The History of Standardized Sizes in Womens Fashion and Why They FAILED

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Why do standardized sizes exist and why don't they work? Or, more specifically, why do we continue to use them when we know they don't work? Standardized sizes have a complex history which actually starts long before specific measurements were set down. And much like our many other systems in place, they weren't meant to be set in stone for all eternity.

Shoes were the first to lay down a standard set of measurements. Though the way we look at sizes has changed dramatically from the 19th c. The system used to be far more confusing and complex, with a variety of lengths and widths that provided customers with a huge range of options. When people started pulling boxes off the shelf themselves, instead of receiving advice from salespeople, the nuanced system with coded sizes had to change to keep up. Less confusion for customers meant fewer choices, and that meant less unsold stock sitting on the shelves for businesses. They thought it was an improvement, but really we're just left with a lot of shoes that don't fit.

Before we put little numbers on tags in our clothing or shoes, items were custom fit. Dresses were made to your shape and often required little to no actual measurements. Fabric was draped around the body to fit, so all of your garments were YOU sized and the numbers didn't matter. It wasn't until the late 19th c that fitted garments started to be sold pre-made and mass manufactured. With the rising popularity of mail order catalogs and department stores a new system was needed. Originally garments were labeled by the ideal bust or waist measurement meant to fit into them. But as clothing became more fitted and slim, there was less room for adjustment or alteration to fit various body proportions and something had to be done to better understand the range of bodies the fashion industry was trying to fit.

No matter how broad the 1939 sampling was (it wasn't), there was no way to come up with a standardized size system that fit everyone. And that was never the point! Fashion companies were encouraged to go outside of that system and to come up with their own based on their customers and style preferences. Add in the prolific tendency towards vanity sizing and you get the mess we have today. The hard part now is finding ways to fix the inherent issues of assigning self worth to a random number and learning that bodies are just weird and unique and that's OK. Clothing should fit us, not the other way around, and there are ways to help fix that!

🖼 Bitkers Department Store: https://content.mpl.org/digital/collection/HstoricPho/id/3864/
🖼 Cutting Fabric: https://fashioninsiders.co/toolkit/how-to/cutting-fabric-for-production-versus-sampling/

00:00 Introduction
02:44 Why we need standard sizes
06:19 Shoe Sizes
18:28 Clothing Sizes
32:48 How to fix it

👗 What I'm Wearing: https://en.voriagh.com/robe-brodee-elma-manches-longues-charbon.html

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