Joint European standard for size labelling of clothes
The standard is based on body dimensions measured in centimetres, and as such, and its aim is to make it easier for people to find clothes in sizes that fit them.
The standard aims to replace older clothing size systems that were in popular use before the year 2007, but the degree of its adoption has varied between countries.
It is based on: The first part[2] of the standard defines the list of body dimensions to be used for designating clothing sizes, together with an anatomical explanations and measurement guidelines.
The following table shows the primary (in bold) and secondary dimensions listed in the standard, leaving out the redundant words girth, length and size for better overview.
This was originally intended primarily for industry use in databases and as a part of stock-keeping identifiers and catalogue ordering numbers, but later users have also expressed a desire to use compact codes for customer communication.
The full list of centimetre figures on the pictogram contains a lot of redundancy and the same information can be squeezed into fewer characters with lookup tables.
An earlier draft of this part of the standard attempted to list all in-use combinations of EN 13402-3 measures and assigned a short 2- or 3-digit code to each.
One of these, tabled by the European Association of National Organisations of Textile Traders (AEDT), proposes a 5-character alphanumeric code, consisting of the 3-digit centimetre figure of the primary body dimension, followed by one or two letters that code a secondary dimension, somewhat like the system already defined for bra sizes.
