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Body Measurements of American Boys and Girls for Garment and Pattern Construction
Title
Body Measurements of American Boys and Girls for Garment and Pattern Construction
Comprehensive Report of Measuring Procedures and Statistical Analysis of Data on 147,000 American Children
Date
1941
Relation
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Miscellaneous Publication Number 366
Subject
Excerpt
Purpose of the Study
This study, financed by the Works Progress Administration and conducted as a W. P. A. project, was made in order to supply accurately taken body measurements for use in the construction of children's garments and patterns.
Unsatisfactory sizing is a source of much consumer difficulty in the selection of suitable clothing for children. For, although it is common knowledge that many children of the same age have entirely different dimensions (fig. 1), garments and patterns now are sized mainly on the basis of age. Moreover, different manufacturers make garments of different sizes for children of the same age. Also, due to competitive practices, few articles of clothing are large enough for children of the ages for which they are marked.
As a result of the difficulties in securing properly fitting children's clothing, retailers, especially mail-order companies, complain of huge annual losses due to large returns. These difficulties are caused partly by the lack of uniformity in the dimensions used by different manufacturers. Partly they are due to the fact that measurements for this purpose never have been taken with scientific accuracy on a representative sample of the child population of the country. Studies of body measurements have been restricted largely to growth and anthropological researches that have' not included the measurements used for garment sizes. The only published report of an American study of this kind with clothing construction definitely in view is the one made on 100,000 men during the demobilization at the end of the World War.
The idea has long prevailed that if a scientific study were made of the body measurements of a representative sample of children, the dimensions of a hypothetical "average" child of each age could be assembled. This together with perhaps an average chubby and an average slim child of the same age, might then solve the fitting problem. This study was initiated, therefore, not only to obtain scientifically taken measurements of a large and representative sample of children, but also to analyze the variations of these dimensions in order to determine the most satisfactory basis for sizing children's garments and patterns.
This study, financed by the Works Progress Administration and conducted as a W. P. A. project, was made in order to supply accurately taken body measurements for use in the construction of children's garments and patterns.
Unsatisfactory sizing is a source of much consumer difficulty in the selection of suitable clothing for children. For, although it is common knowledge that many children of the same age have entirely different dimensions (fig. 1), garments and patterns now are sized mainly on the basis of age. Moreover, different manufacturers make garments of different sizes for children of the same age. Also, due to competitive practices, few articles of clothing are large enough for children of the ages for which they are marked.
As a result of the difficulties in securing properly fitting children's clothing, retailers, especially mail-order companies, complain of huge annual losses due to large returns. These difficulties are caused partly by the lack of uniformity in the dimensions used by different manufacturers. Partly they are due to the fact that measurements for this purpose never have been taken with scientific accuracy on a representative sample of the child population of the country. Studies of body measurements have been restricted largely to growth and anthropological researches that have' not included the measurements used for garment sizes. The only published report of an American study of this kind with clothing construction definitely in view is the one made on 100,000 men during the demobilization at the end of the World War.
The idea has long prevailed that if a scientific study were made of the body measurements of a representative sample of children, the dimensions of a hypothetical "average" child of each age could be assembled. This together with perhaps an average chubby and an average slim child of the same age, might then solve the fitting problem. This study was initiated, therefore, not only to obtain scientifically taken measurements of a large and representative sample of children, but also to analyze the variations of these dimensions in order to determine the most satisfactory basis for sizing children's garments and patterns.
Publisher
U.S. Department of Agriculture
File(s)
Body Measurements of American Boys and Girls 1.jpg
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Body Measurements of American Boys and Girls TOC.jpg
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Body Measurements of American Boys and Girls 6.jpg
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Body Measurements of American Boys and Girls 7.jpg
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Body Measurements of American Boys and Girls 2.jpg
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