Measuring exercise to start in 6 cities, Chennai fails to make cut

“We want that we should have Indian size for two things. It can boost our retail market, plus we will become influence drivers for foreign companies also. We are actually rolling out the exercise in March itself,” Textiles Secretary Raghvendra Singh said. 

The project approved earlier by the government will entail measuring of 25,000 men and women in six cities across six regions of the country: Kolkata (East), Mumbai (West), New Delhi (North), Hyderabad (Central India), Bengaluru (South) and Shillong (North-East). 

It will use 3D whole body scanners and computers that will extract hundreds of measurements from scan. Chennai, however, has not been included in the exercise, which could be because online purchase of garments is still not very high in the state. A large percentage of shoppers face difficulty in finding clothes that fit them perfectly as there is no standard size chart at present. 

Now, India’s apparel industry uses size charts that are tweaked versions of sizes of other countries, so returns of garments are in range of 20 to 40 per cent and is increasing with the growth of e-commerce. The main reason for returns are poor garment fit.