Though Michael Hannaford’s business is making apparel, it took seeing the human form in an unadorned state to realize just what a challenge it is to fit today’s America. “I just came back from the beach,” recalls the global technical design director for J.C. Penney, “and I’m amazed at the size of the general population.”

It would perhaps be better news if what Hannaford meant by “size” was number of people, but in fact he meant their rotundity. It’s no secret that Americans are heavyset, and according to recent research by JCPenney, America’s girth is continuing to expand.

Fit has become more critical than ever for customer loyalty, and JCPenney has spent the past few years putting several initiatives into play that seek to better the fit of its private-label brands by addressing not only the size of its customers, but their shape and fit preferences as well.

In 2003, JCPenney partnered with the Textile/Clothing Technology Corp. [TC]2 on its Size USA project, the largest study undertaken on American body types in 25 years. More than 10,500 people were electronically scanned — a third of them in two participating JCPenney stores.  “As we started to analyze the data,” recalls Hannaford, “we realized that a large percentage of the people scanned identified JCPenney as a store that they regularly shop, so the size study helped us to think more about proportion and shape, or body type, as well as size.”

Sizing the JCPenney customer
The company learned that, put simply, Americans are getting larger. This led JCPenney on a quest to both update and perfect the fit of its garments, an endeavor that is still not complete.

JCPenney followed the Size USA study with an internal research study in which it sized 67 people. Each participant filled out a questionnaire highlighting demographic data and fit preferences. JCPenney designers then performed a visual analysis that led to the identification of three body shapes for its core customer base. Pear-shaped persons accounted for 43 percent of the focus group, apple-shaped for 37 percent, and rectangular-shaped for 19 percent.

Using all of this data for reference, the retailer increased the waist and hip measurements in pants for its house brands, such as Worthington, St. John’s Bay and East Fifth. These brands typically range from size 2 to 18, while plus-sized brands go from 16W to 26W and juniors brands such as Arizona go from 0 to 13.

Then with the Size USA data specifically, JCPenney began a three-year partnership with dress form manufacturer Alvanon to revise its body forms across all classifications: men’s, women’s and children’s. “Then we made it mandatory for all our suppliers to purchase those forms so we can maintain consistency in size from design to manufacture,” says Hannaford.

This year, the company is partnering with another bodyform maker, Shapely Shadow, to create more realistic flesh forms. “It’ll be more applicable to intimate apparel, so you can see the compression of the garment for a little more defined fit,” explains Hannaford.

Determining body shape and customer fit expectations
Addressing the matter of body shape and customers’ fit expectations has proven more complex.
Here the company first had to identify the different types of customers who shop at JCPenney. “For the past few years we’ve focused heavily on lifestyle segmentation, which means making sure we have brands that speak to specific lifestyles,” says Hannaford.

JCPenney’s four lifestyle segmentations are referred to as Conservative, Traditional, Modern and Trendy. “It’s really how the customer is expecting a garment to fit. A Traditional customer is going to expect jeans to fit more comfortably and loosely than a Modern or Trendy customer would.”
To address these lifestyle segmentations, JCPenney instituted a greater range of fit options with brands such as Worthington. In pants, the “Katherine” fit sits slightly above the natural waist; “Audrey” at the waist; “Marilyn” one inch below. “This was another way of being able to offer different options for our customers in reference to how they like to wear their clothes,” he notes.
The company also has spent the past couple of years developing new block patterns by working with designers to make sure the patterns are spot-on for each lifestyle segmentation. Says Hannaford of the benefit: “Now when we’re building specifications, we can have a relative starting place that not only helps us to maintain consistency of sizing, but helps with cycle-time reduction.”

A better fit, a faster turn time
Making clothing that fits better and making it faster may seem mutually exclusive, but in fact JCPenney’s fit initiatives have helped speed along the production process. By improving fit, “you’re actually saving money for the company and the suppliers and manufacturers,” says Hannaford.

Cycle-time reduction has been an especially top priority for the company during the past year, says Hannaford. The company has been forced to make it so by other retailers who made speed-to-market a focus long ago. “Competitors such as Zara are able to turn product in such a fast time,” he says. “It certainly raises the bar for us. And the customer expects to walk in the store every six to eight weeks and see new merchandise.”

Also to shorten the cycle time, JCPenney has moved some approval processes to overseas facilities, “which enhances our ability to take the process closer to the point of manufacturing, and it really saves a lot of time.”

Armed with the Alvanon dress forms that JCPenney required them to purchase, certain A-list contractors have been allowed to do their own approvals in-house.

The quest for a perfect-fitting garment is not likely to end soon. In fact, JCPenney is still questioning the most age-old procedures. “For so many years it’s been linear grading,” says Hannaford. “You grade an inch between sizes from 2 to 10, then an inch and a half up to size 12, then two inches up to 16.

“We’re also looking at whether linear grading is even relevant anymore, and if the breaks where it occurs now are really relevant to today’s body shape. Maybe the inch and a half needs to occur between the 6 and the 8, rather than the 10 and 12. We’re looking into whether this makes sense for our customer.”

Because in the end, Hannaford says, a perfect fit is only perfect for a specific target customer.

Christian M. Chensvold is a Los Angeles-based free-lance writer who frequently covers the apparel industry.