Reconciling Anthropometric and Tailoring Measurements for Clothing Design.

Over the years, the U.S. military services have acquired a large body of anthropometric data, much of it for application to the design and sizing of military clothing. These data have not, however, been as fully utilized as they might have been because a number of measurement definitions used by anthropologists are unfamiliar to expert tailors who traditionally measure the same dimensions or their equivalents quite differently. The goal of this research was to document the relationship between anthropological measurements and tailoring measurements, not only identifying similarities and differences between measurement techniques, but quantifying the relationship mathematically, so it would be possible to take an anthropological measurement and convert it to an equivalent tailoring measurement. A group of 127 U.S. Army recruits 60 males and 67 females was measured for some two dozen dimensions relevant to military dress clothing, using both anthropological and tailoring techniques. Resulting values were compared and differences between the two techniques were quantified. The final product is a set of four conversion tables which convert anthropological measures into tailoring measures anf vice versa for men and for women.