DALLAS — Mannequin form maker AlvaProducts Inc. has created a new fit consulting division led by Ed Gibben, the co-inventor of the Intellifit body scanner and former president of Intellifit Corp.
As director of strategic services at AlvaProducts, Gibben will help companies pinpoint the shapes of their target customers by extracting information from a database of 130,000 body scans that he assembled at Intellifit. The company can then develop measurements and proportion for fit forms for specific customer groups by age, ethnicity and region.
Only four years old, AlvaProducts produces customized, proprietary fit forms for a lengthy list of major retailers and manufacturers, including Wal-Mart, Liz Claiborne, Limited Brands and Polo Ralph Lauren. The company is an outgrowth of Sterling Products Ltd., a Hong Kong manufacturer of private label children’s wear that began developing its own fit forms to better match kids’ anatomy.
By hiring Gibben, AlvaProducts can fine-tune the forms based on Intellifit’s database, which he has exclusive rights to use as a consultant.
“I bring very detailed information on body shapes and proportions of literally 130,000 people,” he noted. “Even if you slice it down to a unique group, like girls’ size 12.5, I have over 1,000 girls who are that size.”
To come up with a form for a client, Gibben compares the client’s current fit measurements with the actual size of the target customer indicated by the data.
“We make recommendations as to how they can better fit their target base without alienating the current base who is happy with the product,” Gibben said.
The company then works with a model agency or occasionally real customers to find an appropriate candidate to scan as a model for the form. The model’s body is scanned by one of several machines, including units by TC2, Human Solutions or Cyberware.
Retailer David’s Bridal worked with Gibben while he was at Intellifit and with AlvaProducts to develop new forms based on body scanning for its bridal labels, which are all exclusive to the chain and include Oleg Cassini and Monique Luo.
Ken Green, senior vice president of sourcing, said the benefits have been “quite dramatic” since the forms went into use last year. He’s asked AlvaProducts to build new forms for bridesmaids and flower girls, and David’s Bridal is considering addressing petites and mother-of-the-bride.
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“A lot of retail companies underestimate how important fit is to customer satisfaction,” he said. “With a wedding dress, it’s one of the most important purchases and certainly one of the most emotional, and fit is everything.”
Since the sizes have been tweaked, gowns require less alteration, he noted, and sizes are consistent across all brands.
“It saves a lot of time and anguish,” he said.
Gibben theorized the most widespread problem with fit is that many companies create patterns for an hourglass shape, but that matches only 8.4 percent of the population, according to SizeUSA research.
“People’s bodies are not shaped like the industry thinks they are,” Gibben pointed out. “The waist-to-hip ratio is much smaller than the industry thought. The industry needs to move closer to the middle of that spectrum.”
AlvaProducts is also developing standard forms for the predominant body shapes, noted Janice Wang, chief executive officer. It plans to introduce misses’ “rectangle” and “spoon” forms in the third quarter, followed by three plus-size forms next year. The company already has an hourglass form.
“Smaller companies can come and buy a representative form off the shelf,” Gibben noted. “And if they are religious about using it throughout the supply chain, they will get the accuracy they are looking for.”
Wang emphasized that all aspects of the production chain need to be on board with the technology.
“When a client has decided to do this, that doesn’t mean the rest of the organization understands what they are trying to do,” she said. “The factory is not next door but overseas, and everybody has to understand, what does this woman or man or child look like? They are designing for a new shape, and trying to make it look good.”
One of the biggest faults of the apparel industry, Gibben pointed out, is a common linear grade rule that extends all dimensions as sizes increase, resulting in elongated sleeves and inseams.
“If people would just stop and think — so much of the body is skeletal and won’t change with weight gain and mass, like arm length, shoulder and inseam,” he said. “And in plus sizes, as some things get bigger other things shrink. If you analyze the measurements up to a size 24, 26, 28, arm length actually decreases. It has a lot to do with posture.”