PHONE BILL ON 07905 965 305
  • About
    • Bill Johnston
    • Emile Vidal Carr
    • Previous Clients
  • FAQ
    • Fashion Courses FAQ
    • Grading FAQ
    • Mentoring FAQ
    • Pattern Cutting FAQ
    • Prices FAQ
    • Product Development FAQ
    • Production FAQ
    • Sampling FAQ
    • Swimwear FAQ
    • Tech Pack FAQ
  • Join Us
    • Chidrenswear Pattern Cutter Required
  • Contact
  • Prices
    • Production Prices
    • Tech Pack Prices
    • Pattern Cutting Prices
  • Blog

The London Pattern Cutter

  • HOME
  • LEARN
    • How To Workshops
      • Start A Clothing Line
      • Start A Childrens Brand
      • Start A Denim Brand
      • Start A Sportswear Brand
      • Start A Swimwear Brand
      • Start Online Fashion Brand
      • Start An Equestrian Brand
      • Create A Tech Pack
      • Cost A Garment
      • Measure A Garment
      • Write A Business Plan
      • Be A Fashion Designer
    • Phone Mentoring
    • Courses
      • Group Pattern Cutting
      • Online Pattern Cutting
      • One-To-One Pattern Cutting
        • Draping
        • Sportswear Pattern Cutting
        • Swimwear Pattern Cutting
        • Lingerie Pattern Cutting
      • Pattern Grading
        • Childrenswear Grading
      • Quality Control
      • Swimwear Design
      • Sewing Classes
      • Swimwear Pattern Cutting
      • Start A Fashion Brand
    • Start-ups
      • Brand Identity Workshop
      • Business Plan
      • Fashion Business Advice
      • Fashion Startup Consultant
  • PRODUCE
    • High End
    • Full Package Production
    • Overseas Production
    • Scotland
    • Small Production Runs
    • UK Clothing Manufacture.
    • Garment Technician
  • SAMPLE
    • Samples
    • Tech Packs
    • Garment Development
    • Hiring A Sample Machinist
  • GENRE
    • Lingerie
    • Childrenswear
    • Ladieswear
      • Ladies Couture
    • Menswear
      • Mens Capes & Cloaks
      • Swimwear
      • Workwear
      • Underwear
      • Vintage
      • Tailoring
      • Streetwear
      • Polo Shirt
      • Corporate Wear
      • Tailored Jacket Patterns
      • Mens Trouser Patterns
      • Mens Waistcosts
    • Sportswear
      • Rowing
      • Skiwear
      • Swimwear
      • Swimwear Fabric Sourcing
      • Swimwear Startup Costs
      • Cycling
      • Custom Sports Kit
      • Equestrian Wear
      • Technical Clothing
    • Grading
      • Childrenswear Grading
    • Miscellaneous
      • Bespoke Shirts
      • The Critical Path
      • Shirt Manufacture
      • Fabric Sourcing
      • Hats
      • Leather
      • Mens Bespoke
      • Mens Shirt Fabrics
      • CONSULTANCY
        • Fashion Startup Consultant
        • Fashion Design
        • Fashion Business Advice
  • PATTERN
    • Mans Shirt Draft
    • Pattern Cutting Theory
      • T Shirt Draft
      • Tailored Sleeve Draft
    • T Shirt Patterns
    • Hire A Pattern Cutter
    • Pattern Cutting
    • Freelance Pattern Cutter
  • PRICE
    • Tech Pack Prices
    • Production Prices
    • Pattern Cutting Prices
    • Sample Machinist Prices
    • Product Development Prices

Size Charts

What Is A Size Chart ?

(012). Creating a We are constantly asked how to create a clothing size chart for the UK market. The accuracy and content of these size charts is absolutely vital to the success and profitability of your business.

Your size chart could be included in the tech pack, or could be a separate document.

There is no internationally recognised standard for sizing. So, each company has to determine who their customer is, what type of fit they are after, and what type of sizing to aim for.

There are three basic types of size chart used in the clothing industry. :-

1). Grading Size Chart.   This  is a size chart, used by fashion industry professionals to instruct the graders how to create the different sizes, and what increments to apply where.

This requires a lot of experience, especially if dealing with many different sizes, or complicated patterns. It is especially difficult for childrenswear.

Most people could produce a reasonable size chart over a few  sizes with a little training. Anything over three sizes should be left to the experts though.

The grading size chart measurements can be based either on the garment, or the pattern. –  They are not always the same measurement.

2). Production Size Chart. This size chart is used by the quality controller (QC) in order to check that the production is correct. It should be done using a garment spec in which the actual  sample garment is measured for the base size, and increments calculated  for the other sizes.

The garment measurements may well differ from the pattern measurements, due to sewing, or cloth reaction such as stretching or shrinking.

The factory may take a slightly different seam allowance. One factory may make the garment a little different to another factory. But that factory should be able to produce exactly the same garment for production.

3). Customers Size Chart. This is a basic size chart with a few essential measurements, supplied by a clothing brand at point of sale. This  ensures that the customer receives the correct size product, and essentially for online businesses, helps limit returns.

Some brands, like Superdry put very useful further information and customer fit comments that increase the chances of getting an exact fit.

The measurements used can be garment measurements, or body measurements. Often clients confuse the customer size charts with professional grading charts. But these are totally different things.

 

Measuring The Sample.

In order to create a size chart it is necessary to produce a garment spec first, by measuring the sample. The sample wont necessarily  measure the same as the pattern, but if the measures are only as a reference for grading rather than checking production, this may not matter.

You would think that just measuring a garment would be simple and straight forward, but without years of experience it can prove really difficult to produce accurate measurements.

Tolerance.

It is not possible to be absolutely accurate in production, so a certain amount of tolerance is allowed for. This can vary from brand to brand, and does not usually cause a problem. The factories do tend to be more on their toes for the big brands though, so its worth being quite stringent from the start.

 

Professional  Size Chart.

Deciding on a sizing formula is not quite as easy as it appears. Each company first needs to determine who their target customer is – Are they young, old, or middle aged ? Athletic or sedentary ? Thin, or muscular ? Curvy or thin ?

If your brand is aimed at a younger customer, then they will generally remain a constant height through the size range. If they are athletic, then chest, waist and hip sizes will increase at an equal rate.

An older male customer is likely to have a comparatively bigger waist size than a younger one. And this waist increase will be mainly at the front. There are many different variables involved.

Base Size.

For sampling you need to start from a base size. In order to determine this, you need to know who is your average size customer. And you really need to have someone readily available of this  size who can try on the samples.

Ideally you need someone who notices details about the fit of the garment, and can give you valuable feedback. Good designers tend to use models who they respect for their useful feedback. It may seem that anyone of the right size will do, but it can really make a difference having the right fit model.

Once you have perfected the sample fit, you will need to decide how many sizes you want to make,  in what format, and in what increments. This is best done in consultation with an expert.

If money is limited, you may want to opt for three sizes – small, medium and large, with 8 cms increments. This way you cover a larger range of sizes, although each size will be less likely to be a perfect fit.

If you want to have 5 cm increments then it is probably better to choose to have more easily identified sizing – 38″,40″ and 42″ for example. Or 10, 12 and 14.

Points Of Measure.

If you are to provide a grader or factory with a size chart  in order for them to create the base pattern, or to  grade the subsequent sizes, it would also  be necessary to provide them with a technical drawing that illustrates exactly where the points of measure are. Without this many graders will not understand where your measurements refer to.

Avoiding Returns.

No brand can afford to have too many returns, especially  for  online sales. Neither can they afford for their customers to be reluctant to buy due to being unsure whether of the fit.  The sizing need to be consistent throughout the range from year to year.

Once the base size is perfected, the graded sizes need to be created from this base size. Each size needs to look just like the original design, but bigger. Any errors in the pattern will be exaggerated the further from the original size the grading gets.

A common error when covering a lot of sizes is that the shoulder gets too big. This is because there is a compromise built into the grading formula in the relationship between bicep and armhole measurements.

Due to the way the human body increases in size, it is not possible to have all sizes look exactly the same but bigger.  Some styles  only look right in a small range of sizes, while others can look fine in any size.

PHONE   07905-965-305

 

EMAIL    thelondonpatterncutter@gmail.com

Type Of Fit.

You need to decide from the outset what type of fit is required, what the biggest and smallest sizes should be, how many sizes there should be and what the increments should be between sizes.

Then you need to decide how to label the sizes. Should they be labelled Small, Medium and Large ? Or Size 1, Size 2 and Size 3 ? Or 8, 10 and 12 ? Or 34″, 36″ and 38″ ?

How Many Sizes Do I Need ?

Factories want to have a good run of garments per colour per  size. The more sizes and colours you have, the smaller the run. The smaller the run , the more the garment will cost.

A small business on a limited budget will want to keep the production costs as low as possible by having only as many  sizes as they need. The size chart should be fairly straightforward if there are only three or four sizes.

Size Range.

It may be that the style lends itself to a particular body size and shape. So you may decide to have Small, Medium and Large with 6″ ( 15 cms ) between the smallest and the largest sizes.

That would be a fairly standard range of sizes, with 2″ ( 5 cms ) increments between each size. Or you may decide to cover a larger range of sizes using the same amount of sizes.

In this case you may have a 3″ ( 7.5 cms ) grade. But the difference between the smallest and largest sizes would be 9″ ( 23 cms ). Each size would be less exact and there may be a greater risk of returns.

How To Create A Size Chart.

Creating a size chart is best left to a professional, as it is  easy to make mistakes if you dont know what you are doing.  It is certainly too difficult to explain here.  If you would like to learn how to create a size chart, we do offer a one to one size chart workshop.

Size Guide.

The  size guide for customer reference is loosely based on the size chart, but  using mostly body measurements rather than garment measurements.

While this size guide is far less detailed than the size chart, it does need to be pretty comprehensive to give confidence to the shopper.  The customer needs to have confidence that the garment will fit.

Neither the buyer nor the seller would be happy with a return. Faced with insufficient sizing information, many shoppers will either not buy at all, or opt to buy several sizes so that  they can return the ones that dont fit.

There needs to be a separate size guide for  mens, ladies` and childrens clothing.  And for each type of product. The size guide needs to be easily available on the product page and easily understood.

The Spec Sheet.

There is some confusion over the difference between  a spec sheet, a size chart and a tech pack. The spec sheet is the technical document that contains all the construction details, along with the sample measurements.

The size spec contains all the measurements for all the sizes. The tech pack is a range of documents that contains all the information regarding your design.

 

How Much Does  A Size Chart Cost ?

A size chart is usually separate to the tech pack, because a sample needs to be created and approved before finalising the size chart. Prices can vary dramatically form place to place. A basic size chart with four  sizes could cost anything from £50 to £200

 

 

 

PHONE   07905-965-305   BILL

 

EMAIL   thelondonpatterncutter@gmail.com

 

 

Pages

  • About
    • Emile Vidal Carr
  • Bill Johnston
    • Previous Clients
  • Blog
  • Childrenswear
    • Childrenswear Pattern Cutter
  • Contact
  • Corona Virus Effects On The Fashion Businesses
  • FAQ
    • Fashion Courses FAQ
    • Grading FAQ
    • Mentoring FAQ
    • Pattern Cutting FAQ
    • Product Development FAQ
    • Production FAQ
    • Sampling FAQ
    • Startups FAQ
    • Swimwear FAQ
    • Tech Pack FAQ
  • Fashion Design
    • Fashion Illustration Service
    • Freelance
    • How To Be A Fashion Designer
  • Freelance Pattern Cutter London
    • Freelance Pattern Cutter
    • Hire A Pattern Cutter
    • Pattern Cutter Scotland
  • Join Us
  • Ladieswear Patterns
    • Ladies Couture
  • London Fashion Courses
    • Business Plan Workshop
    • Childrenswear Grading Course
    • Costings Workshop
    • Draping
    • Fashion Design
    • Group Pattern Cutting
    • How To Start A Sportswear Brand
    • Lingerie Pattern Cutting
    • Mens Underwear Pattern Cutting Tuition
    • One-To-One Pattern Cutting
    • One-To-One Tuition
    • Online Pattern Cutting
    • Pattern Grading
    • Personalised Learning From Home
    • Quality Control
    • Saturday Pattern Cutting Workshop
    • Sewing Classes
    • Sportswear Pattern Cutting
    • Start A Fashion Brand
    • Start A Swimwear Brand
    • Start Online Fashion Brand
    • Swimwear Design
    • Swimwear Pattern Cutting
    • Swimwear Pattern Cutting
    • Tailored Jacket
    • Weekly Webinars
    • Workshops
  • Menswear
    • Corporate Wear
    • Mans Shirt Draft
    • Mens Capes & Cloaks
    • Mens Trouser Patterns
    • Mens Waistcosts
    • Menswear Pattern Cutter
    • Neckwear
    • Outerwear
    • Polo Shirt
    • Shirt Manufacture
    • Streetwear
    • Swimwear
    • Tailored Jacket Patterns
    • Tailoring
    • Underwear
      • Boxer Shorts
    • Vintage
    • Workwear
  • Menswear Samples
  • MENTORING
    • Phone Mentoring
  • MISC
    • 8 Tips For Startups.
    • Bespoke Shirts
    • Chidrenswear Pattern Cutter Required
    • Custom Embroidery Service
    • Dressmakers Dummies
    • Fabric Sourcing
    • Freelance Sample Cutter
    • Hats
    • Leather
    • Logo Design
    • Mens Bespoke
    • Mens Shirt Fabrics
    • Non-Disclosure Agreement
    • Pattern Blocks
    • Start A Childrens Brand
    • T Shirt Patterns
    • The Critical Path
  • PATTERN CUTTING THEORY
    • T Shirt Draft
    • Tailored Sleeve Draft
  • PATTERN GRADING
    • Childrenswear Grading
    • Size Charts
  • Prices
    • Pattern Cutting Prices
    • Prices FAQ
  • PRODUCTION
    • Full Package Production
    • Garment Technician
    • High End
    • Measure A Garment
    • Overseas Production
    • Production Prices
    • Scotland
    • Small Production Runs
    • UK Clothing Manufacture.
  • Samples
    • Hiring A Sample Machinist
    • Lingerie
    • Product Development Prices
  • SPORTSWEAR
    • Custom Gymwear
    • Custom Sports Kit
    • Cycling
    • Equestrian Wear
    • Neoprene Sportswear
    • Rowing
    • Skiwear
    • Sportswear Patterns
    • Swimwear
      • Samples
      • Swimwear Pattern Cutting
    • Swimwear Fabric Sourcing
    • Swimwear Startup Costs
    • Technical Clothing
  • Startups Business Service
    • Brand Identity Workshop
    • Business Plan
    • Fashion Business Advice
    • Fashion Startup Consultant
    • Free Fashion Business Advice
    • Garment Development
    • How To Patent Your Clothing Design
    • Marketing
    • Start A Clothing Line
    • Start A Denim Brand
    • Start An Equestrian Brand
  • TECH PACK DESIGN
    • How To Create A Tech Pack
    • Tech Pack Prices
  • Welcome

Recent Posts

  • How To Become A Pattern Cutter

    Four Year Degree Course. (067). When I began my...

Recent Comments

    Archives

    • December 2019

    Categories

    • Uncategorized
    • GET SOCIAL

    Tel: 07905 965 305
    Email: thelondonpatterncutter@gmail.com
    © 2019. All rights reserved | The London Pattern Cutter

    TOP