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3D Body Databases of the Spanish Population
and its Application to the Apparel Industry
Alfredo BALLESTER*, Marta VALERO, Beatriz NÁCHER, Ana PIÉROLA, Paola PIQUERAS,
María SANCHO, Gloria GARGALLO, Juan C. GONZÁLEZ, Sandra ALEMANY
Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
DOI: 10.15221/15.232 http://dx.doi.org/10.15221/15.232
Abstract
Since the year 2000, many anthropometric surveys have been conducted across the world using 3D
body scanning technologies, most of them addressed to the apparel industry. This paper describes the
application to the apparel industry of the 3D Spanish surveys (female, male and children) conducted
from 2007 to 2015 by IBV gathering over 12.000 individual scans. It also presents tools that will help
the apparel manufacturers and retailers to make an effective use of Spanish databases in the design
as well as in the labelling of products addressed to the Spanish market and following the forthcoming
size designation interval standards (EN 13402). These tools consist of a website providing with the
basic anthropometric statistics, two books with the population measurements by age range (one for
female and one for male populations), a collection of digital mannequins and a collection of physical
mini-mannequins (scale 1/20). Moreover, the access to the 3D databases makes possible to IBV to
extend the use of these data for the provision of new consultancy services for clothing companies
about how to improve garment design and fitting.
Keywords: 3D, anthropometry, body, male, female, children, size table, measurement, database,
avatar, mannequin, scanning, shape, data-driven, PCA, statistical, garment, clothing, apparel, EN
13402 labelling, intervals
1. Introduction
Since the conduction of the CAESAR survey in the year 1999 [1], more than 20 large-scale national or
specific population surveys have been conducted across the world [2] using 3D body scanning
technologies of different kind [3,4,5]. The survey SizeUK (1999-2002) scanned 11,000 women and
men using a full body 3D scanner from TC2 and was co-funded by the UK government and British
clothing retailers. Size UK was the first large-scale survey using a 3D body scanner specifically
addressed to the apparel industry, and in particular, to contribute to the improvement the fit of
garments. In the next years, similar projects were promoted and several surveys were conducted, the
most relevant at USA, France, Germany, Thailand, Korea, India, Greece, Spain, Belgium, Sweden,
Romania and Mexico (Table 1).
Table 1. Summary of the main 3D scanning surveys conducted across the world
Country Project Year Sample size Age range Body scanner Main target Industry
USA CAESAR 2000 2,400 18 to 65 Cyberware Ergonomics
Netherlands CAESAR 2000 1,200 18 to 65 Vitus Pro Ergonomics
Italy CAESAR 2002 800 18 to 65 Vitus Pro Ergonomics
UK SizeUK [6] 2001-2002 10,000 16 to 76 TC2 Apparel
USA SizeUSA [7] 2002-2003 10,800 20 to 65 TC2 Apparel
Germany SizeGERMANY 2007-2009 12,000 6 to 65 Vitus Smart Apparel, Automotive
France France survey 2003-2004 11,500 5 to 70 Vitus Smart Apparel
Spain Spanish surveys 2007-2014 12,000 3 to 70 Vitus Smart Apparel
India SizeINDIA [8] 2009-2010 5,000 18 to 45 Vitus Smart Apparel, Automotive
Thailand SizeTHAILAND [9] 2007-2008 13,400 16 to 60 TC2 Apparel
Korea Korean survey [10] 2010 14,000 7 to 69 Hamamatsu Apparel , Footwear
Belgium SmartFit [11] 20013 5,500 3 to 75+ SYMCAD II Apparel
Romania Romanian Survey 2007-2009 1,300 20 to 65 Vitus Smart Apparel
* alfredo.ballester@ibv.upv.es; +34 610 562 532; http://anthropometry.ibv.org
6th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 27-28 October 2015
The transfer of results to the apparel industry from these projects consisted on: digitally measuring
the3D bodies following ISO 8559 [12] definitions, gathering them into databases and developing some
physical and virtual mannequins representing the most popular garment sizes on each country.
Although the economic investment required for large-scale 3D body surveys is very high, the
exploitation and industry uptake of them has not been comparable. The level of adoption of these
results by the apparel industry is still very low, being difficult to recoup the high cost of these studies.
The lack of common guides for patternmaking, the voluntary character of sizing standards, the different
language and definitions of body measurement, and the lack of common criteria and rules relating
body measurements and garment measurements are the main barriers to the transfer the results of
anthropometric surveys to the apparel industry.
In this sense, the main standardization committees have done a great effort to integrate the results of
these anthropometric studies in the development on new standard for clothing. The results of SizeUSA
were used as a reference to develop the ASTM standards of body dimensions for apparel design [13].
In Europe, the standard EN 13402-3:2013 defines sizing intervals for men, women, boys, girls and
infants based on the national anthropometric studies of different European countries (i.e. Netherlands,
France, Sweden, Germany, Romania and Spain). This standard proposes to substitute the size codes
of garment (e.g. XS, S, M, L, XL, etc. or 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, etc.) by the use of the body measurements
that would fit the person wearing that garment. The concept behind this standard is the use of body
measurements for the size designation and labelling in order to communicate better to the customer
the fitting characteristics of the garment.
In Spain, IBV conducted the Spanish female survey in 2007-2008 [14] and has recently completed the
male and children surveys between 2013 and 2015 [15,16]. The whole Spanish 3D database
comprises over 12.000 individuals in standing posture (Table 1) sharing a common homologous
structure and includes over 50 measurements by individual. This paper presents a variety of tools to
apply anthropometry knowledge of the population to improve garment design and fitting.
2. The Anthropometric data of the Spanish population
IBV conducted anthropometric surveys in order to characterize the Spanish population of adults and
children for apparel industry (table 2). In the three studies the measurements were done with a 3D
laser-based body scanner (Vitus Smart XXL) offering a level of accuracy of ±1 mm [3] in accordance
with the international standard DIN EN ISO 20685.
Table 2. Summary of Spanish 3D surveys
Population Age range Year Sample size Posture
Spanish females 13 - 70 2007-2008 9,600 Standing
(1)
Spanish females 13 - 70 2007-2008 2,400 Sitting
(2)
Spanish male 13 – 65 2013-2014 1,400 Standing
(1)
& sitting
(2)
Spanish children 3 - 12 2014-2015 1,000 Standing
(3)
(1) Posture A and C defined in ISO 20685, (2) Posture D defined in ISO 20685; (3) Posture A defined in ISO 20685
The study of the female population finished on 2009 and measured 9,600 females from 12 to 70 years
old including regular and big sizes [17]. The stratification of the sample covered ten groups of age
enabling the analysis of specific market segments with sufficient statistical power. Two standing
postures were captured for the whole sample used to get the set of measurements for apparel
application. A random subset of 2,400 females was also scanned in sitting position in order to cover
ergonomics demands of specialized garment. The measuring protocol was complemented with a
demographic questionnaire including information about habits shopping clothing and problems to find
good fitting cloth.
The anthropometric survey of the male population was conducted between 2014 and 2015 in
cooperation with the Spanish clothing sector, in particular with the participation of FEDECON (national
association) and ATEXGA (regional association). The sample was stratified in four age groups
according to the market groups defined by the clothing industry associations. 1,400 males were
scanned in standing and sitting postures and also answered a questionnaire about clothing shopping
habits and fitting problems.
6th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 27-28 October 2015
Between 2014 and 2015 IBV conducted the anthropometric survey of children. The study included
children from 1 month to 12 years old. Babies (i.e. considered from 1 to 36 months) were measured
with traditional methods according to the set of measurements defined in ISO 8559. Children (i.e.
considered from 3 to 12 years old) were scanned with the Vitus XXL scanner in two standing postures.
3D scan data from all surveys was processed for the creation of posture-harmonised homologous
models and for the extraction of body dimensions according to IBV methodology [18]. Body templates
used for the female, male and children survey shared the same topology (50K vertices and 99K
elements) and skeleton (17-bones) but had specific geometry to facilitate the template fitting process.
50 measurements where shared across the three surveys. This provided a database of individual body
dimensions and a database of individual 3D homologous avatars with anatomical one-to-one vertex
correspondence among them (figs. 1, 2 and 3).
Fig 1. Illustration of the template fitting process and he quality map applied to children data
Fig 2. Skeleton-based posture harmonization of Spanish children’s 3D database
3. Transfer of results to industry (adult data)
3.1 Sizing and labelling in the apparel industry
Nowadays each clothing company defines its own sizing chart, which is used to determine garment
dimensions and labelling. The lack of regulations and the different labelling methods used on each
country contribute to have a confusing buying process for consumers in terms of garment size
selection. Depending on the brand (and even within the same brand), the customer’s size may not be
the same for products. With the market globalisation, the internationalisation of the companies and the
growth of the online commerce, this problem is becoming increasingly important for apparel
companies.
In this scenario, different standardization bodies (i.e. ASTM, ISO and CEN) have proposed alternative
sizing and labelling methods based on body dimensions that can be easily taken by consumers either
at home or at shops. In particular, the collection of European standards EN 13402 defines a
bi-dimensional sizing method, i.e. based on a primary and a secondary measurement. The sizing
concept of these standards is:
• For each type of garment, primary and secondary dimensions of the body are defined (EN 13402-2).
The primary dimension is referred to the main body measurement used to create the size intervals
(e.g. waist girth for male trousers). The secondary dimensions are critical body measurements for
the garment fit (e.g. stature).
• The size code of the garment indicates the intervals of the primary and secondary measurements of
the body that fit in.
6th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 27-28 October 2015
Part 3 of the standard (EN 13402-3) includes a set of tables of sizing intervals combining primary and
secondary dimensions for upper and lower garments for men, women, children and infants. The
combination of intervals was obtained from the analysis of aggregated databases of different European
countries (i.e. the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Germany, Romania and Spain).
Tools based on Spanish Adult data (books and mini-mannequins)
Following this approach, IBV conducted an analysis of the Spanish sizing surveys with the aim of
defining the distribution of intervals combining pairs of primary and secondary dimensions for different
type of garments. The results have been published on two books (females and males). Data is
segmented in the following age ranges: young (14-34 y.o.); middle age (35-54 y.o.); senior (55-65
y.o.); and general population (16-65 y.o.). These books are addressed to clothing designers and
patternmakers. These books include:
1. Description of the 37 body measurements considered according to EN 13402-1 (fig. 3)
2. Sizing tables that combine intervals of a pair of primary and secondary dimension. The tables
report the mean anthropometric values of each subgroup of population (fig. 4).
3. Frequency distribution graphs that show the most frequent combination of primary and secondary
intervals enabling the estimation of market shares for the Spanish market (figs. 5 and 6).
The visualization of human shapes of the body prototype representing the combination of intervals, a
set of 3D printed figurines is also available in 1/20 scale (figs. 7 and 8).
Fig. 3. Example of graphical description of measurements
Fig 4. Example of sizing tables
6th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 27-28 October 2015
Fig. 5. Example of application of ISO/DIS 8559-2 to
Spanish female population (Waist vs. Hips)
Fig. 6. Example of application of ISO/DIS 8559-2 to
Spanish population (Waist vs. Chest)
Fig. 7. Examples of mini-mannequins of the Spanish
male population
Fig. 8. Examples of mini-mannequins of the Spanish
female population
4. Transfer of results to industry (children data)
Childrenswear ergonomic design processes and size definition have several differences with regard to
adult apparel. Firstly, childrenswear size designation is usually labelled in ages, which is not a body
measurement, so it is usually related to a concrete body height per age, which does not necessarily
have to be close to a child of that age, due to the high variability of height by age in children.
Moreover, the use of reference mannequins for patternmaking and fit checking of samples is much
more spread across childrenswear manufacturers than in adults’. This is because children’s body
change rate (e.g. due to growing) is much higher than in adults, and thus manufacturers cannot use
real models for pattern creation and for checking samples if they want to maintain product sizing
traceability along several years. Those manufacturers that do not use mannequins, at least use size
tables of body dimensions based on aggregated statistics.
In Spain, the National Association of Childcare Products (ASEPRI) created in 1999 its own
“standardized” sizing system, which is commercialized both as a table of body dimensions by size (i.e.
12 for babies and 14 for children) and as a collection of physical mannequins [19] that match these
measurements (fig. 10). These two products were created based on aggregated statistics from
different measurement-based anthropometric studies around the world [20]. Since 2006, the French
Institute for the Textile and Clothing Industries (IFTH) also makes available to French companies the
Children “Anthropometric Box Set” based on the French National survey. The most commonly used
size mannequin collection is internationally is Formax® by CadModelling [21] and AlvaFORM [22],
which offers an array of standard collections created from parametric body shapes based on
measurement statistics from standards (i.e. ASTM) and from anthropometric studies (i.e. US, France,
UK, China, Mexico and Germany). Alvanon also provides services for the creation of made-to-measure
mannequins to companies based on body dimensions. 3D Human Modelling [23] from Konings &
Kappelhoff and TUDelft commercializes digital children mannequins for general ergonomic design.
6th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 27-28 October 2015
Based on the measurement and 3D data gathered in the Anthropometric Study of Spanish Children
under KidSize [24] and AEI Infancia [25] projects, IBV created two tools for childrenswear and other
childcare product manufacturers: the Spanish Size table by body dimensions and their corresponding
collection 3D digital mannequins (only from 3 y.o.).
Tools based on Spanish children data (size tables)
On the one hand, IBV created a table of body dimensions by size, where each size is defined by a
stature range and it is indicatively related to an age. Stature ranges were defined according to existing
ASEPRI size ranges. Moreover, for each size, different percentiles (P05, P25, P50, P75 and P95) are
provided. The 19 measurements gathered for babies (aged 0 to 36 months) were included in the size
tables. Among the 65 measurements gathered for children aged 3 to 12 y.o., 35 were included (fig. 9).
Fig. 9. Example of children size tables and graphical description of measurements
Part of the results from this table have already been used to update the 12 baby body dimensions and
14 children body dimensions of ASEPRI size tables, and to extend the number of body dimensions by
6 and 10 respectively (18 for babies in total and 24 for children).
Tools based on Spanish children data (digital mannequins IBV/KidSize)
Based on the table of body dimensions by size (Percentile 50), IBV created a collection of digital size
mannequins following the 1D to 3D data-driven shape recreation methods [Error! Bookmark not
defined.], in this case using 20 of the 24 measurements included in ASEPRI size tables. IBV created
mannequins from 92 cm (~2 y.o.) to 152 cm (~12 y.o.). Some of the mannequins from the resulting
collection are presented in fig. 11.
Fig 10. current ASEPRI mannequin collection
digitized (from 3 y.o. to 10 y.o.)
Fig 11. Proposed IBV/KidSize mannequin collection
digitized (from 3 y.o. to 10 y.o.)
The resulting mannequins from our study (herein IBV/KidSize mannequins) where compared to current
ASEPRI collection in terms of shape. This comparison showed that despite having been made from a
very similar measurements definition, the mannequins corresponding to the same size from each
collection have clearly different shapes. The comparison study consisted of a measurement-based
comparison and a graphical comparison of 3D shapes and 2D contours at three critical body
measurements (i.e. chest, waist and hips) made for mannequins corresponding to the same statures.
The results of the measurement study showed important differences in value (ranging from 5 to 25%)
for some measurements, namely shoulder length, arm length, back width and knee height. Based on
the graphical comparison (2D and 3D), it was concluded that the body shapes of IBV/KidSize
mannequins had a more human morphology than ASEPRI ones, in particular at the trunk shape (i.e.
lumbar and dorsal curves; and chest, waist and hips), head shape, armpit region and limb proportions.
6th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 27-28 October 2015
Some comparative images are provided for the mannequins of 104 cm (~4 y.o. unisex) and of 152 cm
(~12 y.o. female).
Fig. 11. Example of 2D contour and 3D shape comparison between ASEPRI and IBV/KidSize mannequins
4. Conclusions and future work
Since the first 3D large anthropometric surveys conducted in 1999, the resource investment on this
kind of studies has been huge and it industry uptake has not yet been comparable. One of key factors
for the actual absorption of results is the implication and the commitment of the sector (i.e. the
companies and the lobby representatives) in the surveys and in the development of the tools
addressed to them. In the case of the tools created from the Spanish data, it was successful because
both KidSize and Sizing-SUDOE where projects led by sectoral associations. A second key factor of
success for the technology/knowledge transfer is that the tools developed have a progressive level of
complexity. This means providing entry level tools, which usually can be made available for free and
can be uptaken by any company, independently of their technological development level and the
knowledge/control of their processes and products. An also providing more advanced tools like the
complex bi-dimensional size tables or the size representative mannequins (physical or virtual).
Moreover, it is critical that results are connected and compliant with related standards either in force or
under development.
In a global market context where most companies are (or aim at) selling in many different countries,
the fact that anthropometric databases are in most cases national, makes them less attractive to
companies. However, the complexity of the projects that were built to gather them, in most of the cases
made of complex consortia including private and public agents, make that the trade, exchange or
share of the data also becomes complex, especially it is for commercial purposes. Good examples of
success in this sense are AlvaFORM [22] mannequins from Alvanon and the iSize portal [26] from
Human Solutions Group, where measurement statistics from different countries can be extracted and
could help in the creation size charts. In this sense, it is expected that Spanish data will be available at
the portal by 2016 and that a selection of the Spanish population mannequins are manufactured at
natural scale. However, the extension of these type of tools beyond measurements to the actual use of
3D data, despite having been technically demonstrated [2,18], it is being slowed down and hampered
by the aforementioned non-technical difficulties.
Furthermore, the fact that market targets of apparel companies are becoming more concrete in
terms of sociodemographic segmentation at the same time as global makes that pre-defined data,
pre-defined mannequins, books and aggregated statistics are not always the best answer to their
needs. In this context, it is important the role of companies and academia that can act as “curators”
of the vast anthropometric data that is available and provide tailored services and analyses that are
beyond the knowledge and technical capabilities of the apparel companies.
6th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 27-28 October 2015
Finally, the results of the presented studies show that mannequin collections created by
data-driven methods based on 3D databases can provide morphologically correct and more
realistic mannequins that would constitute a better tool for product design. The next challenges to
be faced consist of taking advantage of the new manufacturing technologies available (i.e. additive
manufacturing) in order to be able to create physical mannequins in a fast, cheap and sustainable
way.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the European Commission, the Spanish Ministry of Industry, the Spanish National
Institute for consumers (INC) and all the companies and organisations participating in KidSize [16],
Sizing-SUDOE [15], EUROFIT [2] and TALLA-ME [27] projects, in particular CITEVE and the clothing
and childrenswear associations ASEPRI, NovaChild, ATP, FEDECON and ATEXGA for their
contribution to the R&D work described in this paper.
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6th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 27-28 October 2015
