New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Textiles has joined hands with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) to standardise the size of clothing to suit the Indian body type.


Sizes available with the popular brands available in India are usually based on UK or US sizes, which are different from Indian body types. To end this confusion, the ministry and the NIFT are working on IndiaSize, the country's own standard size chart.


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Prof Monica Gupta, Co-Principal Investigator and project lead, IndiaSize, told ABP News: “If we go to market and want to buy shirts, etc., clothes are not available under the same size. Men are not able to close the collar button of shirts. This is because we employ the standard size chart used outside India. The neck sizes of the people abroad (US or UK) are thinner. When India chart is ready, such problems will be solved."



Prof Nupur Anand, Principal Investigator and project lead, IndiaSize, said: "This is a national sizing survey, under which we will measure 25,000 people pan India in six cities and take their data and prepare a body size chart, which is according to our Indian population. This will help us get the clothes that are according to our body shape and size."


How The Data For IndiaSize Is Collected


Data is being collected so there is no mistake in finlasing measurements for the IndiaSize. First of all, the registered survey respondent's eyes are scanned. They are asked some questions whose answers are requred to understand the background of the person. Finally, they are given a special 'scan suit', wearing which they need to go to the scanning centre.


As many as 120 types of data are being collected at the scanning centre.


Prof Anand said it is a 3D hall body scanning machine. Sensors are installed in the machine that capture body data of the person in the scan suit. This scan suit is built in a way that helps capture actual measurements of the body. 


"The data points that we capture are the peripheral points of the whole body. You will get the stretcher, the measurement of shoulder, chest, waist, hip, leg, arm. You will also have segment lenses; how big is the chest etc. With the help of this scanning suit, approximate data of men and women across the country will be collected. This survey will be done in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Shillong, so that diversity can also be taken care of while making IndiaSize," Anand explained. 


The NIFT has engaged DesignSmith for the work on this survey, and its responsibility is to include people of every stature.


Vikram Sharma, director of DesignSmith, said: "We are about to complete the survey in Delhi, by next week. There are different locations for this, one is at NIFT where people will be brought. The second will be a walk-in at a mall, and third will be an old age home to collect sizes of the elderly people."


Shantmanu, director-general of NIFT, said: "We had procured the scanning machine and could not proceed due to Covid-19. We have started the measurement work two months ago. Our target is to collect about 25,000 samples. So far, we have 7,000. After all the samples arrive, a detailed analysis will be done and the chart will be prepared on its basis."


The target is to collect IndiaSize data from all over the country by July 2022, and by the end of 2022, IndiaSize chart will be ready. India being a huge market for foreign brands, it is being expected that apparel manufacturers based abroad will also prepare clothes according to IndiaSize.


(Reporting by Abhinav Goel)