India size survey, titled INDIAsize, was officially launched on Thursday! The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India has endorsed the revised size survey. International clothing firms are expected to follow the new sizing guide.
All the data and findings related to the project will be released in a few months. The entire project is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
The project, which is a collaboration between the Ministry of Textiles and the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), aims to provide a new standardised size chart for India’s ready-to-wear garment business.
“The textile sector is the second-largest employer in the country and generates about Rs 140 billion, of which Rs 100 billion is from Indian consumers alone. We only export for about Rs 40 billion. The need for standard sizing has been there for a while. Now with INDIAsize, we are conducting size surveys across six regions of India, namely Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Shillong and Kolkata,”
Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary, Textiles.
“The new sizing chart will have a size identification number, which will be created by mapping, categorisation and defining of the body size and type. Currently, only about 18 countries in the world have their own sizing charts,” said Singh.
New Standardised Size Chart For India
Ministry of Textiles and National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) aims to introduce a new standardised size chart for India in the ready-to-wear clothing sector. The project was announced in February 2019 but due to the pandemic, the process got delayed.
“We are using about 100 anthropometric data points from each of the participants. The study, for us at NIFT, is also an exercise in scientific research. It will have participants from different age groups, income brackets and varying ethnicities. All this will help us to bring about a comprehensive and standardised size chart,”
Shantmanu, DG NIFT.
“To successfully gather anthropometric data from a sample population, we are using a safe 3D whole-body scanner technology. It is following all international protocols of national sizing survey, and the sizing can then be used by the apparel industry,” he said.
Criticism For Labels
The desire to create an “India-specific” size chart was really important as the body type descriptors such as small, large, medium, and extra-large on their labels doest really work when it comes to Indian body type.
“We Indians have a different body type when we compare to Europe. We don’t have such long arms for example. A size 39, may fit me on the shoulder, but the sleeves may hang by a mile. Also, we have encountered international discrepancies, where a particular size measures as a medium for men, and the measurement is labelled as extra-large for women,”
“We hope the data can be used in many ways. Hopefully, creating our own shoe sizing system will be next”.
Shantmanu, DG NIFT.
The New Size Survey
The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India has endorsed the revised size survey. International clothing firms are expected to follow the new sizing guide.
“It’s good business sense. A lot of money and energy is spent just returning ill-fitting and wrong-sized clothes. Brands like H&M have shown a positive interest in the movie,”
Noopur Anand, professor, NIFT and principal investigator of the project.
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