Why can’t clothes shops sell clothes in sizes in proportion to the population

[noggla]

50% of women are 16-18, so make half the clothes of that size. It makes more sense as Clothes retailers probably get more sales as if make fewer size 8 clothes. As the latter goes in the sale. Same with shoes. Make more 7-8. Also introduce size 9s.

I’m a 10-12 clothes and size 6 shoe. I have been in various outdoor/sporting shops over the last week and browsed the sale items and it’s very slim pickings, but lots in large sizes, 16+. My local outdoor store has been turned into an outlet store, so only has the leftover items, not items in popular sizes. This was frustrating as I needed to replace things urgently for a trip. The sales staff said they don’t really get much in those sizes coming in, so I think that clearly indicates what size most people are buying.

I think you're spot on.

Anecdotally this was very true in my case. When I was UK size 16-18 I never bought new (or secondhand) clothes, it always seemed like a wasteful approach, as I was always intending to lose weight... that was my reality for 10 years. I only bought new clothes for weddings, Baptisms and funerals. So definitely less than 10 items in total over those 10 years .

Fast forward to dropping down to a UK size 6-8, I've had to buy and assemble 2x additional wardrobes. It's bit bonkers really, but I basically undertook 10 years worth of clothes shopping over a 6-9 month period - so I now have clothes, boots, shoes for every season, and lots of variety in varying styles catering for work, leisure and everything in between. 💃

Yep 😁 I agree!

You'd think with the advances in AI that demand planning would have improved but it doesn't seem to be much better by the sounds of it......I wonder if lead times are much longer these days with everything coming from China so restocks are challenging.

Im not sure 50% of women are a size 16-18! I thought the average was a 16 in the U.K. but that doesn’t mean half of ALL women are that size! I’m a size 12 (or a medium which is generally roomy on me because it’s usually a 12-14) that is often out of stock. There are 16s or 18s (or L or XL) and 6s or 8s (XS or S) but it’s the 10-14s and mediums that sell quickly.

I really think that the surge in global fast fashion behemoths has fucked everything on every level. There's the environmental impact, obviously, but even looking purely at customer experience... Companies can no longer profile their customers properly. Stuff is being sent all over the world to all different countries where sizing and styles are different. The stuff is so cheap that people often don't bother returning it if they don't like it, so companies have no idea what's actually popular, and there'll be another surge of dirt cheap new styles to choose from tomorrow; it's insanely fast production.

And even if you try to avoid that sort of thing (and it's getting harder and harder), those behemoths still have a huge impact on the overall market. When you can get almost anything at a fraction of the price from the cheap giants, many people will. And even those who won't will find that, as they almost inevitably have to compete on some level, the other shops will start prioritising cheapness and speed as well. They almost don't have a choice. So quality and fit go down everywhere. The behemoths change the benchmark and mess up the customer profiling that would, once upon a time, have had shops able to get a decent idea of who their customer was. (That's why you're a different size in every shop; places catering mostly for, say, older women would size more generously than places for teenage girls who tend to be slimmer. You also knew, once upon a time, which shop fitted you best. Have you got a clue any more??)

@ThatCyanCatI’ve really enjoyed reading your posts and learning about the hidden background and processes of the fashion industry, very interesting. You should do an AMA!