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Published thesis from Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
This dissertation reflects on the many difficulties petite women face in the act of purchasing clothing globally experiencing the lack of accommodations made for them, leaving the market largely dissatisfied. In particular, this thesis explores the test of whether poorly fitted clothing has any psychological effect on petite women through the carryout of interviews. Following the focus of this thesis, it delves into the idea of the human mind and perception of self image in relation to sizing systems and how it affects women in expressing themselves age appropriately or not.
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Fit concerns are rising and making their way through different departments to be recognized, however, this dissertation makes the note that while the fashion industry pays little attention to petites, it further does not recognize psychological effects on the consumer. There is a large benefit industries could gain if they concentrated more on fits, aesthetics, and design issues for the petite market in relation to their responsibility and impact on their psychological effects as an end result. Showing how this is a valid issue with plenty of room for industry improvement, this study provides an amount of potential and purpose petite market expansion has on the industry and the community.
Published study in the International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology.
This study categorizes petite women and their body shapes in suggesting their primary body measurements as a base size for different shapes with the purpose of conducting a study that analyzes petite women by their body size in combination with their figure in investigating whether current petite sizing charts are doing justice in accurately reflecting the actual market of petite size individuals.
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Content analysis of previously existing data was used to compare body measurements of young adults to middle aged petite women in comparison to regular women, then further taking these results to make comparisons with the sizing charts of a handful of different apparel companies. According to this study, four body types actually can be classified between top (above waist), bottom (below waist), regulars (whole body), and plus petites.
Findings suggested that the current industry sizing system is not accurately nor generally representing the average petite size market of women, rather only accounting for their stature. What this essentially means is that they fail to account for the different body types or figures, and only account for height differences. This particular conclusion to the study’s findings critically shows the exigency of a problem based on empirical research study conducted.
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Relating to the goal of this research and my project, it is to promote and suggest that fundamental body measurements for apparel companies have the need to modify and improve their sizings. Attempting to draw attention to the apparel industry, this study gives companies ideas on how to improve their petite sizings.
Published thesis irom the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University.
This dissertation delves into the industry shortcoming of consumer product mass production for only the average individual, leaving consumers of different heights and weights to experience daily inconveniences. Having not recognized these special needs for these groups of consumers, apparel manufacturers and retailers have attempted to make recent developments in recent years to broaden their size ranges, however, even such changes still have limited ranges in styles and inventory, hence not meeting the needs of consumers.
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For the purpose of this study’s thesis, it was to investigate clothing needs of petites and tall women in fashion involvement, pre-purchase clothing satisfaction, and clothing needs, comparing the relationships amongst the three variables through the distribution of questionnaires. In order to investigate their satisfaction at the stage of purchase decision, it was determined by the results that petites and tall women both experience similar difficulties within their fashion needs in a general manner, with covariates of effects in that fashion involvement and clothing needs share a positive relationship and pre-purchase satisfaction and clothing needs experience a negative.
Despite having overlap findings with the research published several years later, this thesis particularly provides a list of tables that gives a very easy to walk through explanation of individual and socio-economic characteristics that factor into this comparison between clothing needs. This thesis describes the main issue in a way that shows how despite sizing changes that have been made, this argument is flawed as it is still not encompassing the mass needs as the industry claims it does.
Published study in the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management.
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This was a continuation study conducted several years following the thesis findings above to further investigate fashion involvement, pre-purchase clothing satisfaction, and clothing needs of petite and tall-sized consumers by examining the relationship amongst these two respective niches of women, their shopping characteristics, and their differences by obtaining a sample through mail survey. From here, data were statistically analyzed and tested for variance to test and compare beliefs about clothing attributes and whether there is any difference between these two niches in terms of fashion involvement, pre-purchase clothing satisfaction, and clothing needs. As a result of their findings, significant relationships were found between the three variables shared amongst fashion involvement, pre-purchase clothing satisfaction, and clothing needs.
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Particularly important is that fashion involvement (i.e. perceived personal relevance or interest from the consumer by fashion clothing) and clothing needs were positively correlated, while pre-purchase clothing satisfaction and clothing needs were negatively correlated for both petite and tall-sized women.
What can further be dissected from these finding results is the implication derived from these relationships. It’s critical to note that when pre-purchase clothing satisfaction increases, clothing needs decrease, meaning that when sizings are more inclusive and specified for ease of understanding for online shopping or even just pre-purchase in store, this leads to increased customer confidence in the product fit, hence their clothing “needs” drop as solutions have been created to satisfy their size, fitting, and style needs. This particular association advocates why a solution is actually needed.
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Blog platform, Mic, overviews the issue faced by petites and brings a parallel situation to the plus size community and what they experienced in the past. Having been a successful pivot towards bringing plus size diversity in fashion, petites are recognized here as still struggling.
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a bit of history:
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There is a breakdown of the history behind these issues, most notably starting with the phenomenon in the 1900s where the average size of American women began increasing, hence opening up the market for plus size women.
While the fight for plus sized sections succeeded for the most part, it failed to account for the stagnant average height in the petite range of around the 5’3” area.
Acknowledging that these petite garments were not stylish, it is not only a size inclusivity issue, but style inclusivity.
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The petite section finally started to take off with more mainstream retailers around the 1980s when a handful of major apparel labels like Liz Claiborne and Adrienne Vittadini having discovered that millions of smaller women did not fit into their regular clothing lines, agreed to produce petite sizes."
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dissecting the image problem:
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In the fashion world, plus-size people have long been stereotyped as unhealthy, poor and unconcerned with fashion. Petite people, on the other hand, have been perceived as being super old.
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"It's a segment of the population that these stores don't care to maintain. It's a snobbish appeal. The retailers want to keep the contemporary women — and she does not want to be called petite."
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— Andrew V. Jassin, managing director of a fashion consulting firm
Dissecting the problem, the main issue comes down to that sizing things down calls for a whole set of different design principles that would require extra work as opposed to simply adding or subtracting more fabric as done for plus sizes.
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inside industry insights:
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Petites really need specialist fits rather than just simple alterations of taking a hem up, hence the need for change.
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Petites are currently available in not-so-cheap stores marketed toward young professional women (ex. Anthropologie, TopShop, J.Crew, Ann Taylor Loft, The Limited, Banana Republic). For curvier petite women, there's Myrda J, which is an online store specializing in clothes for women who are shorter and up to a 3XL.
Right now, some of the more affordable options are at Old Navy and ASOS, which both offer petite clothing online only. Being offered online only, they have been criticized for it — however, by being internet-only, these places can supply a wide range of petite clothing to their customers without having to worry about retail space.
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"For most retailers, the issue is generally space in store. As we are online, we can offer a comprehensive collection for the petite customer. I think it has been slightly overlooked. There is a lack of appreciation. The petites customer needs specialist fits rather than things just being altered ... it's more than just taking a hem up."
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— an ASOS representative
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Silas Jackson — specializes in shirts for men who are 5'8" or under; one of the first companies to specifically dress this group of people's needs, ensuring that men of smaller stature have access to clothes that fit them
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"I think part of it is stigma and part of it just might be that men are so used to dealing with what's just available. It's possible that men are really just a bit less fashion conscious, but if there's another option out there, we should know to embrace it."
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— Ben Robbins, founder of Silas Jackson
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Representatives are making the claim that this is fully doable, especially with online markets making even more extensive room for collections directed towards petites. It is all an effort to get rid of the stigma to deal with what’s available, and this is exactly the kind of inspiration of emotions, logical reasonings, and opinions from industry professionals we need to bring out loud and clear.
Blog platform, Bustle, collaged a package of stories primarily based on a survey that asked 448 people questions about shopping, sizing, and the intersection of the two where the goals of this study was to find out how people feel about the experience of trying to find clothes that fit — their tips and tricks, their favorite stores, their frustrations, and what they'd like to see change in the industry. Of those 448, Bustle gathered responses from 88 petite people to see if they too faced the same struggles as the rest of the petite community.
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~50% identified as being sizes 00-4
~30% identified as being sizes 4-8
~20% identified as being sizes 10-14
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what they think about shopping in general:
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47% of petite participants reported that they shop mostly in store and sometimes online
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According to a majority of the petite people Bustle asked, shopping for their body type can oftentimes be frustrating and anxiety-inducing, leaving them unexcited about buying clothes at all.
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"Shopping isn’t something I look forward to doing anymore."
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what they think about sizing in general:
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"It seems like stores are never consistent with their sizing. XS is not XS in all clothing, and it seems like they're constantly changing their definition of sizes."
Sizes can appear as 0, 1, 2, 3, and 24, 25, 26 and XS, S, M, L, XL.
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"Vanity sizing has made shopping really hard."
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Vanity sizing: the practice of assigning smaller sizes to clothing to encourage sales
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what they think about shopping in-store versus online:
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~47% reported that they shop mostly in-store and sometimes online
~42% reported shopping mostly online and sometimes in-store
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Either way, they all reported to have often have been left disappointed and disheartened.
Most of the time, brands don't even offer a petite section, which means they will often buy clothes not because they love them but because that's all there is.
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While there are plenty of brands that do offer petite sizing online, it can be challenging to figure out what their definition of petite is. Petite people have to pay closer attention to every detail in the clothing description when shopping online, from what material is used, to what the hem is, to figure out what will work for them.
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"Always measure yourself when buying online and do not follow fashion blindly."
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tips:
- read reviews
- take note of the model's measurements for reference
- order a couple sizes to see what fits best
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where they like to shop:
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Many of these brands offer petite sizing, pants with shorter hems, or jackets with shorter sleeves for both work and play.
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Madewell (offers XXS-XXL; 23-37; 00-16)
ASOS (offers XXS-XXL; 00-26; W23-38; petite/tall/curve options)
Nordstrom (offers XXS-3X; 00-28W, petite/tall options)
LOFT (offers XXS-XXL; 00-26; petite/tall/plus options)
Old Navy (offers XS-4X; 00-30; petite/tall/plus options)
Target (offers XXS-4X; 00-26W; tall/short options)
Forever 21 (offers XS-3X; plus/curve options)
H&M (offers XS-4XL; 0-30; plus options)
Reformation (offers XXS-3X; 0-20; 22-3; petite/plus options)
& Other Stories (offers XXS-L)
Everlane (offers XXS-XL; 00-16; 22-33)
Mott & Bow (offers XS-XL; 24-32)
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what could be better about their shopping experience:
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Offer more petite sizes.
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"I can't tell you how many times I go into a store, see a cute dress in 'normal people sizes,' and head to my corner of shame only to find that said cute dress does not come in petite. And it's not just one dress, it's half their styles. [And then I] shout in my head or mutter out loud, 'Of course you don't make that in petite. Why would short people want to look cute?"
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While there are many brands that are making shopping as a petite easier, the industry still has a long way to go.
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