Society & Culture - Posted by Nathan Hurst-Missouri on Monday, March 4, 2013 14:20 - 2 Comments 
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Scans show why maternity clothes don’t fit
"Pregnant women don't change sizes proportionally as they advance through their terms," says researcher MyungHee Sohn. "By trying to size pregnant women proportionally based on where they will be in their seventh month, retailers are failing to produce well-fitting and visually appealing garments. (Credit: U. Missouri)
U. MISSOURI (US) — Women would buy even more maternity clothes if the cuts and sizes were based on the fifth month of pregnancy, not the seventh, according to new research.
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The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.
Fashion retailers have seen an increase in demand for maternity wear in recent years, as sales for maternity clothing have increased while overall women’s apparel sales have declined.
Currently, most retailers produce maternity wear using a standardized size chart that begins with women in their seventh month of pregnancy. Retailers produce garments for women who are earlier in their terms by adjusting the sizes smaller proportionally based on the standardized chart.
In a recent study, MyungHee Sohn, an assistant professor of textile and apparel management at University of Missouri, has found that retailers should re-produce the industry standardized size chart to size maternity wear for women entering their fifth month of pregnancy.
For the study published in the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology, and Education, Sohn used a 3D body scanner to monitor the growth and change in shape of pregnant women throughout their pregnancy terms.
She found that pregnant women first begin to show significant changes in body shape and size beginning in their fifth month of pregnancy and do not grow in a proportional manner throughout their terms.
She says this indicates a need for garment sizing beginning with pregnancy terms in their fifth month rather than the seventh month.
“Pregnant women don’t change sizes proportionally as they advance through their terms,” Sohn says. “By trying to size pregnant women proportionally based on where they will be in their seventh month, retailers are failing to produce well-fitting and visually appealing garments.
“This causes the retailers to suffer with decreased sales and pregnant women to suffer from a lack of acceptably fitting clothes.”
Sohn’s latest research focuses on improving the garment fit for plus-size women, using a 3D body scanner and 2D/3D patternmaking software. She says that while the demand for plus-size garments is increasing, retailers are still struggling to produce garments that are appropriately sized.
“Most plus sizes that retailers produce are too objectively sized, meaning they do not take into account the many different body shapes that exist among plus-size women,” Sohn says.
“By using our body scanner we hope to create a more subjective fit evaluation that more accurately sizes larger women as well as takes into account how the movement of various body parts affects how garments fit.”
Sohn, who was a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota during the research, is currently recruiting plus-size models for her next study.
Source: University of Missouri
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2 Comments
Scruff
who gives a f***?
We agree with the assessment by MyungHee Sohn. Maternity clothes in general don’t fit well. There are so many different sizes and shapes of figure. For this reason we produce all our maternity wear range custom made to measure here in the UK.
Zoe