The day of the "Euro-size" is dawning. A draft standard labelling system, now out to consultation among the countries that make up the European Standards body, CEN, could mean the imminent end of size confusion - both for the individual shopper and for companies that have to cater for multifarious national systems.
The proposed Standard is intended to bring two main benefits to the shopper. Firstly, it will make it easier to buy clothes while travelling abroad or on business - or from the increasingly important international e-commerce and catalogue sector. Secondly, it will relate the size of a garment to actual body measurements, rather than - as in the UK - using an arbitrary numbering system.
Every British woman knows that a Size 12 in one store may be entirely different in fit from a Size 12 in the shop next door. With international business, the room for confusion is even greater - the UK Size 12 might be a Norwegian C38, a French 40, a German 38 and an Italian 44.
On the new label, the shopper will see a pictogram of the female or male body, with key measurements indicated in centimetres. Already agreed by the CEN sub-committee are a primary measurement, and a range of secondary measurements, for each type of garment. Retailers applying the Standard would always display the primary measurement, but would have the option of also showing one or more from the list of secondary measurements. So, for example, the primary measurement on a shirt would be the collar girth; the secondary one might be sleeve length.
Several countries are in the process of conducting sizing surveys of their populations, and the Standard - while setting out norms for the fit of the garment (such as the neck/chest ratio in a shirt) - deliberately allows some latitude, to adjust the fit to the peculiarities of each national market, or for the designer's individual cut.
All this is very positive, but Frank Moore, chairman of the textile and apparel committees in CEN, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the BSI, admits there has been dissent.
Parts 1 and 2 of BS EN 13402 relate to the pictogram and the primary dimensions, and have seen consensus achieved. Part 3, which is the part now in draft, relates to the intervals between sizes, and here national expectations have to be overcome. The draft is based on 4cm intervals for most garments (1cm for shirt collars), and this conflicts with an existing 5cm norm in some countries.
This is a real economic and practical matter for manufacturers, since it affects the number of different sizes that have to be produced for a standard range. In the UK, for instance, men's collar sizes are currently expressed in intervals of 0.5 inch. Changing this to 1cm adds another size in the normal 14½-17½ range (9 sizes instead of 8).
Several countries are waiting for the outcome of their national sizing surveys, and of commercial consultations, before committing themselves, and this makes the timing of implementation difficult to predict.
A fourth part of the Standard - still a distant prospect - would convert each size into a 4-digit code that could be more easily processed by computer systems controlling manufacture, logistics and merchandising.
"The need for harmonising sizes on clothes labels originated from continental mail-order companies, selling across three or four different countries," says Elizabeth Fox, of the British Clothing Industry Association, who is chairman of the BSI's technical committee TCI/66, dealing with clothing sizes.
The European Association of National Organizations of Textile Retailers (AEDT), which represents textile retailers in Europe, recognises that there is a problem with the current sizing system. In a document published last October, it outlined its stance: "AEDT is convinced that the present system of size indication is confusing for the whole clothing chain. In reality, present sizes do not refer to concrete measurements of persons."
AEDT delegate director Renaat Soenens says harmonisation makes sense. "A good system for clothing sizes will make buying clothes easier and ensure that consumers are able to find what they want."
One clear disadvantage of the Standard is that it will not be mandatory - raising the possibility of more confusion on the high street, not less. That is, unless the European Union adopts is as part of its Metrication Directive. Frank Moore believes there is a real chance this will happen.
In the meantime, there is the question of implementation. How well will shoppers take to the new label?
"There will be a lot of training to do," said Moore, adding that he believed the first phase would see "dual labelling", in which the size label show the traditional size prominently, with the new Standard formula below. At some point these would be switched around, to give the new Standard most prominence, and then finally, the old size would fade away.
Fashion Business International - March 2004
