Women’s petite and regular body measurements compared to current retail sizing conventions

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-64
Author(s):  
Youngsook Kim ◽  
Hwa Kyung Song ◽  
Susan P. Ashdown

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze petite women’s body size and figure and investigate whether current petite sizing charts accurately reflect actual petit size women’s bodies. This study also categorizes petite women’s body shapes and suggests primary body measurements as a base size for each shape. The ultimate goal is to suggest fundamental body measurements for apparel companies to modify and improve their sizing. Design/methodology/approach – This study used data from SizeUSA data to compare body measurements of 18-35-year-old petite women to regular women. The authors compared the results to measurement differences between petite and regular sizing charts of 14 apparel companies. Then, using the principal component analysis and cluster analysis, the authors classified petite women’s body shapes. Body measurements for each body type are contrasted with the current petite sizing charts, and then, the authors present differences as suggestions for modification and improvement of petite sizing. Findings – Industry sizing system do not generally represent average petite size women preciously except for stature. Within the petite women, four body types were identified (top petite: 30.0 percent, bottom petite: 30.8 percent, regular petite: 23.6 percent, and plus size: 15.4 percent). Of the four groups, the ASTM D7878 generally represented the “top petite” sizing. Originality/value – It is the first to analyze the industry petite sizing system utilizing population data and focus petite sizing for women aged 18-35. The authors believe this study could draw attention of the apparel industry, providing companies with ideas of how to improve their petite sizing for young women.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eonyou Shin ◽  
Elahe Saeidi

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to categorize the whole body shapes of overweight and obese females in the US and examine apparel fit based on the current ASTM sizing standards related to the body shapes categorized.Design/methodology/approachBody scan data from 2,672 subjects were used. To categorize their whole body shapes using 97 body measurements, principal component analysis with varimax rotation, a hierarchical cluster analysis and K-means cluster analysis were used. To compare the ASTM sizing standards for plus sizes (curvy and straight) and missy sizes (curvy and straight), five body parts (bust, under bust, waist, top hip, hip) using the formula for fit tolerance (measurement plus half of the interval) were compared with the ASTM sizing standards to determine the size appropriate for each body part.FindingsFive whole body shapes among overweight and obese females in the US were categorized: Rectangle-curvy; parallelogram-moderately curvy; parallelogram-hip tilt; inverted trapezoid-moderately curvy and inverted trapezoid-hip tilt. When the body measurements in each body shape were compared with the current ASTM sizing systems for both misses and plus sizes, four-fifths or more of overweight and obese female adults in the US would find it difficult to obtain a perfect fit for both tops and bottoms.Originality/valueIdentifying whole body shapes among overweight and obese women in the US contributes significantly, as it will help apparel companies that target the markets of larger women develop a new sizing system. This study is the first attempt to analyze fit by comparing the ASTM sizing charts with body measurements in each body shape group. Further, the study contributes to the body-related literature by filling gaps in missing whole BS categories among overweight and obese females.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwame Owusu Kwateng ◽  
Edna Edwina Osei-Wusu ◽  
Kofi Amanor

Purpose Increased competition in the banking sector coupled with long queues in the banking hall has necessitated the introduction of internet banking among banks in Ghana. As a result, internet banking has attracted a great deal of attention from both academicians and practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of internet banking on the performance of banking institutions in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach In total, 20 banks in Ghana were selected from the Bank of Ghana website for the study. The financial information about the banks’ operations was retrieved from the financial statements of the respective banks for the end of the year 2016. The data envelopment analysis-bootstrap approach with principal component analysis and cluster analysis was used to estimate 49 models. Findings The findings of the study indicated that the integration of internet banking into traditional banking methods has led to superior bank performance in Ghana. It was observed that while the independent application of internet banking as a strategy to raise performance was not yielding higher returns due to the low patronage of internet services among banking consumers, its integration with possible traditional methods is widely observed among the top performers in the banking industry. Practical implications Traditional banking methods, integrated banking service strategies and the internet banking service-oriented strategy emerged as the main banking strategies among the banks. Originality/value Extant literature is quite silent on the effect of internet banking on bank performance in Africa. However, this paper is among the first significant attempts to examine the effect of internet banking on bank performance.


Author(s):  
Maria Della Lucia ◽  
Giovanna Segre

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of intersectoriality within the cultural, creative and tourism industries in Italian local development. Design/methodology/approach The research design builds on the literature on culture-led development and adapts the established body of empirical research on industrial districts to tourism and cultural development. The quantitative analysis of intersectoral specialization and the clustering of cultural, creative and tourism industries in Italian local labour systems (LLSs) combines specialization indexes with principal component analysis and cluster analysis. Findings About 50 per cent of Italian LLSs specialize in the economy of culture and tourism, mostly in material culture, although tourism has the highest level of specialization. There are three main patterns of agglomeration and clustering. The largest cluster is that of the cultural heritage and content and information industries, which coincides with the systems of medium-sized and large cities, followed by systems of tourism monoculture. The smallest is made up of material culture, typically made-in-Italy sectors. The tourism and material culture industries are monocultures – where tourism agglomerates, but material culture does not. Research limitations/implications The analytical approach is quantitative and based on Istat’s Industry and Trade (2012) data set. Further studies are needed on the interaction between agglomerated specialized industries. Originality/value This paper contributes to the theoretical and political debate on the value generation and innovation potential of culture and creativity, and bridges the knowledge domains of local development and managerial studies. Novel statistical evidence on intersectoral specialization and the clustering of the cultural, creative and tourism sectors in Italy at the inter-municipal level is provided. This study helps to identify an Italian model of the economy of culture and tourism.


2012 ◽  
Vol 78 (9) ◽  
pp. 3361-3368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken-ichi Lee ◽  
Nigel P. French ◽  
Geoff Jones ◽  
Yukiko Hara-Kudo ◽  
Sunao Iyoda ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTTo evaluate the relationship between bacterial genotypes and stress resistance patterns, we exposed 57 strains of Shiga toxin-producingEscherichia coli(STEC) O157 to acid, freeze-thaw, heat, osmotic, oxidative, and starvation stresses. Inactivation rates were calculated in each assay and subjected to univariate and multivariate analyses, including principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. Thestxgenotype was determined for each strain as was the lineage-specific polymorphism assay (LSPA6) genotype. In univariate analyses, strains of thestx1stx2genotype showed greater resistance to heat than strains of thestx1stx2cgenotype; moreover, strains of thestx1stx2genotype showed greater resistance to starvation than strains of thestx2orstx2cgenotypes. LSPA6 lineage I (LI) strains showed greater resistance to heat and starvation than LSPA6 lineage II (LII) strains. PCA revealed a general trend that a strain with greater resistance to one type of stress tended to have greater resistance to other types of stresses. In cluster analysis, STEC O157 strains were grouped into stress-resistant, stress-sensitive, and intermediate clusters. Instxgenotypes, all strains of thestx1stx2genotype were grouped with the stress-resistant cluster, whereas 72.7% (8/11) of strains of thestx1stx2cgenotype grouped with the stress-sensitive cluster. In LI strains, 77.8% (14/18) of the strains were grouped with the stress-resistant cluster, whereas 64.7% (11/17) of LII strains were grouped with the stress-sensitive cluster. These results indicate that the genotypes of STEC O157 that are frequently associated with human illness, i.e., LI or thestx1stx2genotype, have greater multiple stress resistance than do strains of other genotypes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Oeser ◽  
Tanju Aygün ◽  
Claudia-Livia Balan ◽  
Rainer Paffrath ◽  
Marcus Thomas Schuckel

Purpose Elder German grocery shoppers are a growing, heterogeneous, and highly relevant and attractive, but under-researched market segment. In order to understand them and their grocery shopping motivations better and target them efficiently and effectively, the purpose of this paper is to identify dimensions of their shopping motivations and segment them based on these dimensions. Design/methodology/approach In total, 26 grocery store-choice criteria were identified in a thorough literature review and focus-group interviews with 36 elder German consumers aged 65 and older. In a subsequent survey, the importance of these criteria was rated by 1,288 German shoppers of the same age group. A principal component and cluster analysis were performed to identify dimensions of store-choice criteria and segments of elder German grocery shoppers. Multivariate analysis of variance, analysis of variance and discriminant analysis were used to test for statistically significant differences between the clusters. Findings Basic quality considerations, shopping experience and social interaction, service and assistance, price consciousness, product orientation, convenient location and quick service and packaging requirements influence the grocery store choice of elder German consumers in decreasing order of variance explained. The cluster analysis revealed indifferent, leisure, convenience, assistance-oriented, no frills, product-oriented and service-oriented elder German shoppers, which differ in their shopping motivations statistically and significantly. These clusters are described and contrasted in detail to derive managerial implications. Originality/value This research provides the first store-choice component analysis and cluster analysis for elder German grocery shoppers. This can help food retail to reach this attractive target group more efficiently and effectively and improve the food supply of elder German consumers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Minji Yu ◽  
Dong-Eun Kim

AbstractMost Korean apparel companies lack suitable dress forms for the different body types of middle-aged Korean women, resulting in poor clothing fit for them. As a part of an ongoing project to develop a dress form that fully reflects Korean middle-aged women’s bodies, this study classified the body shapes and examined the anthropometric characteristics of women in their 40s and 50s. The 3D anthropometric data of 302 middle-aged women of normal weight (18.5 ≤ BMI < 25) were obtained from the 6th Size Korea. Sixty-three measurements related to the construction of dress form were chosen. Based on the scores from five factors, the body shapes of Korean middle-aged women were classified into four types: Type 1 had a broader shoulder and a slightly developed upper body but a more developed lower body; Type 2 had a longer, relatively thin and flat, vertical body; Type 3 had a shorter body and smaller torso than the other types, and the lower body was more developed than the upper; Type 4 had a bulky upper body and the highest BMI, but the lower body was rather small. The nine key measurements in classifying the body shapes of Korean middle-aged women were found by discriminant analysis. The characteristics of representative body shapes obtained in this study can be useful for developing dress forms for clothing that better fits Korean middle-aged women.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
In Hwa Kim ◽  
Hyunsook Han ◽  
Su-Jeong Hwang Shin

PurposeThe purpose of study is to investigate effectiveness of pattern technique in relation to the use of anthropometric references for drafting women's basic bodice patterns by assessing characteristics of pattern formation, quantification of wearing ease on the transverse plan and actual ease distribution on body forms.Design/methodology/approachThree pattern drafting techniques were analyzed, which have different frequency of using direct body measurements for pattern formulation. Ease quantification and wearing ease distribution were evaluated on the two different body forms: a young female body and a heavy woman body. Women's basic bodice patterns were drafted with YUKA CAD and virtually draped on the two body forms with CLO 3D. Rapidform was used to evaluate garment appearance. Areal ease and its distribution were assessed. A deviation map was used for wrinkle analysis.FindingsCompared to the pattern formation derived from few anthropometric references, patterns using sufficient anthropometric references provided overall better fit for the different body forms. Ease distribution without considering body arcs was found to be a cause of garment fit problems. Patterns with little or no ease caused transverse fine wrinkles and skewed side seams. Pattern techniques those used linear equations caused problems on the bust because the formulation could not reflect bust protrusions in relation to the body torso shape differences.Originality/valueThis study revealed characteristics of pattern formulae and linear equations in relation to anthropometric references and body shapes. The findings may be effective in developing algorithm of the customized pattern formation in the industry.


2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (7) ◽  
pp. 1423-1441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malak Tleis ◽  
Roberta Callieris ◽  
Rocco Roma

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discover profiles of organic food consumers in Lebanon by performing a market segmentation based on lifestyle and attitude variables and thus be able to propose appropriate marketing strategies for each market segment. Design/methodology/approach A survey, based on the use of closed-ended questionnaire, was addressed to 320 organic food consumers in the capital Beirut, in February and March 2014. Descriptive analysis, principal component analysis and cluster analysis (k-means method) were performed upon collected data. Findings Four clusters were obtained and labelled based on psychographic characteristics and willingness to pay for the most purchased organic products. “Localist” and “Health conscious” clusters were the largest proportion of the selected sample, thus these were the most critical to be addressed by specific marketing strategies, emphasising the combination of local and organic food and the healthy properties of organic products. “Rational” and “Irregular” cluster were relatively small groups, addressed by pricing and promotional strategies. Originality/value This is the first study attempting to segment organic food consumers into different categories in a developing country as Lebanon.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efendi Nasibov ◽  
Murat Demir ◽  
Alper Vahaplar

Purpose Beside the development of technology and accessibility, ease of use, ability to reach various products and compare many products at the same time make online shopping even more popular. Despite the great advantages provided by online shopping for either consumers or retailers, there are certain issues that must be solved to improve online shopping advantages. Finding right size is one of the biggest barriers against apparel online retailing. Since the use of apparels is directly related with fitting, choosing right size is becoming more critical for retailers and consumers. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the solution of the problem. Design/methodology/approach For the study, the specific size measurements of male shirts (collar, shoulder, chest, waist, arm length in cm) from four different sizes (small, medium, large, x-large) and from eight different brands were collected and stored in a database. Totally, weight, height and body measurements (collar, shoulder, chest, waist and arm length in cm) of 80 male candidates, between the ages of 18 and 35, were measured individually. These data were then used for experiments. Findings Any product with known measurements can be compared with users’ body measurement based on fuzzy logic rule and the best-fitted size can be selected for users. Similarly, using the proposed web design, users are able to see desired products on users with similar body type. Originality/value In this study, a new mathematical method based on fuzzy relations for apparel size finder is proposed. Beside, this method can group users based on body measurements in order to find people with similar size.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Shengye Du ◽  
Ling Zhou ◽  
Mengfei Xu ◽  
Jing Bai ◽  
Youjie Zeng

The carried out standard of the garment size is not able to reflect the body shapes of the modern. In order to achieve a better standard, which is in accord with the requirement of the modern, the figures of 520 women and men, all in the age of 18 to 40, are measured. 18 variables of body shapes are chosen, and 7 variables are derived from them. All the data is processed by SPSS, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and cluster analysis are used. Both of women’s upper and lower body shapes are classified into 6 categories, and the similar segregation is carried on men with 4 categories, which is an ideal classification. The results offer the support for understanding the current situation of the body shapes of young women and men in Shanghai, for customizing a new standard, and for providing theoretical basis and reference on optimization of designs of clothing structure. 


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