Why do sizes differ from brand to brand?
The answer is pretty simple it’s the way that companies grade their clothing and more importantly what size and shape they consider as a medium, this is generally the starting point for grading.
Grading is the amount and where a size changes from the base medium pattern to make it a large a small right through the size ranges.
This raises the question, what is Medium?
It depends on who you ask in what country and in which demographic you are sampling. That’s why Italian cycling brands tend to be smaller than British brands and British brands smaller than American brands.
Complicated right!
How’s this all worked out?
Essentially you take measurements of a range of people in your demographic and from those measurements then decide an average size, this average size becomes the Mr and Mrs Medium the starting point for your sizes.
Deciding on an average size this way means that not everyone who is classed as a medium will be a perfect fit according to the Mr and Mrs Medium starting points. This is where the issues begin and the fit can already be a compromise for the customer.
You have to choose the garment that’s best for you, not the one that’s perfect for you.
Take for example Marcin in our pictures.
Marcin is an extreme example of someone who measures up medium until you get to height and the resulting longer limbs associated with that height increase. You can see the suit fits pretty well everywhere other than the length of the torso and the arm and leg length making it uncomfortable to wear and not optimal for performance. (image below).
What would Marcin usually do?
Marcin would have to compromise and choose a suit that’s not a perfect fit, or he would go up a size up to get the arms and legs the correct but in doing so the suit would not fit as well in other areas.
Time for Change?
Yes! It’s time to change this and Nopinz now offer a Made to Measure service based on 22 specific measurements, or for those wanting the perfect fit based on 52 measurements (taken by a state of the art 3D body scanner) – it’s our Tailored for Speed 3D Fit package.
Can you spot the difference?
Marcin in the second picture is in his Tailored for Speed suit made for him to destroy the UK national records throughout 2018. In our testing with Marcin the Tailored for Speed suit was faster aerodynamically and also more ergonomically comfortable allowing Marcin to perform at his best.
So If you have trouble getting kit to fit or in fact, you just want it perfectly fitting then don’t compromise join us and get Made to Measure or Tailored for Speed 3D Fit!
