The Shape of Things to Come

American Demographics, July 1, 2003 by Rebecca Gardyn

But among nonwhites and Hispanics, the population numbers aren't the only figures growing. Fully 78 percent of black women and 72 percent of Hispanic women are overweight, compared with 58 percent of white women. Among children and teenagers, this trend is also noteworthy. More than a quarter (27 percent) of black teen girls between the ages of 12 and 19 are overweight, as are nearly a fifth (19 percent) of Hispanic teen girls, compared with 12 percent of the white teen girl population. The same is true for even younger kids with 22 percent of black girls and 20 percent of Hispanic girls, ages 6 to 11, being overweight, compared with 15 percent of whites.

Average height and body shape is also changing as a result of increased diversity. Hispanics and Asians tend to be shorter than their white counterparts. An average Mexican American female is 5'1" and an average male is 5'6", compared with 5'3" and 5'8" for the average non-Hispanic white male and female. The increase in diversity was one of the reasons petite clothing emerged as a niche in the 1980s, says Amanda Nicholson, assistant professor of retail management at Syracuse University in New York. "The big opportunity now is in petite plus-sizes, because there are many smaller people who are also getting to be very wide," she says. Black women, for instance, tend to have larger bottom halves than do other women. According to the NCHS, the average black woman's buttocks, for lack of a better term, is 106 centimeters in circumference, compared with 102 centimeters for a white woman's derriere. Little data is available on overall stature or build, but that will change when SizeUSA releases its report, says Jim Lovejoy, industry director at TC2. "We are classifying everyone we measured into body shape categories, such as pear-shape, round and 'tubular,' a term coined in our U.K. survey, which refers to people whose chest, waist and hip measurement are all the same," he says.

A 1941 SIZE STANDARD

No formal size standard exists for women's apparel; a size 6 in one store may have completely different dimensions from a size 6 in another. Men's clothing sizes derive from waist, inseam, neck, wrist, chest and other measures in inches, so there's less confusion in specifications.

Most women's size systems can be traced back to a 1941 study that fielded measurements from a small sample of mostly white, young women in the military. Informal standard sizes emerged, but there was never industry-wide adoption. Instead, each apparel company created a proprietary sizing system based on target consumer characteristics reflected in their choice of a "fit model." Larger and smaller sizes were created by increasing or decreasing the "average" fit model's dimensions. However, people do not get bigger or smaller in the same proportion all over their bodies, says Cornell University's Ashdown. Stores customarily rectified this problem with ready-to-wear garb by offering alteration services. But most retailers ceased providing such services in the late 1950s. "The apparel industry never had the information about size, proportion and body shape that it really needed to create better fitting products specifically targeted to their customers," Ashdown says. "The 3-D scanner is changing all that."