#1: An outdated baseline

One of the biggest hurdles to data use is the outdated baseline from which we’re working, specifically in the material experience of fashion.

Firstly, womenswear brands in the UK aren’t legally required to use any standard sizing measurement – it’s entirely optional.

Secondly, these optional standard measurements are no longer relevant. The most recent update to sizing standards was in 2001, with the launch of the new British Standard EN 13402. Except this standard was based on the same data of the 1982 British Standard. And that was based on the original data – from 1957.

For over 50 years we’ve been using the same set of data to produce ‘standard’ sizes for clothing and manufacturers are not legally obliged to use this standard in production. This means there’s wild variation between contemporary high street stores, as What Size Am I? shows: I’m anything between a size 8 and a size 12. And there’s variation between that and the British Standard: by the 1987 measurements, I would be between a size 12 and a size 16.

Solution: Create an up-to-date, compulsory baseline

With the amount of sizing and fit data available, the first step to solving those two key problems of fashion business is to change the baseline. Using a greater volume of data across a cross-section of people, the current British Standard could be updated to provide a more accurate set of measurements. This would make sizes more reflective of current bodies, not those of the 1950s.

This updated British Standard could then be made compulsory for brands labelling and selling garments in the UK. While it wouldn’t be popular with high street stores, whose ‘vanity sizing’ is misleading yet profitable, making the standard compulsory would level the playing field for fit-related data to be used more accurately. It would also allow businesses to start looking at more specific fit data, rather than just three key measurements, to refine products in a much more personal way.