A Study Of The Scientific Body Measurements For Women As Set By A Standard Agency

The existence of many sizes for women\u27s ready-to-wear garments has been known for a long time* considerable research has been done on various aspects of these sizes: Junior, Misses, and Women sizes, The sizing of all women\u27s garments in one size may present many problems to those who are interested in making and using patterns and constructing and renovating garments. Lonie, in discussing the fact that a woman who wore a size 18 dress would buy a size 40 sweater, had the following to say: To a woman, there Is a tremendous difference between a Size 18 and a Size 40 , . Size 18 belongs to the younger Misses category! size 40 belongs to the maturer Women\u27s category. Since young worn en are the predominant buyers of sweaters, why shouldn\u27t sweaters be purchased by Young size designations? They can, in a few instances, but in most instances, they cannot, Why? There are a number of reasons, First, the ready to- wear industry is so vast, and divided Into so many segments, each competing for the consumer1 a dollar, that there has been no coordinating force at work to stimulate interest in the subject, Second, the products are as varied as the industry is vast. Thus, the idea of coordinating the sizing of such a variety of products rarely suggests itself. Third, producer groups which have made the most progress in satisfying the consumer size-wise would hardly be expected to suggest that their system be adopted by others. The Commodity Standard Agency set up a standard of measurements which they called scientific body measurements because the measurements were taken scientifically from the bodies of a vast number of women of all sizes, and shapes. The scientific body measurements were based upon the measurements of these women wearing new foundation garments. These measures showed that there existed a similarity between one part of the body and the other parts of the body in terms of measurements. It was reported that forty-six (46) measurements of the body were necessary If women*s garments and patterns were to fit adequately