Indian body dimensions

Anthropometric survey has been conducted for young Indian women and men in the age group of 18-24 years. Protocol for conductinganthropometric studies has been developed and the problems with existing body size systems have been analysed. Results have been analysed to gain understanding about the body proportions and dimensions existing in the population. Univariate and multivariate analysis of the anthropometric data has been carried out. Using an indigenous developed algorithm and a unique approach, accurate body sizes for top and lower body garments have been proposed. For the first time it has been possible to map the Indian population for the purpose of evolving a sizing system for garments. Wearer trials conducted with proposed sizes showed that fit obtained was excellent.

Introduction

The need for having a systematic and scientific system for measuring and classifying human bodies in India for the purpose of developing sizing system for garments need not be emphasized any longer. As we move into times characterized by unprecedented retail growth, this need is becoming more and more acute. As the masses start frequenting the Malls for their clothing requirements, they are becoming aware of the fit or rather the lack of it that the various brands offer. Fit has been cited as one of the major criteria that determine the purchase decisions for clothing- and thus could make or mara brands popularity. Given the novelty of Mall culture in India, the consumers are still on a steep learning curve and it is a matter of time before they become sensitive to the issue of fit and become frustrated by the lack of it.

Anthropometric surveys have been conducted frequently in India for the last 30-40 years. Some have been conducted by Home Science colleges and the results have been used for pattern development exercises for various age groups. Many others have been conducted to assess the nutritional status of population groups but unlike US studies, very little information about the findings of such studies is available in the public domain. Besides, these surveys were mostly restricted to small, local population sets. A comprehensive-all India survey was undertaken by Dr KS Singh for the Anthropological Survey of India, from 1985 on wards, to study the effect of several parameters on growth patterns of the various ethnic groups in India. However, the measurements taken for anthropological studies are quite different from those required for the purpose of developing size charts for garment manufacture and hence cannot be used for the purpose. Some small studies have also been conducted by ergonomists to collect data for the purpose of design of workplaces.

More recently, some major garment manufacturers retailing in India, commissioned anthropometric studies before launching their respective brands in the domestic market. These surveys were often conducted by marketing organizations which arguably had no expertise in the area of anthropomorphic and thus the data obtained was often found to be unreliable. Besides, the companies have held onto the results very closely perhaps as a trade secret, and again no information's available about the results or the analysis conducted. Even when the surveys were conducted as mentioned above, the analysis was restricted to calculation of simple arithmetic means, percentages and percentiles. For the purpose of mass manufacture such results cannot be used. In summary, it may be said that there exists no record of a systematic, all India anthropometric survey ever conducted.

And so, today there exist as many sizes and sizing system sin the Indian clothing market as there are brands! The sizes are different, the nomenclature is different and the size intervals are also different in each case. There is no way a customer can buy her clothing without having to try on innumerable clothes in each brand. Then again, there is no consistency of sizeseven within the same brand, for say top and lower body garments. That is to say, that a woman maybe a small (S) in shirts but a large (L) in trousers. All this creates a lot of confusion in the mind of the customer mainly because the exact body measurements for which the garment is intended are not known to the customer and often there is no relation between the garment size and the body measurements.

The reason why we in India, do not have even a primitive garment sizing system in place is, one- that the traditional Indian garments comprised primarily of draped wear and whatever little stitching was required, could be catered to by the local tailor; secondly, we had no organized retailing set ups and thirdly, we were not a fashion conscious or a fit conscious population. Thus the need was never felt for a ready made garment sizing system. As the clothing preferences now shift from Indian to western wear, the need for a sizing system is being felt acutely. But this does not mean that the so called developed nations are not facing problems in this area. The number of research studies conducted and the amount of literature generated in the area of sizing and fit in the last 5 years throughout the world is phenomenal. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to state that there is no prestigious textile/ apparel department or university in Europe or America which is not currently working in the area of garment sizing and fit!!

The complexity of garment sizing

The problem of garment sizing is extremely complex, besides being interdisciplinary in nature; thus making the entire exercise of developing a sizing system, a highly capital and time intensive one. Size UK, conducted in 2000 costed 1.2 billion and Size Sweden, conducted in took 5 years to complete. The extent of time and money required have been major deterrents in taking up the issue of data collection and data analysis for garment sizing. Further, development of sizing systems has required inputs from a) Anthropologists (planning and conducting an anthropometric survey) b) Statisticians and mathematicians(population sampling plan, statistical and data analysis) c) Pattern makers (choice of critical measurements) d) Garment technologists and designers (production related issues- size plan and fit). But by far, the weakest link has been the process of data analysis. That is, how to process the huge amount of data generated, so as to be able to arrive at a suitable set of sizes, which can provide the framework for mass manufacture of garments. Simple statistics is incapable of processing this data due to the inherently non linear nature of the problem.

Most sizing systems used today are faulty as they are based on a simple system of averages or percentiles - thereby assuming that human bodies follow a mathematical precision and increments in their shapes and sizes. In other words, each body is supposed to fit one of the sizes which some statistician arrived at by taking the average of a given population- of which you may or may not have been a part. Or worse still, some companies use professional models to test fit their garments before they are put into production!! So unless one has the so called average figure or the figure of a professional model, one cannot expect to find a garment that fits.

Analysis of the Indian population data in the current study shows that ~ 20% of the population matches the dimensions of an average figure! So what happens to the rest 80%? Given this understanding, it might be better to follow a system where the bodies would not be required to fit the sizes, rather the sizes be devised to fit the bodies - as they are in reality. In other words, to devise a sizing system which covers ~80% of the population. 10-20% of the population which is not covered would comprise of the outliers or those which are significantly different in size or proportion from standard dimensions. These will have to be catered to as special categories ( eg. plus size category).

Garment sizing is also about catering to different body proportions, such as waist to hip ratio(WHR), Bust to hip ratio and so on. This means that no single measurement can be taken as the basis of garment sizing (most current systems do this), instead, some key measurements have to be identified for each garment type and the population has to be classified on the basis of these multiple dimensions. Also, the number of size categories should be kept to a minimum to keep the inventories manageable. Once the size groups have been identified, it should be possible to tell as to how many people are covered under each one of the sizes to facilitate the stock production and inventories. All these further add to the complexity of the problem.

It is not easy to carry out these complex analyses given the huge size of the data matrix obtained from anthropometric studies. Fortunately, very powerful and sophisticated mathematical tools have now become available. These, coupled with the current computing power, can be used to analyse the data and arrive at a suitable sizing system- one which adequately covers a given population and gives a good fit to the intended wearers.

Work carried out at IIT Delhi

Textile Technology Department at IIT Delhi has been involved in research in the area of garment sizing for the past 6 years. Given below are some of the achievements and learning from these studies.

1. Anthropometric surveys

We have been actively involved in the process of conducting anthropometric surveys during the last 2 years.

Data available at IIT Delhi

Recent, authentic data for the following groups is now available with us:

Young adults (18-24 years)

1000 women

500 men

IPR for these data sets have been protected

.

Adults (24-50 years)

In the next few months, we will be completing similar surveys in 5 regional zones for men and women in this age category.

Methodology

Various colleges in Delhi were contacted for conducting the surveys. Most Principals were reluctant and only some could be finally convinced to allow us to conduct the survey on their premises. Only those who agreed voluntarily were measured. Due to social inhibitions, in general it is very difficult to get subjects, especially girls to agree to participate in such surveys. Such sentiments have been expressed by other researchers too who have undertaken anthropometric surveys at various points of time. Once the venue was decided, specially designed posters were put up to create awareness amongst the subjects about the purpose and objectives of the survey. Male and female members of the staff were rigorously trained in the process of conducting accurate, consistent and reproducible measurements as prescribed in the ASTM Methods D 6240.

Table 1 Body measurements taken on young men

The data was thoroughly checked for any errors or inconsistencies and cleaned.

Data analysis

Detail statistical analysis of the raw data was carried out to gain a general understanding about the shapes and sizes characterizing the young adults population of Indian men and women. Important insights were gained. Based on such analysis, the Indian male population was divided into 15 categories comprising of 3 categories on the basis of height and 5 categories on the basis of body shape or Drop value. These categories provide a critical framework for developing a garment sizing system for this group of people. The categories and the distribution of the population under the same are shown in Table 2. These categories are the same as those used by some European countries to describe their population but the drop intervals for Indian population were found to be very different from them. Again, the drop intervals were not calculated by just dividing the complete range with the number of categories required. Instead, a complex analysis of the population data was used to arrive at these categories which truly reflect the distribution in the population.

The range of drop values obtained for this data set confirm closely to the values reported for Sweden, S Africa and Germany. But the range is quite different from the populations of France, Finland and Denmark. (John M Winks, The Textile Institute,). It is important to point out that our data is essentially for very young adults who are more health conscious and hence significantly slimmer as compared to middle aged Indian men. Large abdominal sizes are quite common in higher age groups and this trend is likely to show up during the data analysis of the population in the 26-45 year age category. In general, it can be concluded that Indian men are shorter and have less defined body shapes as compared to their European counterparts.

Table 2 Percent distribution of young Indian men (18-24 years) under various height/shape categories.

* The figures may not add up to 100 as they have been rounded off.

Multiple correlation analysis of the anthropometric data showed that neck girth, waist girth, hip girth and chest girth are correlated well to the weight, while cervical height and waist height are correlated well to the height. However, height and weight within themselves have very poor correlation. So in general, for good fitting of garments, at least one lengthwise measure and one girth measure would be required. Measures to be selected would depend on the garment type and the critical measurements for the same.

Most current garment sizing systems are also based on the above mentioned premise. In most cases any one measurement is taken as the basis of sizing such as chest or hip girth and all other measurements are calculated as a function of the same. Such systems assume that if mathematical correlation is high, then the derived measurements would also be accurate. This assumption may very well be true in mathematical applications but in garment manufacture this will invariably lead to poor fit of garments for most of the intended wearers. An example cited below illustrates this point.

Correlation between chest girth and waist girth for the young mens population discussed above was found to be quite high (0.88). A nearly linear trend is observed in the plot shown in Figure 2. However, it can be seen that there is a fair amount of spread too in the population data. The analysis of this spread for a section of the population (waist girth 90-96 cm) is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 1 Plot of Chest vs waist measurements for young Indian men

Figure 2 Variation in waist girth of individuals having 90-96 cm of chest girth

It can be seen from Figure 3 that for people having a chest girth of say 91 cm, the waist girth varies from 71 cm to 86 cm, if the outlier at 91 cm is disregarded. This is a range of 15 cm. Similarly, for chest girth of 93 cm, the waist varies from 72 cm to 86 cm a range of 14cm. It is this spread of data which renders simple mathematics redundant as far as the issue of garment sizing is concerned. That is to say, that despite a high correlation, in the practical sense it is not possible to fit all people having a chest girth of 93 cm with any one waist size. This is because bodies have different shapes and it is these shapes which are covered under the shape analysis, Table 2. But supposing the manufacture did want to offer one size - then what is that combination of chest and waist (shape) and how many people would be covered under that combination or size? This analysis would have to be performed for each combination of measurements (sizes). A thorough understanding of data spread, coupled with complex multi variable analysis is required to identify and quantify the prominent shapes and sizes existing in any given population.

Algorithm for developing garment sizes

Based on the understanding of these complexities, a special algorithm has been developed to locate the most prominent sizes (defined as a combination of two or more body dimensions) existing in any given population. The system is highly flexible in that it is possible to run it on any anthropometric data set, it is possible to define the accuracy of fit ( by increasing or decreasing the tolerance) and it is possible to define the number of sizes. As the demand on any one of the above parameters is made more stringent, the accuracy of another is compromised, so an optimal combination has to be identified every time.

The anthropometric data sets generated have been analyzed through the software- and sizes have been generated for various garment categories such as shirts, trousers and jackets etc. The following size charts based on the new system are now available with Department of Textile Technology at IIT Delhi.

Conclusion

The problem of garment size chart development is an extremely complex one. A breakthrough however has been made through these initial studies. A system has been developed which addresses the issues involved, and has been used to develop size charts for a small segment of the population in the age group of 18-24. While some progress has been made, it is imperative that a consolidated effort be made towards building up an all India anthropometric data base classified on the basis of gender, age, socio economic strata and region-which would be a huge scientific resource. The data must then be suitably analysed and used to develop standardised size charts for the Indian population.

All the stake holders, namely the government of India, the garment manufacturers and retailers as well as the academic

institutes must form a common forum to debate the issues and launch a common project to undertake this mammoth activity. This is the model that has been tried successfully in all countries of the world. No real progress can be made if each one works independently as each brand will end up having its own sizing system as well as size designation system-leaving the consumer at a complete loss about what size is she? The consumer can benefit only if a sincere effort is made by the stake holders to generate authentic data and then scientifically analyse it to generate size charts which are thoroughly tested through field trials across the length and breadth of the country. Eventually, a common system of size designation and size communication will have to be worked out. Finally and most importantly, these size charts should be accepted and used as a standard framework by the major Indian garment manufacturers as the Indian body size charts. Measurement details should be indicated clearly on all clothes being sold and the consumer educated about the use and relevance of these size charts. Only then can shopping for well-fitting clothes become an exact science, and less of an exercise in guesswork.

Appendix

Figure 1 (a) Circumference measurements, b) Front measurements( c ) Back Measurements, d) Measurements in Sitting Posture

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