UK national survey sizes up the British public

The fashion industry eagerly awaits results of the UK National Sizing Survey, which will be announced on 1 September.

It is the most extensive national sizing survey conducted since the 1950s, and the first one to measure men. Unlike other studies it pays attention to shape as well as size.

The initiative was set up in July 2001, and was a collaboration between the Department of Trade and Industry, academics and British retailers, including, M&S, Arcadia and Next.

Between July 2001 and February 2002 over 1.5 million measurements were taken from more than 11,000 people across the UK using 3D bodyscanners. Experts from the Ministry of Defence, University College London and London College of Fashion worked for 18 months analysing the data.

Richard Barnes, MD of Select Research who co-ordinated and managed the data collection told Research: "This project is different because unlike others which are two dimensional it looks at data in 3D," he added that "the results also have implications for healthcare research."