A reader left this question on my formspring a few weeks ago:
“Are sales reps able to provide sizing information for the line, how do I know how the sizes run for a line?”
Great question that I’m surprised I don’t get asked more often; there’s so much more than a yes or no answer here. For a lot of lines it’s simple — go into the store and try them on. But what about brand new lines, or lines that aren’t available nationwide? That’s where it gets tricky, and I can say that I’ve run into this a couple of times, and one time it ended up being a pretty costly mistake.
The first instance was with a line by a famous young designer — this was only her 2nd collection, so I made sure to ask the sales rep about the fit (actually, I only asked because I wanted to order an extra piece for mysself). I was told that all the pieces ran big, and that the largest size would be about a 10 or 12 (usually a large is an 8). I get the order, and what do you know, the small won’t even fit the mannequinn. By a lot. And we’re talking a size 2 mannequinn, and the waist of this skirt is about 24″ (which is usually on par with a 00). I thought it was just a defective skirt, but after talking to the rep a lot of buyers were having the same issues, why? Because the designer wanted the clothes to fit like a “second skin” (when they actually it more like second internal organs). I ended up keeping one small and exchanging some of the others for a size up; I also posted the measurements on the sales page. And ultimately that small did sell to a very tiny customer, with no complaints.
The second time it happened was also with a brand new line, except one that was much less known, and probably didn’t have the same amount of financial backing for fit testing, etc. Every piece had to be clamped and cinched like crazy on the mannequinn; a size small was about the equivalent of a 6/8, which is problematic when your average customer wears a 2/4. According to the designer, the sizes ran large because they were jersey and meant to look slouchy, and also said, “It would be hard for me to match the sizing with dress sizes as we never work with dress sizing.” Yeah, ok. There are pretty universal standards in the industry — I don’t think a size medium is whatever you want it to be based on the weather that day. And I know the actual pieces were cut much bigger than the samples — the sales rep was about my size and tried on one of the dresses in front of us, and it hugged her body properly, yet when I tried on the smaller size it just shimmied right off my hips. I was able to make a few exchanges with this line, however the line tanked and basically all the pieces we mailed out to customers had to be refunded, even with fit directions on the site.
Oh, and I totally lied…this happened to me not twice, but three times. The last time was with an extremely well respected footwear company. The reps told us that an 8/9 would fit a size 10, and that the size 10’s were “huge” and no one wore them and no buyers EVER purchased them. Lo and behold, for some reason, my size 10 foot couldn’t come close to squeezing in a 9, and a few of my friends with smaller feet had issues with the siaing as well. On top of that, each style was sized differently — there were 6/7’s in one style, 7/8’s in another, and some that weren’t even half sizes. Weird. What annoyed me the most was that the reps didn’t even attempt to correct the matter and rudely suggested that I only wanted to keep the pairs or myself. Absolutely not. I only wanted one.
So how do you remedy this? To be honest, I’ve yet to come up with a surefire way of avoiding it. But here are a few ways to start:
1. Try on the clothes in the showroom. If you’re not a sample size, take a friend who is or even ask a rep to model it for you. But keep in mind that samples aren’t always cut the same.
2. Fit your clothes immediately once you get them. Either on yourself or an a mannequinn. If it deviates more than one size up or down, you’re going to have a BIG problem. And if there’s a fit problem, contact your rep immediately because you generally only have 7 days for returns or exchanges.
3. Don’t buy from brand new designers. Or at least buy with caution. And I hate to have to say this, becuase I absolutely love emerging designers and want nothing more than to support them, but it is a fact that fit problems are the #1 issue new labels face. I would ask a designer if they’ve had their line fit model tested, and if they say no, run for the hills!
Keep in mind, I am talking from the perspective of an online store here. If customers can come into your store and try the pieces on you have a whole lot more leeway. But proper fit never goes out of style — it’s something any long lasting brand needs to establish from the get go.
