Sizing Matters

Sizing, as anyone in the clothing business will tell you, is complicated. It's also expensive, emotional and time consuming. The worst of it though? It's impossible to get right.

Two women can be the 'same size' in a t-shirt but have completely different measurements. A broad backed, relatively small-breasted woman might be able to wear the same size jumper, t-shirt or shirt as the lady with a narrower back and fuller breasts. One might have shorter arms, the other longer. Equally, two women wearing the same drawstring waisted size 12 trousers might find that one boasts broader hips, the other a rounder bottom. Do the garments wear properly and fit comfortably — perhaps, but then they are neither fitted nor tailored and they have stretch.

Much of what we wear today falls into the above level of 'approximate fit'. But we also sometimes want to wear other clothes — jackets, coats, dresses and more — all of which follow that same 6-8-10-12-14-16-18-20 logic. Do they all fit, or are we so used to 'OK but actually imperfect fits' that we just live with them? Chances are it is the latter.

If fit is more important to get right than size, why are these garments sold on size? Sizes that vary not just from country to country, but from maker to maker. Standardisation is the apparently very sensible reason behind that — except for the fact that there is no 'standard' human sizing.

Over a decade ago The Economist paraphrased Tolstoy very pertinently, when it wrote: "whereas thin people are all (roughly) alike, fat people are all fat after their own fashion. Body weight is distributed in many different ways, and clothing sizes are unreliable guides."

We would agree with the Economist's latter two points, but not the former. Two slimmer women might be as different proportionally as two rounder ones. A coat might fit one 'size 8' but not another — not because one is 'larger' than the other, but because the combination of her measurements makes that particular garment fit her too tightly. The measurements that might tip one up to a 10 or the other down to a 6 include her bicep, her back, her diaphragm, her waist, her hips and the length of her arms.

So let's not take size personally. Let's take fit seriously.

Recognising that sizing is difficult, we have taken two practical steps to help our clients.

The first is cup sizing. For styles where it makes a difference, we cut our patterns twice — once for a smaller cup size, once for a fuller one. This matters more than it might sound. A coat cut to a single pattern across all bust sizes might fit well on a more modest frame and pull across a fuller one, or sag on a modest frame and fit well on a fuller one. Neither is acceptable. Cutting twice means that a woman with a fuller chest does not have to go up a size or two just to accommodate it, ending up with a coat that fits across the bust but swamps everywhere else. And a woman with a smaller chest is not left with excess fabric hanging loosely.

The second is our toile service. For a refundable £50 deposit, a calico copy of a coat style is made up in the size and style of your choice and shipped to you at home, along with fabric swatches and a prepaid returns label. Try it on, move around in it, sit down in it, hold it up against your chosen fabric and decide whether it is right. If you have any doubts, you book a call with us while you have it. If you need a different size or a second toile, we will send one. If you decide not to order, we will refund your deposit minus postage. We will not cut your coat until we are confident it will fit you as it should.

Our size numbers are names attached to measurements — no more, no less. They are not judgments. The fit is what matters.

Our full collection is at ednerat.com — sized 6 to 20, cup sized where it counts, bespoke options available, with a toile service for those who want to be certain.