We’ve all been there: When trying on clothes, one size is too small, but the next size up is too big. However, it turns out that this is a struggle one size range seems to deal with more than others.
After analyzing customer data, Good American found it received 50 percent more returns of size 14 and 16 jeans than any other size in its collection. After further research, the brand discovered this wasn’t just a discrepancy with their denim, but one that was industry wide.
“My design team and I believe that the reason for this is that between size 14 and 16 we switch from using a ‘straight’ pattern to a ‘plus’ pattern,” Emma Grede, the company’s co-founder, told Harper’s Bazaar.
“In the plus pattern, allowances are made for a totally different body type, which you might not necessarily need if you’re at the higher end of the straight sizes or the lower end of plus. ” In other words, plus-size styles are slightly tweaked from straight styles for a better fit.
So, their solution? Introduce a new size, 15, to meet customers in the middle. The jeans, which launched today as part of Good American’s new ‘Good Curve’ collection, were developed directly from customer feedback.
They took to social media to find a focus group of women who fell between sizes 14 and 16, measured them, and listened to their frustrations. As a result, not only did they solve the problem above – one they recognize should not have existed in the first place – but they also created a jean that accentuates curvier women with a higher waistline and smoothing waistband.
