http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2008/12/vanity-sizing-how-clothing-stores-affect-health-by-christina-ly Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:16:16 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2008/12/vanity-sizing-how-clothing-stores-affect-health-by-christina-ly/comment-page-1#comment-12531 Thomas Bailey Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:50:17 +0000 http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/?p=285#comment-12531 The British Standards Institute has drafted a solution to this problem. The new labels, described under BS-EN13402, have a pictogram with actual measurements in centimeters. In order for this to work, we will need to be honest with ourselves about our body size. We also need to be comfortable with the use of metric units, as I was as early as 1975. I was 8 years old then and eager to learn the metric system. Perhaps even too eager. The new labels would work where the resulting big numbers are OK, or at least not scary, and metric is normally used. It will not work in the USA, which does not normally use metric, and many are literally dying to be thin. Anyone afraid of having 2-digit clothing sizes would be terrified by the new labels, which would often run into the triple digits. The British Standards Institute has drafted a solution to this problem. The new labels, described under BS-EN13402, have a pictogram with actual measurements in centimeters. In order for this to work, we will need to be honest with ourselves about our body size. We also need to be comfortable with the use of metric units, as I was as early as 1975. I was 8 years old then and eager to learn the metric system. Perhaps even too eager. The new labels would work where the resulting big numbers are OK, or at least not scary, and metric is normally used. It will not work in the USA, which does not normally use metric, and many are literally dying to be thin. Anyone afraid of having 2-digit clothing sizes would be terrified by the new labels, which would often run into the triple digits.

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