Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sizing chaos

pudding.cool

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

431–440 of 458 posts

Re: Sizing chaos

#431

Post by FuriouslyAdrift »

fraaancis wrote: post #384
fxtentacle wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also fixed clothing sizes for my family using a hacker mindset, but in a different way: Did you know that most professional sewing charts are just DXF files? And did you know that DXF is the most common file format for laser cutters? ;) => just let the machine cut out precisely the clothing shapes that you need After a few tries, I also started to add small sideways cuts to the outlines as alignment markers. And th…

I wonder how many layers of fabric a cutter could get through in one pass (without setting it on fire).

You can go all in and get a fabric saw

https://www.amazon.com/VEVOR-High-Speed-Industrial-Automatic...

Re: Sizing chaos

#432

Post by KK7NIL »

altairprime wrote: post #430
jakub_g wrote: post #361

Semi-related thing that suprises me as a man (this is in Europe): I go to a clothing shop at the start of a new collection, and look at men's shirts for a given type: - there's 10 XS, 10 M, 10 XXL versions I go towards end of the season: - there's like 1 M remaining, but 8 XS, 8 XXL. Like if they were surprised and had no data that most population is M.

As far as I can tell, this is a key driver of why the EU implemented anti-waste provisions for clothing starting in a couple years: because retailers will just order arbitrary amounts of clothes and shred (!) whatever is unsold, which since they made their profit, doesn’t cost them anything and saturates the planet in formerly-wearable clothes that have been destroyed out of wasteful sloppiness. If they actually had…

> because retailers will just order arbitrary amounts of clothes and shred (!) whatever is unsold, which since they made their profit, doesn’t cost them anything

This is so obviously untrue. It's painfully obvious that the less they waste, the more profit they make, so there's plenty of incentive for them to order the right amount.

Re: Sizing chaos

#433

Post by bossyTeacher »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #427
bossyTeacher wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Personal responsibility is based on a fallacy, That fallacy is "free will", which as we know doesn't exist at least in the way we think it does. Society's reckoning with the idea of free will as something fictional is on par with our upcoming intelligence reckoning, evolutionary reckoning and heliocentric reckoning.

Wisdom comes with time, lived experience, and an open mind. Stay curious. https://xkcd.com/1053/

Lived experience scientific knowledge

"Science progresses one funeral at a time".

Re: Sizing chaos

#434

Post by sushisource »

tpm wrote: post #252
_main wrote: post #240

If you shop online and use raw measurements, then it will both fit and be available. The real concern I have is how the large majority of westerners are overweight or obese. That's a serious issue way beyond the practicality of buying clothes

> If you shop online and use raw measurements, then it will both fit and be available. I'm a man often shopping for bike wear in Europe. I'm neither overweight or obese. The article is right that sizing is a complete mess: with my 180cm and 74kg I'm usually mass market size M in tops and L in pants because I just have a big ass (again I'm not fat, I still have a big ass when I'm 70kg during the height of the summer s…

Bikewear in particular is a bit hilarious. I'm 5'9", 150lb, so a bit smaller than you, but I have significantly more muscle in my upper body than the typical serious cyclist build. In my experience, the more high-end the bike clothes, the more they expect you to be shaped like a TDF rider, which is to say literally zero upper body mass.

So I have almost the opposite problem from you, where an M is usually reasonable for me on the bottom, but _comically_ tight on top. Even an L is usually way too tight through the chest and biceps for me, but now not long enough in the arms.

I just live with it, because whatever, I don't mind the top being a little tight, but it is frustrating.

Re: Sizing chaos

#435

Post by altairprime »

KK7NIL wrote: post #432
altairprime wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can tell, this is a key driver of why the EU implemented anti-waste provisions for clothing starting in a couple years: because retailers will just order arbitrary amounts of clothes and shred (!) whatever is unsold, which since they made their profit, doesn’t cost them anything and saturates the planet in formerly-wearable clothes that have been destroyed out of wasteful sloppiness. If they actually had…

> because retailers will just order arbitrary amounts of clothes and shred (!) whatever is unsold, which since they made their profit, doesn’t cost them anything This is so obviously untrue. It's painfully obvious that the less they waste, the more profit they make, so there's plenty of incentive for them to order the right amount.

> there's plenty of incentive for them to order the right amount.

If the incentives to avoid waste were effective in the market, the EU wouldn’t need to introduce regulations to halt it — but their industry is destroying a bit over ten kilos of finished products per person there each year, so the market carrot isn’t working and manufacturers have more than earned the regulatory stick (and can afford the share of profits compliance will cost them).

https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/newsroom/news/many-returned-and... is a good start if you’re unfamiliar with the issue as a whole.

Re: Sizing chaos

#436

Post by monsharen »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #363

It’s worse for women, than men, but all tweens/teens have this issue, and it drives parents nuts. Also, these kids are chronically insecure, and the need to be "fashionable" is intense. I remember hating JNCO pants, for my daughter. To be fair, at least they were baggy. I have similar issues with shoes, and I’m in my 60s. My wife refuses to buy me shoes. If I buy Clarks, I’m size 9. If I buy New Balance, I’m size 10.…

Will risk sounding like an ad but I created a service for this exact problem because I grew tired of the returns. Size charts sucks and it should be treated as a data problem.

You have shoes at home that fit you well, and I have shoes at home that fit me well. If we have shoes that fit well in common, then I know which size to get in your models. Scale that up to millions of users and the problem of sizing is solved. The service is live, it works and it's collecting people's sizes.

Don't want to post the URL but it pops up when you search for shoe models and size guides on Google. Just wanted to let you know that your wife might be able to buy shoes for you again soon.

Re: Sizing chaos

#437

Post by monsharen »

stackghost wrote: post #244
mixmastamyk wrote: post #243

So these sizes (kid, teen, adult) are kind of ridiculous on their own, and combined with the different international systems even more. If you look at the tongue of a pair of a pair of sneakers for example, sometimes there will be four different numbers for international markets. I wish they simply measured clothing in centimeters, and all the complexity could be left behind.

>I wish they simply measured clothing in centimeters, and all the complexity could be left behind. Funny you should mention shoes, because this is exactly what european shoe sizes are. It's really just a case of, yet again, Americans stick with an ass-backwards system (inches/pounds/feet, fahrenheit, etc.) when the rest of the world has settled on something much more logical and reasonable.

"European" shoes differ quite a lot between brands and even models in the same brand. A lot due to factories being slightly different and the materials used, but also in terms of how the shoe itself is designed. Size charts mostly only tell us one dimension (the length) of the shoe. If you're lucky you'll get width at one chosen point as well. Far from ideal.

Re: Sizing chaos

#438

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

monsharen wrote: post #436
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #363

It’s worse for women, than men, but all tweens/teens have this issue, and it drives parents nuts. Also, these kids are chronically insecure, and the need to be "fashionable" is intense. I remember hating JNCO pants, for my daughter. To be fair, at least they were baggy. I have similar issues with shoes, and I’m in my 60s. My wife refuses to buy me shoes. If I buy Clarks, I’m size 9. If I buy New Balance, I’m size 10.…

Will risk sounding like an ad but I created a service for this exact problem because I grew tired of the returns. Size charts sucks and it should be treated as a data problem. You have shoes at home that fit you well, and I have shoes at home that fit me well. If we have shoes that fit well in common, then I know which size to get in your models. Scale that up to millions of users and the problem of sizing is solved.…

Cool. Thanks!

Re: Sizing chaos

#439

Post by monsharen »

mcgrath_sh wrote: post #59
uberman wrote: post #41

Great visualizations but you can't buy a shoe without knowing that a 10 in one brand is not a 10 in a second brand or that for example you need to size down when ordering Dr. Martens then there is no way to expect clothing to be more accurate than a shoe.

Sure, not every shoe brand is equal, but if I know I'm a 9, I can generally start there and find a shoe plus/minus a half size. I have yet to go into a store and wind up in a shoe that is 3 sizes larger than what I thought my size was. Or 3 sizes smaller. Or a size 8 in one shoe from a brand and a 10 different shoe. I can order Nike/Jordan brand shoes without trying them on and they fit. Have done it for years. I wen…

I've collected size charts for every shoe model across 200 brands and found that it's not uncommon for any given size to vary +-1.5 sizes (a range of 3 sizes total). And that's size charts from manufacturers.

Many online stores use outdated or outright wrong sizes charts. One of Europe's largest online retailers don't even bother providing official manufacturer size charts at all. They have one generic size chart for almost all of the shoes, so it's pretty much down to the consumer to return and retry. Kind of crazy state of things.

Re: Sizing chaos

#440

Post by KK7NIL »

altairprime wrote: post #435
KK7NIL wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because retailers will just order arbitrary amounts of clothes and shred (!) whatever is unsold, which since they made their profit, doesn’t cost them anything This is so obviously untrue. It's painfully obvious that the less they waste, the more profit they make, so there's plenty of incentive for them to order the right amount.

> there's plenty of incentive for them to order the right amount. If the incentives to avoid waste were effective in the market, the EU wouldn’t need to introduce regulations to halt it — but their industry is destroying a bit over ten kilos of finished products per person there each year, so the market carrot isn’t working and manufacturers have more than earned the regulatory stick (and can afford the share of prof…

You seem to not even be addressing my point that what you said is objectively false.

You've instead changed the discussion to whether or not those incentives are "effective", which is a very different and subjective discussion. You also make the dubious assumption that we should halt all destruction of retail clothing when the truth is that a supply surplus is a good thing to prevent supply shocks for consumers and the unused surplus does not necessarily make sense to donate or reuse. So a complete prohibition on the destruction of retail clothing seems like a very blunt tool here.

But, to engage with your new point: I would argue that retail clothing waste is not unique and that a much fairer system would be to tax commercial/industrial waste in general. For that reason, this move by the EU seems more like a publicity stunt than a meaningful measure to me.

Post reply on HN