One size fits all.
Can’t find your size? I’m not surprised.
Maybe the tag reads a certain number, but why do I feel so uncertain? An 8 in one store is a 4 in another. Some jeans fit like a glove while others in the same size hang loosely.
I hope that I’m not coming off as though I’m complaining, but isn’t it ironic that we have a retail industry producing clothes into which we’re trying to fit? Instead of us trying to fit their models, shouldn’t businesses change their models and make clothing that fits us?
In today’s ‘globalized’ world, as clichéd as that term might be, retail brands’ customers’ sizes aren’t just a culmination of national demographics. Now, there are more multinational identities—and shapes and sizes—which need to be accounted for when going forward in determining product guides and size charts.
The current model is unsustainable since we don’t fit one certain mold. Retailers need to follow suit and provide us with better-fitting sizing options. Luckily, the innovative intersection of fashion and technology means we as consumers don’t have to wait around for big-box retailers to change their look.
These fashion-tech firms are a good fit for those who want to self-sustain:
Why should we be the ones struggling to find our size when corporations have the budget to customize their assortments? Or, better yet, why not adopt a virtual mannequin? Whereby an online user has the ability to input their measurements and upload a digital dress form upon which items in one’s shopping cart can be tried.
- And, cue Fits.Me—a virtual fitting room of replicating robots—finally, clothes that fit me to a “T” instead of me trying to fit into a letter!
Pinterest via Fits.me.com
Too often it seems that garment racks are littered with over-projections or misfires from the season’s “hottest” and “coolest.” Instead of gauging tempered trends, retailers could measure consumer taste by examining what we actually need, not what we presumably need as dictated by the latest issue of a fashion magazine.
- Oh, hello JustFab—a fast-fashion delivery, yes, but this well-backed firm has a “subscription model” which makes the business “much more predictable.”
I’ll try it on.
After all, isn’t it about time big-box retailers and fast-fashion chains service our needs? Forget about what we want—we 21st century Conscious consumers can not afford such a luxurious choice—it’s not a matter of dollars and cents, but a matter of common sense. Even the high fashion world has taken note of this shift in style with guerrilla shows and blog rolls.
- Of course, there’s Garmz—another game-changer that turned heads by making fashion a thing of the future.
Isn’t it about time big box retailers calculate their turn-over rates based on bettering society? Commonly-sensed by merchandising professionals is a need to replenish and re-stock, but as based on mathematical algorithms generated by a computer running past sales data. While advancements in technology have allowed Buyers and Planners to calibrate exact formulas and analyze past trends with software tools, it’s about time we use social tools to advance from mass production as we forecast for a future of less consumption.
- Ah, yes LookMazing—this site is well, uh-mazing—it’s transforming street style into social style by taking the offline revolution online and back again with uploaded user photos.
Pinterest via LookMazing.com
What are social tools anyway?
Resources like Pinterest, Twitter, Polyvore, Tumblr, Wanelo, and of course, Facebook are some examples. Resources like customers’ sizes, consumers’ tastes, and workers’ voices are more examples of social tools since they do make-up our society. Regardless of your personal stance on the whole climate change issue, if we don’t change our personal consumption patterns, the fashion climate is sure to be disastrous. By tapping into these resources, retailers could waste fewer natural resources like oil, cotton, textiles, and people’s spirit. Companies could analyze social metrics and provide us with less options and more taste.
Isn’t it about time retailers dressed us instead of us addressing them?
All’s I’m sayin’ is, this ill-fitting industry needs a make-over.
Lower quantities.
Higher quality.
And of course, it starts with us; I can always take up this issue myself by going to a local tailor; this way, I can give back to the community by enlisting their fitting expertise.
That’s a good fit for us all.
