Ministry of Textiles takes a step to provide Indian customers with well fitting clothes
Ministry of Textiles along with NIFT, Delhi and DesignSmith, on Thursday launched the India Size project at Select City Mall, Saket. India Size is the National Sizing Survey of India. It is a pan India study over a stratified sample of more than 25,000 people that will be used to determine the apparel sizes according to Indian body types. It will standardise the apparel sizes for the Indian fashion market.
Talking to BW Businessworld, Vikram Sharma, Director, DesignSmith said, “We do not have clothes according to our sizes. India has no size chart. The clothes come in the ‘UK’ and ‘US’ sizes. This often leads to the ill-fitting of clothes.” 14 countries across the globe have their own size charts. UK and US sizes are most widely used by clothing companies. Mr Sharma further added, “The survey is being conducted at 6 cities across India, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Shillong. Due to geographical diversity, we need data from across the country”.
120 data points
The data points will be collected by a 3-D scanner that has been installed at different locations. The person is made to change in a special scan suit and then made to stand inside the scanner. Data points are collected and then the person is asked to sit. The process is then repeated. A total of 120 data points are collected per person.
A person being scanned (Picture by Raghav Aggarwal)
“We currently have remote and walk-in surveys. Select City Mall has the walk-in survey. Anyone can come and get measured here. But we will be introducing a mobile survey too. A minibus will carry the scanner and go across the country to collect data”, Mr Sharma told BW Businessworld.
Rising returns
Speaking at the press conference, Shantmanu, Director General, NIFT, New Delhi, said, “Due to ill-fitting of clothes, almost 25%-30% of all the clothes that are bought are returned to the sellers. India Size will help us overcome that.”
The textile and apparel industry is the second largest employer in India after the Agriculture sector. It is responsible for nearly 13 per cent of industrial production in India. The industry contributes 12 per cent to India’s total export earnings.
Fillip to Atmanirbhar Bharat
Talking to BW Businessworld, Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, said, “Along with this survey, the government is taking initiatives like Production Linked Initiative (PLI) and Mega Textile Parks to give a boost to the sector. India imports most of the textile machinery used in the country. We are trying to encourage their production too in India so that we can reduce the imports. All this, coming together, will provide a fillip to the Atmnanirbhar Bharat vision.”
International manufacturers should use this data
Nupur Anand, project head, India Size, said in the conference, “It makes sense for the international manufacturers to use this size chart because it will be targeted to the Indian population. The sales will be better and the returns will be lesser. International manufacturers who are targeting Indian customers, this is the data that they should be using”.
The survey is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. Although, the first size chart is expected to be released after the first round of the survey.
