How to Choose Your Fit Model & Sizing Chart
When you're on the journey of developing a clothing line, one of the most critical steps is ensuring that your garments fit how your customers expect. Choosing the right fit model as well as creating a brand size chart from the outset can help ensure your entire collection fits how you envisioned.
Choosing the Right Fit Model
Your fit model is more than just a body to try clothes on, they will be the building block of how your entire collection fits. Your model should align with your brand’s target customer body type and physique. This ensures that the garments will fit your ideal customer base - for example, if your collection is intended for petite women, you would want to choose a model who falls within the desired height range. It is important to work with the same fit model throughout the development process, as their body proportions and measurements will inform many of your fit comments, and keeping consistency helps maintain uniformity in fit across different collections and garments.
Taking and Logging Measurements
Accurate measurements are the foundation of a successful fitting session, but you should also track your model’s measurements to understand where they fall in your desired size range. Identify key areas like bust, waist, hip, inseam, and shoulder width., and keep track of these measurements. This can help you compare your model’s measurements to other competitor’s brands to ensure your garments are aligned with what you customers may expect. This will also help you build your size chart.
Setting Up Your Size Chart
Your size chart is more than just a guide for your customers, it’s a crucial tool for ensuring that your entire size range fits as intended. The process begins by researching competitor brands to understand their size ranges and what they include in their size charts. Start by using your fit model’s measurements as the foundation for your size chart. These measurements should reflect your ideal customer and serve as the baseline for developing additional sizes. From here, build out the body measurements for your entire size range, ensuring that each size incrementally adjusts to maintain the correct fit and proportions.
Understanding how each size in your range should fit is essential. This knowledge will guide your pattern maker when creating patterns for each size, ensuring consistency and accuracy across your collection. A well-developed size chart not only helps your customers find the right fit but also streamlines your production process, making sure that every size in your range aligns with your brand’s fit standards and market positioning.
ASTM Measurement Charts
ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) provide standardized body measurements that can guide your sizing. These charts are based on extensive research of thousands of people’s measurements, and are used extensively within the fashion industry. ASTM charts include body measurements segmented by size and demographic, which helps you ensure that your sizing is consistent with how people in your customer segment measure. These charts can be purchased through the ASTM website.
Stay Consistent
Having a standard fit model and a well-defined size chart is crucial for consistency throughout your apparel development process. Consistency in fit is a key component of your brand’s identity. Customers return to brands they trust for a reliable fit. A standardized fit model and size chart streamline the fitting process. You’ll spend less time making adjustments and more time focusing on design and innovation. Having the same fit model ensure that each garment in your collection will fit the same size body int he same way, reducing returns and increasing customer satisfaction.