How Fashion’s Inconsistent Sizing Fuels Excessive Waste
Buying clothes that *actually* fit can be hard.
Fun fact: standardized sizing emerged in the 1940s with the explosion of the catalog industry but was plagued with inaccuracies as the sizing was based on women who served in the Air Force and wasn’t necessarily a representation of everyday women.
Although clothing size standards still exist, brands have made their own rules for sizing, which means a size 10 can fit differently from brand to brand. There can even be inconsistencies within a single brand due to a numerous factors, like not accounting for the drape of different fabrics and the lack of quality control during production.
In an attempt to offer some clarity, brands offer detailed size guides and additional information about products on their website; however, the fashion industry generally tends to prototype the fit of the garment based on a size small with additional sizes scaled mathematically, resulting in fitting errors.
To make navigating buying clothes that fit infinitely harder, vanity sizing or size inflation has become a common practice where brands shift their metrics to make shoppers feel skinnier despite the “average body” getting larger. 67% of American women wear a size 14 or above.
The explosive growth of e-commerce has also magnified the problem of returns.
Estimates vary, but most clothing bought online is returned due to fit. To combat the issue of inconsistent sizing, consumers routinely purchase multiple sizes of the same item and return what doesn't fit. This practice is encouraged by retailers who offer free returns, free shipping, and frequent discount codes, promoting more consumption and more returns.
According to Optoro, a company specializing in returns logistics, each year in the US alone, customers return approximately 3.5 billion products.
Aside from the environmental impact of shipping, the problem with returns is that products often aren't put back into stock when returned. The time, labor, and cost of restocking returned clothes aren't worth it for many brands, so returns are often discarded by selling them to discounters or simply sending them to an incinerator or a landfill.
From a business perspective, returns are a massive headache for brands resulting in lost revenue, tight margins, and logistical issues in recovering and selling returned clothes. It doesn't even make sense for many brands to eat the cost of reverse logistics to get back the things they sell. Each piece of unsold/returned clothing requires raw materials and human labor to make, not to mention the environmental impact of transporting it around the world and back.
How can technology enable the perfect fit to reduce the excessive waste caused by haphazard sizing and returned clothing? What benefits are there to the customer? Find out at the 2022 Sustainable Fashion Forum during an exclusive fireside powered by Perfect 3D Fit with 3D bridal lab Les Aimants, exploring how tech can enable perfect fit, reduce waste, and create a more inclusive shopping experience for customers.
Even still, while more brands are beginning to offer extended sizes, the truth is that sustainable fashion has a way to go to truly offer an inclusive range of sizes. Moving into plus-size requires more than simply adding additional sizes and requires a commitment to a demographic that is often ignored, disappointed, and let down.
How should sustainable brands approach designing for the plus-size demographic? Hear writer, photographer, and influencer Marielle TerHart and Teen Vogue Editorial Assistant Aiyana Ishmael in conversation with ethical fashion brand, ABLE on the SFF digital mainstage at the 2022 Sustainable Fashion Forum to outline sustainable fashion's blueprint to extended sizes to shed light on how brands can effectively launch a plus-size collection.
