India to have body size chart by 2021, survey to measure 25K Indians in 6 cities

India is set to have its own clothing size chart by 2021. Under the aegis of the ministry of textiles, the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi, is undertaking a National Sizing Survey of India to develop an India size chart for ready-to-wear clothes based on the body measurements and specifications of Indians.

More than 14 countries across the world have successfully completed national sizing surveys. These include the US, UK, France, Spain, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Thailand, South Korea, China and Australia.

“The approximate cost of the project is Rs 30 crore and the first instalment has been released to NIFT. Once the India size chart is developed, all brands selling in India will have to carry the India size label on all garments,” said a ministry official.

The official said the mapping exercise will take two years and no children will be measured as a part of the survey.

Noopur Anand from the department of fashion technology, NIFT, said this is the first time a scientific exercise is being undertaken and anthropometric data from a sample in the age group of 15-65 years is being used to create a database of measurements. These measurements will create a standardised size chart that will be representative of the Indian population and could be adopted by the apparel industry.

Approved by the central government, the project will measure 25,000 men and women across six cities and regions – Kolkata (east), Mumbai (west), New Delhi (north), Hyderabad (centre), Bengaluru (south), and Shillong (north-east) – using 3D whole-body scanners.

Anand said the Indian apparel industry uses size charts which are largely tweaked versions of those used in other countries and this results in a lot of rejections and returns. “Returns and rejections of garments are in the range of 20% to 40%. With the growth of e-commerce they are increasing by the day and the major reason for the returns is poor garment fit. All these issues will be addressed by the India size chart.”

Executive director of Max Fashion in India, Vasanth Kumar, said standardisation of sizes would be a welcome move. “Indian garments predominantly follow the UK size chart and between brands it leads to variations. This will especially help business… it will reduce instances of exchanges and will be extremely beneficial for online retail.”

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