses the history of sizing systems and how this has affected the mass production of ready-to-wear clothing. Chapters two and three review methods for constructing new and adapting existing sizing systems, and the standardisation of national and international sizing systems. Marketing and fit models are reviewed in chapter four whilst chapter five presents an analysis of the grading process used to create size sets. Chapters six and seven discuss fit and sizing strategies in relation to function, and the communication of sizing. Mass customization and a discussion of material properties and their affect on sizing are addressed in chapters eight and nine. Military sizing and the aesthetics of sizing are detailed in chapters ten and eleven. The final chapter reviews the impact on sizing of production systems and specifications.Written by an international team of contributors, this book is an essential reference to researchers, designers, students and manufacturers in the clothing and fashion industry. - Provides a critical appreciation of key technological and scientific developments in sizing and their application - Discusses how developments in sizing affect the mass production of ready to wear clothing - Reviews methods of constructing new and adapting existing sizing systems

1

History of sizing systems and ready-to-wear garments

W. Aldrich Nottingham Trent University, UK

1.1 Introduction

From the middle of the nineteenth century, ready-to-wear clothing began to be available to the mass of the growing urban populations. The growth of the trade has been attributed to the development of the sewing machine and other industrial machine tools, but the expansion of the industry depended on a more vital factor, the development of standard clothing sizes.¹ This chapter charts the complexities of applying body measurements to mass clothing construction through the previous centuries.

Section 1.2 briefly describes the social, scientific and technical conditions that shaped the way that clothing was constructed before the nineteenth century and the emergence of standard units of measurement. Section 1.3 covers in some detail the early attempts to provide viable tables of body measurements and explains the growth of systematic pattern construction and early methods of grading, principally for men’s garments. Section 1.4 explains the factors that inhibited the growth of the mass production of womenswear. It describes the adoption and modification of tailor’s methods of sizing and pattern drafting for domestic use and the dressmaker trades, and also the growth of the commercial paper pattern trade. In Section 1.5 the more sophisticated methods of sizing and pattern construction for the growing ready-to-wear menswear trade and of the late nineteenth century are described and illustrated. Section 1.6 looks at the growing acceptance of ready-to-wear clothes as being of acceptable quality. It also discusses the social and fashion influences of the early twentieth century that not only changed the cut of women’s clothes but also facilitated the process of standard sizes and industrialised clothing methods to be established for the majority of the population. Section 1.7 describes efforts initiated in the latter part of the twentieth century, to develop some standardisation in sizing through body measurement surveys and the use of statistical methods. Finally, the chapter ends with a short reflective piece.

1.2 The emergence of sizing systems

1.2.1 Clothing construction before the nineteenth century

The origins of measurement standards can be traced back to the Middle Ages, and also to the enlightenment of the eighteenth century and the great interest in all fields of science and mathematics. However, systems of body sizes for clothing require more than stable units of measurement; they also have to be directly linked to methods of pattern construction. Little evi...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright page
• Contributor contact details
• Preface
• Dedication
• 1: History of sizing systems and ready-to-wear garments
• 2: Creating sizing systems
• 3: Sizing standardization
• 4: Sizing systems, fit models and target markets
• 5: Pattern grading
• 6: Function, fit and sizing
• 7: Communication of sizing and fit
• 8: Mass customization and sizing
• 9: Materials and sizing
• 10: Sizing for the military
• 11: Sizing and clothing aesthetics
• 12: Sizing for the home sewing industry
• 13: Production systems, garment specification and sizing
• Index