Page 132 - Anthropometry, Apparel Sizing and Design

128 Anthropometry, Apparel Sizing and Design

Therefore the classifications that were defined earlier such as 14S+ or 13T were
now modified/simplified. The new standard included body measurements for four
classifications as follows: juniors’ misses’, women’s, and half sizes for shorter women
and subclassifications as detailed below:
l juniors’ petite sizes ranging from 3P to 15P
l juniors’ sizes ranging from 3 to 7
l misses’ petite sizes ranging from 8P to 18P
l misses’ sizes ranging from 6 to 22
l misses’ tall sizes ranging from 10T to 22T
l women’s sizes ranging from 34 to 52
half sizes ranging from 12½ to 26½
l
In addition, it was written that standards were subject to review at any time and that it
remained the responsibility of the users to judge its suitability for their particular pur-
pose. Let’s now have an overview of what happened in Canada.

5.2.5 Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB)
The Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) has, over the decades, also produced
size designations linked to data charts. It is stated at the very beginning of the
report that:
The principal objects of the Council are to foster and promote voluntary standardi-
zation as a means of advancing the national economy, benefiting the health, safety
and welfare of the public, assisting and protecting the consumer, facilitating
domestic and international cooperation in the field of standards. (CAN/CGSB-
49.203-M87, p. 1).

The CGSB also wrote that:

This standard describes the abridged Canada Standard sizing system which may be
used as a guide in choosing the sizes of women’s wearing apparel. The standard con-
tains a selection from the complete system of sizes which is of greatest commercial
interest. The sizes are identified by code numbers that correspond as closely as pos-
sible to current trade practice. Size identifications based on size indicator body
dimensions are also given (CAN/CGSB-49.203-M87, p. 1).

One can also read in the CAN/CGSB-49.201-92 that the source measurements of
the database that served to do the Canadian women apparel size designations were
taken “a few years ago on a population of about 10,000 American women aged
between 18 years old and 80 years old.” In the footnote, it is written that the body
measurements were taken in 1939 and 1940 in the United States, Miscellaneous Pub-
lication No. 454, US Department of Agriculture in 1941. Basically the subjects who
served for the establishment of the Canadian size designations were the female sample
that served to generate the American size designation. The CGSB added that a label