Comments on: Will the new metric clothing standard work?

by: Philip

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:40:05 +0000

When does the new sizing come into force in GB?

by: Martin Vlietstra

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 19:16:10 +0000

The July 2007 issue of “Which” Magazine published an article about the EN 13402 standard (without actually mentioning the standard by name). By and large the article was negative with many high-street stores promoting the virtues of the way that clothes are marketed on the British High Street. The “Which” article was reported in the national press.One of the threats to the British High Street stores is pan-European Internet shopping. Assume that you were designing a web-site targeting all of the EU. If you can get away with a single system of measurements and three languages, your set-up costs would not be too high compared to a mono-lingual website and your potential market as a percentage of the EU would be:

• English - 13% 1st language, 51% 2nd language = 64%
• German - 18% 1st language, 32% 2nd language = 50%
• French - 12% 1st language, 26% 2nd language = 38%

By and large, those sectors of the population that did not read English, French or German would not be doing Internet shopping.

The pan-European internet “shop” would not use English only for the British and Irish markets, but also for the Spanish, Portuguese, Scandinavian, Polish markets. EN 13402 would greatly facilitate such a marketing exercise. If the British High Street stores can convince the British public that “only foreigners use centimeters”, then they will remove one of the threats to their market.

Data source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_European_Union

Editorial comment: Unfortunately, the “Which?” report made a bad mistake - attributing the standard EN13402 to the the European Union (rather than the European Committee on Standardisation, to which the British Standards Institution contributes, and which has nothing to do with the EU). This story was then picked up and quoted verbatim by the media, including the Times, Telegraph and BBC Online. This has of course resulted in a hostile response from Europhobes and prevented the very real benefits of standard clothing sizes from being considered on their merits. “Which?” has actually done consumers a disservice.

by: Seares

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:09:41 +0000

Ok, this thread is a while back, but I’d just like to add that at our local bowling alley I just ask for size 44 shoes and no problem. They don’t have to convert into inches or whatever the measurement for shoes is. I happen to know my shoe size ever since buying skates in Germany 55 years ago to fit onto my RAF size 10 boots (= 44 as I discovered. I wonder if the forces use metric boot sizes nowadays?)

by: Tony

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 11:49:27 +0000

This is not only an excellent idea to make clothes buying easier when shopping in a different country or online, but a chance to change how people perceive their size.

If clothes retailers moving to the new system offer to measure customers’ key measurements in cm and add these to a give-away credit-card for people to carry around, it would be good marketing for the store, and everyone who opts to take a card will see a reminder every time they buy clothes that they are 187cm tall, etc.

by: Martin Vlietstra

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 10:54:29 +0000

The EN 13402 standard defines XXS, XS, S, M, L, XXl and 3XL for loose fitting clothes - apart from the largest sizes, each letter represents a 8cm step, based on chest girth for men and bust girth for women.

In most cases, standard sizes will be in 4cm steps.

by: Phil Hall

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:25:29 +0000

I sincerely hope that the new standards do become the norm, not just because of the move towards metric, but the introduction of proper objective standards.

I loathe the tradtional cloth markings of S, M, L, XL, XXL, etc which mean absolutely nothing. Surely the industry itself has a vested interest in bringing that nonsense to an end? Especially nowadays with people shopping over the internet, the absence of proper measurement must be costing the industry a fortune in wasted delivery and returns because the customer can’t be sure of a proper fit.

by: Alex Bailey

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:41:01 +0000

I can remember a few years ago hearing a news report on the radio that the British clothing industry was considering switching to European clothes sizes in the hope of making life easier for everybody… but the next day a story appeared in the tabloids stating that the EU was trying to force this on Britain. At that point the whole thing went quiet.

This sounds like an excelent idea but I’m guessing that when the tabloids get hold of this that the same thing will happen.