There are so many factors as to why a customer will return to a clothing store or buy more sportswear from you. One of the key things, other than style, is fit. If it doesn’t fit, unlikely they will buy in the first place, but even less likely they will be back.

If a customer knows they can stroll in, pick up a regular fit in a medium and it fits, every time, you will become one of their best friends. Even better if that regular fit in a medium works for every one of your garments, whether it is a top or a bottom. It makes their shopping experience just so easy. This is especially important when selling online. Shopping from the comfort of their own home for clothes they know fit them doesn’t get much easier.

Some clothing and sportswear brands see this as a critical element in their brand identity and for good reason.

Achieving this consistency of fit across your range is the single hardest thing to achieve for any brand. Get it right and the world is your oyster. But achieving it requires your pattern maker to ensure that consistency. If you don’t have your own pattern maker, how do you make sure the pattern makers you use are consistent with each other? Short answer, you can’t.

Fit is very much a design element. One brand’s loose fit is another brand’s regular fit. And pattern makers who work with multiple brands will use their discretion on your patterns. This gets even harder as you switch pattern makers. Add into the mix sizing and you get all sorts of variations. It is not altogether uncommon for a brand to label a 14 as a 12. This makes their customers feel better about the extra helping of Christmas pudding, perhaps? There is plenty of controversial commentary out there which talks about this.

But can you choose a loose fit in size 12 instead of a regular fit in size 14? Not often. The armholes will be wrong, the hem length wont work, nor will the neckline. It just won’t fit right.

Here at Pattern Room, we live and breath fit. We’ll leave the sizing label choice up to you, but fit, we have you covered.

For our small team of highly skilled pattern makers, we have a clearly defined process which ensures every pattern produced uses the same body size as a basis. That means a regular fit IS a regular fit, be it a singlet, a t-shirt or a pair of pants. They were all created to fit the same body. Even better, that fit will be the same now as it will be in years to come. And folks, there you have it, consistency of fit.

Oh, I hear you ask about babies’, toddlers’, kids’, womens’, womens’ plus, mens’ and mens’ plus and how we can ensure they are consistent across both the fit and size range in our patterns? That’s where our real magic lies. Ask any pattern maker, getting kids and adults fits consistent is one of, if not the, most challenging things for a pattern maker to achieve. Our team has mastered this.

What about body measurements, surely these can be used as a standard? Well, yes they can, mostly. Understanding how to take 3D measurements and convert it to a 2D pattern is where a skilled pattern maker operates. And for you to find your size, take your favourite fitting t-shirt and measure across the chest, seam to seam. Compare that measurement to those in our size guide and you are a big step closer to getting a pattern for a well fitted garment. This fit is then consistent across all the garment types. It sounds remarkably easy, but we have done all the hard work for you.

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