Archived News
March 21, 2006
Time's Up for the Hourglass - Research shows most dominant female form is the rectangle.
January 09, 2006 - Fashion Wire Daily, Jordan K. Speer
"We can talk all day about measurements, but actually a 32-inch waist with a larger hip [vs.] a smaller hip is going to make a very big difference to the cut of the pant," says Janice Wang, CEO of AlvaProducts, Wang is talking about the results of a study conducted in partnership with Dr. Cindy Istook of North Carolina State University. The study analyzed results from the [TC]2 Size USA survey to assist the apparel industry in identifying the true body shapes of its target market.
Individual measurements are not as important as the sum total of the body type they describe; it is more important to evaluate the body as a unified whole, says Wang.
By taking this approach, apparel brands will be able to tackle some of the fit issues that plague the industry ? poor-fitting clothing is one of the most common reasons that women return apparel to stores, she says.
A root cause of many of these ill-fitting garments is the underlying industry misconception that the hourglass figure is the dominant body shape of American women today. Wang says that most of the customized fit mannequins it produces for its clients, which she says represent some of the biggest brands on the market, are formed in an hourglass shape and represent women from a size missy 8 to a size plus 20.
Yet research from the study shows that the hourglass figure is the least dominant shape of women, making up only 8.4 percent of the 6,318 U.S. women scanned, and that it almost does not exist in women larger than a size 8. Because of this misconception, many women are unable to find clothes designed to fit their body shape, and apparel brands are losing business from this large untargeted segment of the population, says Wang.
In her research, Istook defined nine body shapes which were then trimmed to four dominant, basic types. With the measurements and samples of body scans, AlvaProducts has produced mannequins to represent these four main body shapes, which are described as follows, in order of representation among U.S. women today.- Rectangle Shape: The bust and hips are basically the same circumference, although the hips can be .85 inches larger than the bust. The waist is less than nine inches smaller than the bust. This shape made up 46.12 percent of the sample.
- Spoon Shape: The hips are larger than the bust by two inches or more. The waist is less than 9.25 inches smaller than the bust. This shape made up 20.92 percent of the sample.
- Inverted Triangle: The bust is 3.6 inches or larger than the hips, and the waist is less than nine inches smaller than the bust. This shape made up 13.83 percent of the sample.
- Hourglass: The bust and hips are basically the same circumference, although the bust ban be up to one inch larger than the hips. The waist is then nine inches or more smaller than the bust. This made up 8.40 percent of the sample.
Other shapes made up 10.72 percent of the sample. By creating models for each shape, AlvaProducts will help the industry translate women's body shapes into meaningful terms, and to make the shift away from the hourglass figure, concludes Istook.