Abstract

This study was initiated to suggest the optimal size intervals for mail-order clothing. The questionnaire survey was carried at 360 women and 50 men who purchased apparels by mail-order. The garment sizes providing at the various mail-order companies in Korea were compared. The garment sizes that consumers wanted to purchase were also investigated. The collected data were analyzed and optimal size intervals for mail-order clothing were decided by the loss function. The results are as follow. 1) The optimal size intervals were varied from 4cm to 7cm. The total expected loss of the apparel sizes suggested in this study was less than that of the current mail-order apparel sizes. When the number of sizes for mail-order clothing is increased, the expected loss was reduced considerably. 2) The mail-order clothing is made for consumers with average body size. 30 The number of garment sizes available by mail-order was under three. 4) Subjects tend to select larger size garments, when the right size garments are not available.

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