(upbeat music) - Ooh, I could definitely feel it, yeah.

This is what's called a robotic textile, and if all goes well, it should conform to the shape of my arm.

So cool.

Not evenkidding.

And while this is amazing, there is a reason why I'm here today.

I want to know if this fabric of the future is an answer to the bizarre and frankly inexact sizing system that our apparel industry uses today.

Because there's no body that is the same, could there actually be a universal sizing chart?

- It...maybe.

So it's complicated.

- All my life I've been on the rather petite side, but as I've grown older, my body has changed a lot.

And I have to admit, I'm still adjusting.

But perhaps the most frustrating part and when I notice my body changing the most is when I'm out shopping.

Trying to find a size that is accurate and consistent is nearly impossible.

But why is that?

Why do our clothing sizes vary so much?

(gentle music) My quest for answers took me from the internet to surprisingly a lab here at the University of Minnesota where I met professors Brad Holschuh and Linsey Griffin.

- Robotic textiles are a subset of wearable technology that mechanically react, meaning they move or they stiffen or they change their shape for a useful purpose.

You know, in the superhero movies, there's a lot of inspiration there for what wearable technology could look like.

- Brad specializes in wearable technology and Linsey in human dimensioning.

- One part of the body may expand up to 100%.

Another part of the body, it may only change five to 10%.

- The world of anthropometrics was thinking about measurements as a single static number.

- Hold on one second.

Anthropometrics, what is that?

- Anthropometry is the measurements and the study of measurements of the body.

- I see.

I didn't know there was a term for that.

- [Linsey] A lot of the knowledge that we have about the body and body dimensions are based on static measurements.

- And I think in both of our worlds, that's an antiquated notion.

And we understand that the body changes over time and now we are understanding that we can make garments that change over time and you can line those two things up to be a much better match for you.

- In order to understand our sizing system, we need to go back to the War of 1812 when the US government first began mass producing ready-to-wear military uniforms for men.

Thousands of soldiers had their chest, waist, and legs measured to create a standard system.

Women's apparel on the other hand remained predominantly tailor-made until the 1940s.

- With the Industrial Revolution and with the advent of Sears-Roebuck catalog, we see the democratization of fashion and with that democratization, we see mass manufacturing becoming more prevalent.

That is kind of how sizing systems have grown and developed.

- In 1939, the United States government surveyed and collected 59 different body measurements from nearly 15,000 women in an attempt to create a standardized system.

This attempt, however, only resulted in a sizing system based on height and weight.

The data was also skewed since most of the measurements came from lower income white women who were recruited through incentives.

In the end, the system did not meet manufacturer needs and was ultimately discarded.

The second attempt came in 1958 when the United States reanalyzed that data and created a newer system.

This system, however, assumed that all women had an hourglass figure, and it too was discarded by 1983.

Other sizing systems did emerge over the years, but for the most part, manufacturers were free to size their own apparels as they saw fit.

And this freedom is what eventually led to vanity sizing.

- None of girls here eat anything?

- Not since two became the new four and zero became the new two.

- I'm a six.

- Which is the new 14.

- Vanity sizing is the practice of labeling clothing with a size smaller than the actual cut of the item.

For example, Marilyn Monroe was considered a size 12 in the 1950s.

By today's standard, she would be around a size six.

- When you think about vanity sizing, it's like to help people feel better about the sizing that they're wearing.

And I'm not sure that it's a conscious thing that industry is doing.

- [Susan] From the manufacturer's perspective, they were trying to address the needs of the growing American society both in terms of population and body size.

- The proportions of a human are very much individual, so a brand develops their sizing to the best of their abilities to fit who they believe their market is.

- You see, vanity sizing goes hand in hand with the notion of an ideal body type.

And though body ideals have changed over time, in our most recent history, thin or some type of skinny has been the preferred look.

Meet Cat Polivoda and Paxysha Yang.

two women who self-identify as Fat.

Cat is the owner of Cake, a body positive plus size resale shop, while Paxyshia handles the day-to-day operations.

She's also a style consultant.

- There's a lot of power in words.

And so like at the shop and even at home, I'll just use the word fat, for me, I've destigmatized it so much that it's just like fat is just a descriptor word.

It doesn't mean that it's ugly or that it's bad.

- I think in our culture there's a lot more societal stigma against being larger and getting larger than being smaller and getting smaller.

- In 2012, and in response to these unrealistic beauty standards, #bodypositivity started to gain traction on social media.

- When I think about body positivity, it's just this idea that like everybody is just all right how it is and doesn't need to change.

- Originating in the 1960s and initially dubbed the Fat Acceptance Movement, the philosophy behind body positivity was to change society, not ourselves.

Ourselves at first referring to people with larger bodies and eventually to people of all color, gender, shape, and size.

- A lot of what we've said sort of comes back to the idea of allowing sizes to just be very matter of fact.

If you need to just have a different size pants in order to feel comfortable in your pants, get the different size.

- You don't need to put yourself through all this pain in order to like look good.

- [Cat] But beyond our interpersonal relationships with each other and our bodies and ourselves, like pushing up a little bit at the powers that be would be a way to come to terms with these issues too.

- I am also curious how the technology, the science behind it can really work with bodies.

I mean, what a world that would be though.

(upbeat music) - With technology advancing every day, I'm definitely not going to dismiss the idea of the perfect fit garment, or the possibility of me owning a superhero suit.

Let's talk about taking this commercial.

- This is a first generation.

- This is at the beginning of it all.

Would that be like a second generation?

- Yes, and you'll already be able to see that the surface texture is softer.

- It is, yes.

- Because we want this to act as clothing, but we also want there to be technology.

And so that's a challenge to give you the function of the technology without compromising those other elements that are important in what we choose to wear.

- So for now, and for as long as sizing inconsistencies remain intact, I'll aim to be a more body positive person.

Not just with others, but with my own body too.

Because it's not our body that's the wrong size, it's our clothes.

Can this potentially help us to eliminate our sizing system?

- [Brad] That's the dream, I want to make your job irrelevant.