How We Fit & Size Our Apparel

Getting the fit right on our clothing, especially when designing a new silhouette, is a team effort involving many steps and a fine attention to detail. We consider every element of the garment - from its overall shape and length, to its neck drop and bottom sweep, to the drape of the fabric, down to exact button placement - all which create the easy, elegant fit that you love.

We begin by creating a prototype in a standard U.S. size medium. Our professional fit model Michelle and our technical designer Grace come in for a fit meeting. Our owner Katie Smith and our VP of Design Katie Shillinglaw are also at this meeting to make sure that everyone voices their feedback and is on the same page as we move forward with a design.

To keep the sizing consistent across all our apparel, we use Michelle as our fit model for every garment. We spent a lot of time determining who our customer is and what kind of fit we wanted for that customer. After a careful search, we chose Michelle, who has been a fit model for 18 years and represents our ideal size medium. She tries on the prototype and provides comments about fit, comfort, and ease of movement.

Grace makes adjustments to the garment and brainstorms options with us if we feel that the design needs any changes, like a different shape for a neckline, a lower hemline, or more fitted sleeves. She takes copious notes and a lot of photos and sends a new spec to the manufacturer to create a second prototype. A technical designer for 30 years and formerly the Manager of Technical Design for Travelsmith and Athleta, Grace preps all our samples and tech packs for our manufacturers to produce final products.

Sometimes, one garment needs up to 4 rounds of sampling and revisions before we feel that the fit and the fabric are exactly what we want. We also wash every prototype to ensure that our washing instructions are correct. The final step is ordering a size run, and we compare each size to Grace’s specs to make sure that all of our clothing is perfect for you.