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Full length items that typically deal with career issues, product reviews
or test drives of the latest Web 2.0 services.
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Study finds most women not a size 8 |
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Written by Brian Austin
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Tuesday, 02 March 2004 |
 "Super Size It" has become a common phrase in American pop culture, and now it's now becoming a marketing strategy. For years the health and weight loss industry has catered to American's who want to lose a few pounds, but as some have begun to embrace their expanding girth, garment manufacturers are now looking at these plus sized consumers as potential customers.
A project called SizeUSA has conducted a survey of average men and women and determined that the age old garment measurements (determined in the 1940s) no longer hold true today. By their determination, the average women's clothing would be two sizes larger than historically thought. Under the traditional measurments, some of todays cloths labeled as size 8 would actually be labeled as size 10. But that hasn't stopped some garment manufacturers from mislabling sizes to cater to customer's vanity.
The problem is that data collected by companies only reflects what does or doesn't sell in the store. Manufacturers have no way of knowing how or why they've lost potential sales. The current "size" measurement doesn't accurately portray customers, and doesn't generate the needed feedback for garment makers.
At first glance, this would appear to be a PR stunt to sell consulting services to the garment industry. The company that conducted the study, Cary, NC based [TC]?, offers consulting and training services to garment manufactures. However, if you look closely at the services they offer you will notice that data collected is grouped in a way that will help manufacturers better tailor their garments to meet a specific set of customers.
In the past manufactures relied on a set of general measurements based upon data collected in the 40s with measuring tape. The data collected for SizeUSA attempts to refine those general measurements by using four strategically placed cameras to take around 200 measurements of a person's body. This sampling is achieved in less than a minute, which allowed the company to sample a large number of people.
While the new data represents a sizable improvement for the way garments are designed and manufactured, the underlying conclusion of this study is that American's are getting taller and heavier. Jim Lovejoy, director of the project, stresses that while this is the case, American's are clearly becoming heavier faster than they are growing taller. This seems to support the opinion health professionals that American's are increasing becoming obese.
Article:...
No surprise: NC survey shows Americans have super-sized bodies
By PAUL NOWELL, AP Business Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Well into what paleontologists of the future might call the Fast Food Drive-Thru Epoch, the most complete body survey conducted in 50 years shows Americans have super-sized, particularly in the waist and hips.
TC2, a company based in the Raleigh suburb of Cary, used light-pulsing, 3-D scanner technology to measure some 10,000 Americans of all ages and ethnicities. The SizeUSA survey confirmed that all those extra french fries have come with a price.
The study was funded by clothing manufacturers, the military and colleges and universities, all of whom have a keen interest in body sizes.
Size 8 has long been thought to represent the measurements of the average American woman. In the clothing industry, a size 8 officially is supposed to be a 35-inch bust, a 27-inch waist, and 37 1/2-inch hip.
But in the survey, white women ages 18 to 25 came in, on average, at 38-32-41, with white women ages 36 to 45 coming in at 41-34-43.
In truth, some manufacturers made the adjustment years ago. Some sell a size 10 as a size 8 to flatter women's vanity, TC2's Jim Lovejoy, who conducted the survey, said in a telephone interview Monday.
The last such survey of Americans' bodies was in 1941, and it was a low-tech undertaking, involving measuring tapes.
TC2's technology involves a 3-D measurement system in which four strategically placed cameras register more than 200,000 data points on the body. The data are then fed into measurement software that spits out 200 accurate body measurements in less than a minute.
"By using the body scanner we know it is consistently accurate," said Lovejoy. In contrast, the accuracy of a measuring tape "depends on where it is placed and how tight you pull it."
The 10,000 subjects were grouped into gender, age and ethnicity. The survey also collected information such as ZIP code, annual household income, marital status, lifestyle, education, employment status and clothing preferences.
"From looking at the interim survey data, we can see the U.S. population has grown taller and heavier, but we are growing heavier faster than we are taller," Lovejoy said. "If you look at the grade rules for most manufacturers today, they do not reflect what we are finding in our size survey."
Because of its size and breadth, the survey also will allow a closer look at the typical body size of different minority groups, including blacks, Hispanics and Asians.
"Minority populations were not well represented in previous studies, which included no Hispanics or Asians," Lovejoy said. |
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