Comments on: Grading children’s clothes pt.1

By: lisa

lisa — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:56:33 +0000

I am a little concerned about the standards website with the 1970’s / withdrawn standards. I am currently trying to develop/locate avg childrens body measurements for my new job. My background is missy womens clothing…. so, I checked the misses withdrawn standard first and found that the sizing wasn’t accurate to todays (moderate) industry standard. The sizing is better associated with home sewer pattern measurements. So, getting back to my concern…. I don’t know how accurate the childrens standard are to todays moderate childrens industry standard. Any thoughts?

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:57:09 +0000

In Response to: anybody have Penney’s or Sears’ specs?

I have a copy of jcpenney grade rule for Childrens 3-6x (4 pages). Not sure how to share it…. help?

By: sharon

sharon — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:20:00 +0000

oh my! i love this. we are in children’s apparel and sizing is SUCH an issue.

By: vicki

vicki — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:49:15 +0000

Love this thread! Thx Kathleen.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:57:09 +0000

I’ve been waiting for someone to open this can of worms.

15 years in the kidswear business and I can honestly say we’ve had to develop our own grade rules based on input from Penny’s, Sears, Lands End, LL Bean and many published books. Let’s just say irritated vocal customers eventually make your grade rules perfect.

When it comes to designing a new line like swimwear its back to the drawing boards again. It takes about three years (not seasons)to refine size grades for kids.

Over the years we’ve found the best way to grade is to have three base patterns. One infant (12M), One toddler to 6X (4T) and one 7-14 (8). I can’t wait for part two!

Once you get the grades right your retailers will love you.

By: Lisa DOWNTOWN JOEY

Lisa DOWNTOWN JOEY — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:13:07 +0000

oh I’m loving this…thanks Kathleen!!!

With friendship,
Lisa

By: Penny

Penny — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:53:54 +0000

My experience is that there is no standardization among the grades and most children’s wear companies develop their own fit. The grade is really dependent on the type of fit and “look” you’re going for. Some companies have more of a European sizing and fit, and some are cut more generously with a looser fit. Honestly, I’ve never been able to completely use the grades / sizing from one children’s wear company to another.

By: Esther

Esther — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:14:29 +0000

I should probably clarify my statement about knit versus woven grade rules. The grade rules all depend on your sizing. You can derive S-M-L grading from regular sizing grade rules. I have found that S-M-L sizing for children is virtually meaningless because of all of the different size ranges. I tend to discourage it unless the S-M-L sizing also has corresponding size numbers attached to it. In any event the PROCESS of grading knits and wovens is the same.

By: Lisa Bloodgood in Portland

Lisa Bloodgood in Portland — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:49:01 +0000

When my 11-year-old stepdaughter was a little younger, I noticed that the size 10 (usually pants) was a lot longer than the size 8 and there needed to be a size 9 because once the 8 was way too small to be worn any more, the 10 was still too long. She’s tall, though, so I don’t know if that was the reason. It’s not like I couldn’t just roll up the pant legs or something, but I think sometimes the waistlines were too big and didn’t always have belt loops.

By: J C Sprowls

J C Sprowls — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:40:35 +0000

I concur with Esther. The grade rules don’t change much because they are largely based on the dimensional change in body measurements (e.g. the S has a 3″ smaller hip than the M).