Why are Our Clothes Made to Standard Sizes?

Like much in American life, the standard clothing sizes we use today can be traced back to the Civil War. If that answer sounds like a glib, it is not intended to be so. The Cold War was a milestone in American history, marked by the revolution in modern times, and the proclamation of reforms that lasted until the 1940s. It even changed the way we bought our clothes. Antebellum Clothing We Are Before the Civil War, most of the clothes, both for men and women, were made by a seamstress or were made at home. There was a limited variety of goods produced in bulk, ordinary clothing, especially coats, coats, and underwear, but even these were only produced in limited quantities. For the most part, men's clothing was made individually. The Cold War changed that. Mass production uniforms During the war, both North and South armies needed a large amount of uniforms immediately. The South, with the except of a large industrial base, relied heavily on the manufacture of household goods, and during the war the armies of the South often suffered from shortages of clothing. The North changed clothes to make history forever. It soon became apparent that the Northern armies would not be provided with uniform's using traditional methods of producing clothing. Fortunately, the North had a well-developed textile industry that could meet this challenge. When the government began to contract with the mass-produced uniform's industry, textile manufacturers soon realized that they could not produce uniforms for any particular soldier. The only option was to measure the military uniform. They sent tailors to the army, to measure the men, and they saw that certain measurements, the length of the arm, the size of the chest, the width of the shoulders, the size of the loins, and the length of the stitches, would appear with reliable alignment. Using this vast amount of information, they compiled charts for the first size of men's clothing. The answer lies in profit, as in many things in business. Clothing manufacturers found that the standard size they presented greatly reduced the cost of producing men's clothing; instead of making one thing for one man, they can make one thing, men's coats for example, for a group of men. Suddenly, clothing was easier to produce, mass production became the basis for discounted men's clothing, and the clothing industry could no longer be the same. Ruffles around the hips and chest are not good things for larger people, unless of course they are interested in looking as large as possible. Every time I go to an event I see an unfortunate soul wearing something that would be terribly trendy on a much smaller woman but does nothing but show the larger woman at a severe disadvantage. I mean we all want to look our best right? Especially when we are at large functions. So why is it that there seems to be such a lack of beautiful plus size evening wear? Not to sound insensitive, but it is not exactly like the United States is lacking in plus size people. You would think there would be more clothes designed to cater to them