Body image continues to be a hot button topic in America. And it should be. For decades, the media and the fashion industry have given women a distorted perception of what being beautiful means. The standards are unreachable for most — particularly when it comes to clothing sizes.
A recent study published in the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education reveals that the average size of an American woman is actually size 16 — not size 14 as previously thought.
One of the study’s experts, Susan Dunn, spoke to TODAY about how this new information should affect the fashion industry.
“We hope that this information can get out and be used by industry and consumers alike. Just knowing where the average is can help a lot of women with their self image,” said Dunn in an email to TODAY. “And we hope that the apparel industry can see the numbers and know that these women aren’t going away, they aren’t going to disappear, and they deserve to have clothing.”
Many clothing companies create merchandise that is far too small for the average American woman. Clothing lines often ranging from 0 or 00 to 12. So-called “vanity sizing” has also added confusion to women’s sizing in that the sizes have gotten smaller over the decades. A size 8 in 1958 is now considered a size 00.
Clothes have gotten tinier and tinier and many women have been sized out of entire brands.
The study sampled the measurements of more than 5,500 American women, and revealed that the average size has increased in the past two decades. Waist size has increased 2.6 inches, from 34.9″ to 37.5″, with “even greater distinctions found when considering race and ethnicity.
Body-positive celebrities like Melissa McCarthy have launched their own clothing lines in order to bring fun and fashion back into the lives of those who wear above a size 12, but there is still a long way to go for most the fashion industry as a whole.
The report serves as a reminder of what the word “average” actually means, and could alert retailers that there’s a whole market of women out there who deserve a better, less stressful shopping experience.
(h/t Tip Hero)
