Clothing sizes

In clothing, clothing size refers to the label sizes used for garments sold off-the-shelf. There are a large number of standard sizing systems around the world for various garments, such as dresses, tops, skirts, and trousers. Made-to-order garments require measurements to be taken, but these do not need to be converted into national standard form.

Before the invention of clothing sizes in the early 1800s, all clothing was made to fit individuals by either tailors or makers of clothing in homes. Then garment makers noticed that the range of human body dimensions was relatively small. Therefore sizes were invented to

However, because of the drape and ease of the fabric, not all measurements are required to obtain a well-fitting dress in most styles.

There are several ISO standards related to Size designation of clothes:

The European Standards Organisation (CEN) has also produced a series of standards, prefixed with a EN 13402:

intended to replace the existing national standards of the 33 member states. It is currently in common use for children's clothing, but not yet for adults. The third standard EN 13402-3 seeks to address the problem of irregular or Vanity sizing through offering a SI unit based labelling system, which will ALSO pictographically describe the dimensions a garment is designed to fit, per the ISO 3635 standard.

The United Kingdom has an existing standard for women's clothing BS 3666:1982, however this is rarely followed by manufacturers as it defines sizes in terms of hip and bust measurements only within a limited range. This has resulted in variations between manufacturers and a tendency towards vanity sizing. Similarly a standard for men exists: BS 6185:1982 Specification for size designation of men's wear

Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia. still use the JUS (F.G0.001 1979, F.G0.002 1979, F.G0.003 1979) standards developed in the former Yugoslavia. In addition to typical girth measurements clothing is also marked to identify which of 5 height bands: X-Short, Short, Medium, Tall, X-Tall, and body types: Slim, Normal, or Full, it is designed to fit.

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