New Delhi: Seeking to come up with a standardised “India size chart" for the garment industry, the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), under the aegis of the ministry of textiles, will soon begin a national survey that will sample 25,000 people using high-tech 3D whole body scanners.

“The National Sizing Survey will cost nearly Rs30 crore and entail studying a population, aged 15-65 across six cities, with men and women in equal numbers," director general of NIFT, Sarada Muraleedharan, said.

At a press conference held at the NIFT-New Delhi campus, she also said the project would be conducted over a period 2-3 years. “This would be a scientific exercise where anthropometric data will be collected from a sample population of 25,000 to create a database of measurements that will culminate in a standardised size chart, truly be representative of the Indian population, which can then be adopted by the entire apparel industry," said Noopur Anand, professor at NIFT-Delhi and the principle investigator of the project.

“The final outcome will be in numerical value. We don’t know yet, if we would be having just a single numerical marker or the more than one. Also, about 120 different anthropometric elements, including, height, weight, waist-size, hip-size, bust-size, would be included in the survey," she said.

Rajesh Shah, chairman of the board of governors of the NIFT, said once a uniform India size is arrived at, “even foreign brands in India would also carry it. Besides, our diaspora can then also order any wear based on that standard size".

The project, recently approved by government of India, will be carried out in six cities spread across six regions of the country—Kolkata (east), Mumbai (west), New Delhi (north), Hyderabad (centre), Bengaluru (south), and Shillong (northeast) using 3D whole body scanners.

“The NIFT had been toying with this idea since 2006. But you can say the stars finally aligned, and with the support of the ministry of textiles, we are ready for this exercise. Of the Rs30 crore, the ministry will give Rs21 crore and the NIFT will pitch in with about Rs9 crore," Muraleedharan said.

In India, either the US or the UK system of ‘small, medium, large, extra large’ has been used, and people then go for fitting accordingly. But, after this uniform size chart is available, whole country will have a “standard reference point" for ready-to-wear industry, Anand said.

“That means, all India brands will have the same size for a person," she said. The NIFT is the implementing agency for the survey, and will be pressing its centres across the country including faculty and students from various campuses, for it. “Support of national and international experts with experience in sizing surveys is being taken for the exercise," the NIFT DG said.

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