Comment by ChuckMcM | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ChuckMcM | Hacker News Reader

Having 3 sisters, a wife, and three daughters, I have heard the litany all too often that they have to shop at a store because there is no telling what you are going to get from a catalog.

The engineer in me wants to figure out if one could codify hips, bust, waist, and leg length to get a 4! set of combinations but I can't imagine any store that would buy 24 alternates in small, medium, large, and XL, that is 96 copies of the item just to sell one to someone. Not really economical. The thing that really bothers them though is when a supplier has reliably supplied the same size for several years and suddenly changes manufacturers or something and wham it doesn't fit.

It certainly suggests that roboticly made to order clothes would be a winner (Google could try that with their robotics companies) and one of the big obstructions, the sewing machine, is slowly succumbing to automation

[1] http://motherboard.vice.com/read/automated-mini-factories-wi... [1]

It's not just women's clothes. For years, I bought jeans at gap because their sizes were true. Then 6 years ago some asshole decided to monkey with their sizing, and instead of being able to walk in and pick up jeans in the exact same size, I would have to try on a range each time. And it wasn't even consistent between different styles.

I now buy Tommy Bahamas and hope they don't get bit by the same stupidity.

Design aside, the consistency is so bad with Gap jeans that you could try on three pairs in the same "size" and they'll all fit differently. It's simply not possible any more to expect off the rack clothing to fit perfectly the way you think it should. You just have to try something on before you buy it.

A codified system based on measurements is enough; manufacturers don't need to make all combinations. The small, medium, large, 8, 10, 12, etc. system is meaningless, and seems to cause many people stress if they are self-conscious. So it's worse than useless. A codified system, where the measurements are communicated, would be a splendid improvement all by itself. This exists for men's pants and pre-tailored suits. Why hasn't it been translated to other clothing?

I understand that, even with a measurements based system, clothing will sometimes not fit correctly due to body shape and manufacturers being loose with their specs. That won't change, sure, but this system won't be worse, and will get people the right clothing more often. I've taken to bringing a measuring tape to the store when I go shopping. You'd be surprised how often things fit on the first try when I get the actual measurements before bringing them to the fitting room.

Yes, I've worked in apparel ecommerce for some major brands, and many that market to older women use vanity sizing (beyond the general trend in the article), which leads to a high rate of return. You can put a vendor size chart right on the product page, but if the customer thinks "my size is X" instead of "my measurements are W, X, Y, and Z" they won't bother checking.

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