The South African clothing industry: problems experienced with body measurements

Strydom, Mariette; Klerk, Helena Maria De

doi:10.4314/jfecs.v34i1.52904

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This further explains fit problems experienced by some consumers with RTW apparel in the retail outlets indicated by 44% of the participants themselves on the completed forms. The problem of clothing fit was also echoed by Mac Duff and Smith (n.d.) and Strydom and De Klerk (2006) in South Africa.…”

Section: Comparison Of Scanned Data and Standard Values Of Some Girthmentioning

confidence: 99%

A preliminary comparative analysis of 3D body scanner, manually taken girth body measurements and size chart measurements

Zwane

Sithole

Hunter

2010

Int J Consumer Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In an attempt to provide a technological solution to the influx of cheap imports in South Africa and bridging the technology divide between Africa and the rest of the world, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research procured a three-dimensional body scanner from the Textile and Clothing Technology Corporation, in the US. The pilot study was aimed at introducing the technology to the South African consumers, and to compare the scanned data with the manually taken measurements. A convenience sample of 56 females in South Africa was interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Interviews were used to capture views on acceptance of the technology, prior to being scanned. Scanning garments made from a stretchy fabric were designed and sewn in four sizes of small, medium, large and extra large. A covariance, one sample t-test and paired t-tests were used for data analyses. Almost all respondents felt comfortable with the designed scanning garments and the scanning process. The scanner measurements were generally more numerical in value than the manual measurements for a body part as expected, although the disparity was on the higher side than expected. The discernible difference between means of scanned data and standard values in the currently used sizing charts highlighted the long overdue need to update the sizing charts using a national anthropometric database generated locally.

show abstract

Section: Comparison Of Scanned Data and Standard Values Of Some Girthmentioning

confidence: 99%

A preliminary comparative analysis of 3D body scanner, manually taken girth body measurements and size chart measurements

Zwane

Sithole

Hunter

2010

Int J Consumer Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ashdown () further points out that most sizing systems are based on two or three body dimensions such as bust, hip and waist measurements, which do not accommodate the specific body dimensions of large variations of female body shapes and proportions in the population. As a result, a large number of female consumers do not fit well into the garment sizes currently in the United States of America, including South Africa (Strydom and De Klerk, , p. 87). Clothing manufacturers and retailers in South Africa have surprisingly little idea of the size and shape characteristics of its population as a wide spread survey of anthropometric sizing has never been conducted on the general population in South Africa (Pandarum, ).…”

Section: Lack Of Current Anthropometric Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The opposite of this is the claim that clothing manufacturers only produce garments in small sizes and mark the sizes up as a marketing advantage for garments that should only fit thin ‘trendy’ bodies (Laitala et al ., ). As a result a large number of female consumers do not fit well into their usual garment sizes currently being used in South Africa (Strydom and De Klerk, , p. 87) which may be very frustrating to the female consumers.…”

Section: Vanity Sizingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining female consumers’ perceptions of garment fit, personal values and emotions when considering garment sizing

Kasambala

Kempen

Pandarum

2015

Int J Consumer Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Female consumer's clothing shopping experience is primarily influenced by the appearance and fit of a garment that may be influenced by their personal values and is a process that involves emotions (Otieno et al., 2005; Lopatovska and Arapakis, 2011). Very little research focussing on the emotional impact and the role that personal values play in the female consumers’ shopping experience of ready‐to‐wear garment fit has been conducted in South Africa to date. The primary objective of this study was to explore the areas of concern of garment sizing to establish the emotional impact garment sizing and the resulting fit have on the female consumer purchasing behaviour when evaluated against their personal value system. This study applied the means‐end chain theory approach that allowed the researcher to explore female consumers’ personal values and the resulting emotions, through the application of the laddering interview techniques. Using open‐ended questions, this study aimed to discover the role of female consumers’ perceptions of garment sizing and the resulting emotional effects of garment fit on their purchasing decisions. The findings from the data collected from a purposeful and convenient sample of 62 female consumers from Gauteng, Johannesburg showed that the majority of the participants in this study failed to attain their personal values through the fit of a garment due to inconsistent, unreliable and inaccurate sizing, garment sizing which is unsuitable for various body shapes and the unavailability of certain clothing sizes in ready‐to‐wear garments. The study established that it is extremely important that South African clothing manufacturers and designers should strategize to satisfy the clothing need of the consumers who are currently having problems with garment sizing, by understanding female consumers’ garment sizing and fit needs through extended research of their target markets.

show abstract

“…The sizing system used by the South African apparel industry was adapted from an old British sizing [5]. This results in ill-fitting apparel as the base pattern is not only foreign to South Africa, but is also based on out dated and inaccurate anthropometric data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of 3D Scanning Technologies to Extract Body Measurements for Customised Size Charts for Predominant African and Caucasian Body Shapes in South Africa

Makhanya¹,

Klerk²,

Muthambi³

et al. 2015

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 27-28 October 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The South African sizing system was adapted from an outdated British sizing system. This contributes to the fit problems currently experienced by female apparel consumers in South Africa. To improve ready-to-wear apparel fit, body measurements and body shapes prevalent within a target population need to be identified and subsequently form a basis for a sizing system. The South African apparel industry bases apparel design and manufacturing on standard figures yet research shows that female consumer populations consist of women of different body shapes and body proportions. Diverse ethnic groups within populations further aggravate the variations. Differently shaped consumers experience different fit problems from standard apparel and size charts and therefore require differently shaped apparel. In an attempt to address ready-to-wear apparel fit problems among the ethnically diverse South African female population, this paper sought to compile customised size charts of body shape classes predominant among African and Caucasian women. This paper utilised scan data of 233 African (n1 = 109) and Caucasian (n 2 = 125) women aged 18-25 years that were selected using the purposive and snow-balling techniques. Body shape descriptors from literature guided body shape classification formulae that were computed from circumferential drop values of the samples and mean ± standard deviation. These were used to classify participants' bodies into different body shape categories. A print-out of virtual body images showing participants' front and side view images were subjected to visual analysis by a panel of experts to confirm body shapes assigned from measurements. The body shape defining parameters adopted in this study were. triangle: Mean to Maximum (in cm) i.e. 12.6 ≤ hip-bust ≤ 29.8, hourglass: Mean ≤ bust-waist ≤ Maximum i.e. 18 ≤ bust-waist ≤ 26.6 and rectangle: Mean (18 cm)-3 x SD (12.3 cm) < bust-waist < mean i.e. 5.6 < bust-waist < 18. Findings show that there were 64 African triangle, 42 Caucasian triangle, 30 African hourglass, 51 Caucasian hourglass, 14 African rectangle and 32 Caucasian rectangle. The significant differences between the Caucasian hourglass figure assumed to be similar to the Western hourglass used as a standard figure by ready-to-wear apparel manufacturing, confirmed need for customised size charts for the predominant body shapes among South African women. This paper resulted in the computation of customised size charts for the different predominant African and Caucasian body shapes. While there are a number of Western studies that classify body shape using drop values, there has not been such study in South Africa.

show abstract

The South African clothing industry: problems experienced with body measurements

Cited by 10 publications

References 10 publications

A preliminary comparative analysis of 3D body scanner, manually taken girth body measurements and size chart measurements

A preliminary comparative analysis of 3D body scanner, manually taken girth body measurements and size chart measurements

Determining female consumers’ perceptions of garment fit, personal values and emotions when considering garment sizing

Use of 3D Scanning Technologies to Extract Body Measurements for Customised Size Charts for Predominant African and Caucasian Body Shapes in South Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About