Size Chart Woes, Part III– Revenge of the Stitch

We rejoin our Top Secret Debriefing (Hahaha, DE-BRIEFING, Get it?), already in progress…

Michelle: So, looking back at my Ann Taylor Loft adventure, what would you say is the primary problem (or problems)? Shouldn’t an ATL shopper expect a Size 4/6/8 (in particular) to match up well with the measurements listed on the size chart?

Deep Seam: Well, without actually speccing (laying it flat and actually taking all of the relevant measurements) the garment myself, I couldn’t say for sure, but it seems clear there’s a massive disparity between their size charts and the actual specs of the garments (which I find common, actually, in my own shopping efforts).

A thorough spec sheet should specify measurements both when the garment is loose and when it’s stretched, and a thorough plant manager at the sweatshop/factory should enforce those specs to the letter. Problems here could have started with the drafting, and continued all the way through patternmaking, grading, cutting, speccing, and sewing. Like I said, all those fractions of an inch add up really fast!

Seems most likely, though, that the company has a standardized size chart, which the designer, patternmaker, and/or grader did not adhere to when producing the garment. I think this is very common. And very frustrating.

Size Chart Woes, Part II

(Check out Part I– in which I am cruelly mocked by a dress– here.)

In my efforts to enlighten the general public (and myself, why not) about the Sorry State of Size Charts, I met a recent graduate from a prominent fashion design school– we’ll call her “Deep Seam”– in a dimly-lit parking garage. Deftly and journalistically and with a Dustin Hoffman ’70’s-era shag, I coaxed from her the truth about the fashion industrial complex. The transcript of our meeting begins as follows:

Deep Seam: Have I explained the evil magic of grade rules to you yet? They are the reason that A) no two brands (or even items in the same line) have consistent sizing, and B) nothing nothing nothing fits bodies like ours*.

As much as I detest math, if I ever do a line of clothes for curvy ladies, as I would luh-huh-huve to do someday, I will spend months perfecting my custom grade rules, so that the sizes in my line scale the same way real bodies do, and not according to some arbitrary fantasy fractional gradation.

Michelle: Tell me more about grade rules. I was under the impression that most clothing lines hire a Size 6 or 8 “fit model” with the shape that they are looking for, and then size up and down from her measurements. Do grade rules have something to do with that?

Deep Seam: Well, fit models don’t usually come in until much later in the process.

Size Chart Woes

A few of you have asked me why it is, what with my constant Internetting, I don’t order more of my clothes online. Why do I sort through racks of scratch’n’dent clothes at Filene’s Basement when I could be sorting from the comfort of my own clicky mouse finger?

The answer? Size charts.

Faulty, ridiculous, confusing size charts that exist on a plane that does not intersect with earth reality.

No one would be foolhardy enough to guess her dress size when ordering from an unfamiliar site or designer, or to estimate it based on what is in her closet (Ha!), so most folks recommend you take your measurements and compare them to the often impossible to find handy-dandy size chart. Sadly, even if you’ve memorized the length of your index finger and the curvature of your inner ear, if the size chart is broke, you can’t fix it.

To wit, a Cautionary Tale.

If you are a regular reader, you know that I am an Ann Taylor Loft stan. Viva La Loft (and their coupons)! Thus, and even given my slowly decreasing weight, I have a pretty good idea of my size there (adjusted, of course, for how tailored the garment, and how stretchy the fabric).

For the record, I am using ATL as an example, but they are far, FAR from the worst offender in this regard.

To demonstrate the problem with size charts, I used this dress, ’cause it’s totally up my alley. Let’s pretend that I have never shopped at ATL before, and have decided to order online.

U-Neck Dress with Belt

On the day in question, my measurements (taken according to ATL’s instructions) were:

• 40″ Bust

• 29.5″ Waist

• 44″ Hips

Let’s take a look at the size chart, shall we?