S, M, L? Why sizing is so FML

You have one body. So why are you six different sizes when you shop at a mall? Random sizing hurts both buyers and businesses. Is there a way out?

- Sneha Krishnan

What a time to be alive! A garment can be designed in Spain, sewn in China and sold in a Dubai mall for a shopper to bring back to India. Homegrown designers are selling in chic boutiques in both Mehrauli and Montmartre. And yet, when it comes to understanding your size, something's not adding up. A UK Size 8 is at least two sizes bigger than a US Size 8 (Or is it smaller?). Size zero is a lie; so is plus-size. And Free Size remains a mystery.

Worse, India, a nation of 1.45 billion, has no standard sizing system. So, one brand's Small is another label's Medium; men's shirts have numbered sizes; online orders get returned after customers realize the clothes weren't the size they expected them to be. In stores, we're still sending up silent prayers as we take Max Five Items Please to the trial room. What's going on? It's an old and complicated puzzle, say experts.

Because India has no standards on what measurements make up S, M, L and so on, most brands fix their sizes using market research, says Adilath Liyana, co-founder of Blanc Earth (@blanc.earth), a two-year-old Bengaluru-based minimalist sustainable fashion brand that caters to women and men. For women's wear, measurements are made at the bust, waist and hip. For men, it's just the chest and waist. "Crucial information such as a target group's age, lifestyle choices, occupation and body type are taken into account, and the biggest factor is which part of the country they are from," Liyana says. So, a brand that makes flowy kurtas for South Indian working women may have a different idea of what is Small, than, say, a brand putting out trendy party wear for Gen Zs in the North East.