Dear John, Mike, and All, There are two key issues with clothing sizes. The first is the choice of units of measurement and the choice of measurement intervals � I have discussed this issue elsewhere.
The second key issue is that of the target population and the way in which the individuals in that population vary, both from each other and also from other populations. For example, if we go back to a discussion we had on this list a few weeks ago, where a Navy woman in the USA was using metric measures for uniforms. To do this she needed to know the ranges in sizes of all the Navy personnel so that she could have uniforms manufactured to fit them all. However, The range of people in the USA Navy is not the same as the range of sizes in the USA population at large (so to speak � and I mean no disrespect). As another example, you might like to consider a range of women's wear made for a market in Bangkok in Thailand. As Thai women tend to be quite small it would not be feasible to buy a whole series of garments from Thailand and transport them (say) to a market in Iowa. A third, perhaps slightly less important issue is the way we express sizes. Manufacturers make garments and then label them with a measurement that relates to the intended wearer and not to any measurable dimension of the garment. I sometimes wonder if it would be better to label the garment with the garment's real dimensions and then each consumer could decide how they wanted their garments to fit, ie, loosely or firmly. Cheers, Pat Naughtin CAMS Geelong, Australia on 2002-10-11 13.40, kilopascal at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > 2002-10-10 > > Mike, > > What clothes sizing system is used in Australia? Do you use a metric based > system or is it still inch based? Do you see Australia adopting this new > standard? > > John > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike Joy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, 2002-10-10 19:52 > Subject: [USMA:22611] Voluntary metrication > > >> On 2002-10-07, Markus wrote: >> >>> that an employee of Marks & Spencer (Jerry Dunleavy) was one of the >> driving forces behind getting many large European clothes retailer >> chains to work together on the new measurement-based metric labeling >> standard. >> ********* >> >> Now, wouldn't it be great if there was a US equivalent of Jerry Dunleavy? >> This is what we need, and thereby avoiding the need to have a major >> disaster to force change. >> >> I know that the NIST and USMA guys are doing a tremendous job, but they > are >> swimming in treacle. >> >> If anyone knows of a US equivalent of JD then let's have his name and >> address, so we can all give him a tremendous BOOST! >> >> This would counteract our enemy no.1 (Rupert Murdoch) who is doing so much >> to prevent his papers and media in the US from using SI units. >> >> Best regards >> >> Mike Joy >> Perth, Australia >> >> >> >
