What I Know About Sizing

I heard a rumour recently that the Australian government are considering researching and then issuing standardised sizing in Australia. Admittedly, I find it entertaining that in my wardrobe I have everything from a size 6 to a 12 and 26 to 30 in the denim department. This isn’t a weight thing – they all fit right now. In fact, the 30 is snug and the 26 is loose. Go figure.

Anyway. When the sizing decision had to be made for Bento – not just how we were going to measure things but what we were going to call those sizes, I asked everyone I could think of. I wrote to Bloomingdales in the US. I asked our blog readers, Facebook fans, strangers at parties and my family. What this ultimately ended in is that Bento is sized on a 1, 2, 3, 4 scale – not 8, 10, 12 (AU and UK), 2, 4, 6 (US), 3, 5, 7 (Japan) or anything else.

This is for a few reasons. One, it’s easy to tell what is bigger or smaller than anything else. A 2 is bigger than a 1. So it’s fairly universal. Two, it’s hard for women to get caught up on what size they “should” be and instead focus on what looks good when the sizes are just relative to each other.

In all honesty, this has been a bit of an issue. Manufacturers really don’t like you messing about with the system. When they can’t see it, people get confused and want to convert the sizing to something they know.

Here’s the kicker though… when people see Bento in person – they want it. This has always been the case. The quality, cut and longevity speaks for itself. In person, the sizing system suddenly makes sense. Customers don’t get fixated on the fact they’re used to being a size 12. They try things and look at the fit and the cut and how it feels rather than some arbitrary number. It becomes far more like a personalised, handmade experience from years gone by than the ‘off the rack’ system we’re used to.

Of course, fundamentally it’s not any different… it’s just about getting past a barrier we’ve become used to and focusing on what’s important.

With all this in mind, I can’t decide if I’m for or against standardised sizing. As long as a label can sort out their own sizing and stay true to that, does it really matter what it’s called?

But what do you think? Should we have one system of sizing in Australia? And if so, should it be compulsory?