Loading ...
« Shop Comme des Garcons | Home | Links à la Mode »
Your Dollar, Not Your Vanity
By admins | November 14, 2008
We recently posted an article explaining how and why size labeling is developed, we also gave examples of why sizes and fits may differ seasonally or from brand to brand. We received a good response to this article but also questions as to if this explained vanity sizing. The previous post gave many examples on how a size scale is developed and vanity is not one of them. In addition to the previous explanation we will briefly address the issue of vanity sizing more specifically.
Vanity sizing for the most part is a myth. The fact is your size 6 of today is not the same size 6 from 1930. People now are bigger, taller, heavier, and bustier than their grandparents were. Not to mention, in the United States the recent increase in body mass index, the earlier onset of puberty due to the hormones in food, and the rise in childhood obesity. The fashion industry is simply adapting to their customer’s changing sizes. Fashion is a business and the bottom line is to make money, in order to do so, the product must fit the largest percent of the population possible. To cut a line and develop a size scale, one must start with the medium size and work outward. Not to bore you with the technical details of fabric consumption issues or lot quantity per size, but basically you find the average size of your target customer and that measurement becomes an “8″ or “Medium” and then you grade up and down from there. The resulting sizes and fits may not match up with an older size or another brand, but it’s not an attempt to trick a customer or appeal to their vanity. It is simply an attempt to properly fit the customer of today and, as a result, sell the most goods possible.
With all that said and done, we must admit that vanity sizing does occasionally occur. However, it is so very rare that we hate to even mention it. Based on our collective experiences and in talking to our coworkers, we have only come up with two examples of vanity sizing. The first, a small semi-popular missy activewear brand that had gained a reputation for being rather frumpy and was rapidly loosing business, attempted to woo back customers by appealing to their vanity and adjusted sizes accordingly. This was not successful and they went out of business several years ago. The second, was a very small high-end boutique label specializing in $100 tees and micro-minis. As a new line they planned to target upscale New Yorkers especially in the Asian NYC market. In order to fit the smaller frame of the Asian customer, as well as, to court the vanity of the rich socialites, they began at a 00 as their smallest size. So most of their customers were able to fit into a smaller size, and for them this proved successful.
So, is the average American woman a victim of vanity sizing? No, she is much more likely a victim of evolution and too many cheeseburgers.
Here is more related scoop;
Topics: fashion, fashion industry, garment center, new york, production, shop | 14 Comments » 
Email This Post
November 16th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
So I can thank my ancestors for my t and a and my dietary habits for excess weight. LMAO! 35lbs and counting down. And eating whatever.
November 16th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Shanty- always love your comments, thanks for keeping us laughing!
November 20th, 2008 at 8:44 am
so that explains it…. it’s funny because i used to consider myself chubby, and i was a size 7/8 in the late 80s.. i’m about the same +/- and now i’m a 4 and consider myself average.
i do hear less complaining about flat chests these days, but i never thought it might have to do with hormones in food. wow.
November 20th, 2008 at 9:20 am
[...] 39thandbroadway – The truth behind your size label and your vanity! [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 10:25 am
[...] 39thandbroadway – The truth behind your size label and your vanity! [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 10:56 am
[...] 39thandbroadway – The truth behind your size label and your vanity! [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
[...] 39thandbroadway – The truth behind your size label and your vanity! [...]
November 21st, 2008 at 8:05 am
[...] 39thandbroadway – The truth behind your size label and your vanity! [...]
November 21st, 2008 at 12:35 pm
[...] 39thandbroadway – The truth behind your size label and your vanity! [...]
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:50 am
[...] 39thandbroadway – The truth behind your size label and your vanity! [...]
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Sorry, vanity sizing does occur and it hurts people who are naturally smaller. I used to be able to fit size 0’s at every store I shopped at, and now have to suffer through size 0’s that are actually size 2’s — which don’t fit me.
Logically, there is no reason to have to vanity size. Why “start from the middle” when you can build up. If there are more size 14’s out there, add size 14 to your line, but don’t drop the size 0’s.
In the end, American women win. Asian women lose out.
November 24th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
[...] 39thandbroadway – The truth behind your size label and your vanity! [...]
March 27th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
[...] 39thandbroadway – The truth behind your size label and your vanity! [...]
December 26th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
I weigh about the same as I did back in the early 70s. Yet now I’m an 8-10 while back then I could just barely squeeze into a 14. Strange.