Comparing UK sizes in shops
A Comparative Shop (Comp Shop) Report was taken out over a variety of low to high-end clothing brands in the UK, to discover if the size charts that popular clothing brands provide, relate to their in store clothing. Comparing the Comp Shop and the provided size charts, a very lower number of measurements are the same, or even close. The following measurements have been taken for a smart pair of trousers: waist, hip, length, inside leg, and thigh, and for the shirt style blouse; bust, waist, centre back length, sleeve length, across back, and bicep circumference. Although not all brands provide every one of these measurements, it is still interesting to compare the Comp Shop measurements between brands.Starting with the lower end brands; F&F, H&M and TU; F&F has an increase of 14.5cm on the waist from the size chart to the Comp Shop measurement. There is an 8.2cm increase on the bust, and a 0.5cm decrease on the hips measurement. The measurements do not seem to make sense, if the actual garment was manufactured bigger than the size chart measurements, and it would be reasonable to presume the entire measurements; bust, waist and hip, would increase by a similar amount, rather than varied amounts over the whole garment. It is unusual for two measurements to increase and one to decrease after production. H&M, after production, has a 7.8cm increase in the waist, and a 2cm increase on the bust. The bust measurement does not seem to be too different to the size charts, and could easily have been a mistake during production; however, 7.8cm difference on the waist is quite a large amount, and one that would be a difficult mishap in production. It would have been interesting to know if all the garments waist measurements are the same of if this particular one is a singled out from the rest in the batch. Finally, TU has a 7.5cm increase in the waist measurement, and a 5.2cm increase on the hip. Again, this is quite a large increase in measurements, which would mean there is not precise accuracy in the production stage, either that or there may have been a mistake at the pattern stages, however if this issue was to happen throughout the whole of a batch, at quality control, this should have been noticed. As predicted and stated by previous experience by the survey sample, and now proven in the Comp Shop, the low-end brands as a whole, have shown to have the largest difference in measurements in comparison to the original size charts. Due to these brands being cheaper, they were expected by the sample, to ‘skimp on fabric’ and be manufactured at a much less quality, however, this does not appear to be the case in these particular brands. All the garments measurements have mostly increased after production, which is the opposite of what was expected.
Between F&F and TU, there is a 5cm difference in the waist measurements from the size charts, whereas the Comp Shop only shows a 2cm difference. The hips in the size chart show a 3.2cm difference and the Comp Shop shows a 2.5cm variance. Between TU and H&M, there is a 9cm difference in the bust, 8cm difference on the waist and 4cm difference on the hips comparing the size charts. While comparing the Comp Shop shows a 7.7cm variation on the waist. Finally, between F&F and H&M, in the size charts, there is only a 4cm difference on the bust, 3cm difference on the waist, and 7.2cm difference on the hips. Then, comparing the Comp Shop results, the bust measurement shows a 15cm difference on the bust, and 9.7cm difference on the waist. It is interesting to discover the variances in measurements after production, and to try to uncover why these differences are so great, and why the brands feel this is acceptable.
Moving on to the middle market brands; River Island, Topshop, Next and M&S; River Island has a 10.9cm increase on the waist measurement, and a 2.7cm increase at the hip. A couple of centimetres tolerance would just about be acceptable during production, but anything more than that would be difficult to accept in the size charts. Topshop has a 9.7cm decrease in the waist, a 2.7cm increase on the hip, and a 0.5cm increase in the bust measurement. The hip and bust measurement differences are not too large for Topshop, and would probably be accepted in production, however the waist measures at quite a great difference, this is less likely to pass quality control if it is an issue at production. On the other hand, this may be due to where on the waist the trousers sit; not all garments will sit at exactly the same point, and exactly at the waist point, and therefore not all have the same measurement. Next appears to have a 12.5cm increase through production on the waist, a 1.2cm increase on the hip, and a 15.2cm increase on the bust. It is difficult to find very similar styles of trousers and blouses in all brands, therefore sizes and styles will vary resulting in slightly less accurate measurements, but a measurement as large as Next’s bust measurement, seems too large, and to suit a much less fitted blouse. Finally, Marks and Spencer has a 14.9cm increase on the waist measurements in the Comp Shop compared to the original size chart, a 7.7cm increase on the hips, and a 10.6cm increase on the bust. It is interesting to see that all the measurements appear to have quite a large increase on all bust, waist and hips measurements in all middle and low-end brands.
Between River Island and Topshop, the Comp Shop has provided evidence of a large 19.4cm difference on the waist measurements, but only 2.5cm difference on the hips, with River Island being the largest on both. On the other hand, the size charts only show a 1.2cm variance on the waist and 2.5cm on the hip measurements. River Island compared to Next show, in the Comp Shop, a 2.6cm waist variance, and 0cm difference on the hips, whereas the size chart only shows a 1cm variance on the waist and 1.5cm on the hips. These variances are quite acceptable, being only 1-1.5cm apart.
River Island and M&S show exactly the same waist and hip measurements in the Comp Shop, whereas, there is a 4cm variance on the waist and 5cm variance on the hip measurements from the size charts. Topshop and Next have a 22cm difference on waists in the Comp shop, which is quite difficult to believe that the same size in different brands can vary this amount, compared to the size charts, which show only 0.2cm. The hips, in the Comp Shop, only show a 2.5cm difference, compared to the 4cm variance in the size chart. Finally, the bust in the Comp Shop has shown a 7.2cm difference, as previously mentioned, as this is quite a large variance, this could be due to slightly different styles of blouses, whereas the size chart only provides a 3cm difference.
Again, in the Comp Shop, Topshop and M&S have 19.4cm difference on the waist, 2.5cm difference on the hips, and only 0.4cm on the bust. This compared to the size charts, the waists only show 5.2cm variance, the hips, only 2.5cm and the bust, 6cm.
Lastly of the mid brands, Next and M&S, in the Comp Shop, the waist only has a 2.6cm difference, compared to the5cm on the size charts. The hips provide exactly the same measurements, but a variance of 6.5cm in the size charts, and the bust is 7.6cm difference, compared to 3cm from the size charts.
Finally, looking at the high-end brands, Ted Baker, Jaeger and Karen Millen; Ted Baker has the closest measurements to the original size chart, with only a 5.8cm increase on the waist, a 4.2cm increase on the hips, and the bust measurements measure to the same. Jaeger has a 4.4cm increase on the waist, an 8.7cm increase on the hips, and a 0.4cm decrease on the bust. Lastly, Karen Millen has a 7.8cm increase on the waist, a small 0.1cm increase on the hips, and an 8.1cm increase on the bust. Where the bust measurements have a large difference from the original size charts, this may be due to as previously mentioned the difficulty of finding closely similar styles of garments in each brands; and not having the same fit around the bust. Some may be slightly more fitted to others. Overall, as expected by consumers who were part of the survey sample, the higher end brands appear to have less of a difference between size charts and the final garments; it is highly likely that because these are more expensive brands, they are able to afford to take more care, precision and accuracy when taking the garments through the cutting and production process.
In the Comp Shop, Ted Baker and Jaeger only show a 0.9cm variance on the waist, 7.9cm variance on the hip measurements, and only 2.6cm difference on the bust. Comparing these to the size charts provided, the waist only shows 0.5cm difference, hips, a 5cm difference, and only 3cm change on the bust measurements. Again, in the Comp Shop, comparing Ted Baker and Karen Millen, the waists only have 1.5cm between them, hips, only 3.1cm, and busts, 5.1cm; though the waists in the size charts only vary by 3.5cm, the hips by 1cm and the bust by 3cm. These changes are quite small, and closer to the original size charts, in comparison to the other brands; both mid and low-end.
Lastly, comparing Jaeger with Karen Millen, the Comp Shop only gives a 0.6cm alteration on the waist, 4.8cm change in hip measurements, and only a 2.5cm variance on the bust. These, in comparison to Jaeger and Karen Millen size charts; they show a 4cm variance in the waist and hip measurements, and 6cm difference in bust measurements. Overall, the higher end brands have less of a variance between those garments of the same size, than the other brands in the market. This proves correct what many of the survey sample have predicted with higher end clothing brands, possibly being a lot better quality, and better made than lower end brands.
