That size 8 dress may soon be a 12

"There's no way a Tommy Hilfiger is going to have the same sizing as a Wal-Mart," says Van, explaining that companies are interested in keeping their customers to themselves. "Selfishly, on our part, we want to have brand loyalty."

More likely, the SizeUSA survey, with its more than 200 measurements and 20 body shapes, will be used to target certain markets. For example, bust sizes for white women run from 38 inches (for ages 18-25) to 42 inches (ages 56-65), according to the results. But bust sizes for black women range from 40 inches to 44 inches. Similarly, Hispanic women tend to have smaller hips (41 to 44 inches) than black women (43 to 46 inches).

Retailers may need to fine-tune the models they use for their patterns, suggests Jim Lovejoy, director of the SizeUSA project for TC2, a company in Cary, N.C. "If they're using a white fit model, then how are they grading their patterns and their sizes to meet the black market?"

Three-D scanning devices were used to take the measurements of more than 10,000 people around the country and process them. These devices more accurately convey size and shape information than the old-fashioned, time-consuming measuring tape.

One of the significant things the survey revealed is how different average measurements vary from the current standards set forth by the American Society for Testing and Materials, especially for women.

The average size for a woman has been considered an 8, with ASTM standards listing that size as a bust of 35 inches, a 27-inch waist, and 37.5 inch hips. Overall, 69 percent of women in the survey had hips greater than 40 inches, "so that puts them up into size 12, 14 rather than size 8," says Lovejoy.

According to the survey, fewer than 10 percent of women who should be a size 8 actually were, based on their measurements. Most of the women who had a size 8 bust had an average waist of 29.6 inches and average hip of 38.6 inches.

One way to address that problem might be to identify garments by shape within a size 8, Lovejoy suggests. "I might have a size 8A, and the A would mean that it flares out a little bit ... so I have a little wider waist and a little wider hips."

As for men, although their waists and hips are getting bigger with age, the average of their measurements came out closer to the current national average for men of a 40-inch chest, a 34-inch waist and a 40-inch hip, says Lovejoy.

Even with some in the industry salivating over what this information represents, it could be years before consumers can purchase clothes that reflect the new numbers. Companies have to analyze the figures and then promote any changes they make, says Istook. "I hope it'll be faster than that, because I think in the long run, they will plan to do a sizing study every 10 years or so, and they have to be able to respond a little bit quicker than a couple of years after that."

• Kimberly Chase contributed to this article.

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