Intelligent Sizing©
The Schoolblazer Website has developed a unique "Intelligent Sizing" programme to try to ensure that you receive the right garments every time. We know that wrongly sized garments are a pain; they waste your valuable time, add stress, and cost us money (we have to remove the name tags, reprocess the garment, refund the postage and pay for a new parcel). So we are as committed as you to getting it right first time, every time!
We've developed a unique Intelligent Sizing system to fix this problem and have recently upgraded it substantially to make it much, much better.
It relies on accurate measurements being entered for each child; that's why we insist on your child's dimensions being completed before we allow you to shop with us.
Behind the scenes we have built a huge database containing the dimensions of every product we sell, combined with the results of hundreds of fitting trials, and the analysis of thousands of returns. We compare this data to the particular measurements you have entered to pick the best fit garment for your child.
Most products (i.e. blazers) are sold using just one measurement (in this case chest). However, if your child is very tall and thin, the "correct" chest size will be too short on the body and arms. So we use multiple dimensions to ensure we get the correct fit. We look to find which size garment is big enough to cover everything. So for example, if your child has very long arms, we'll go up a chest size or so to ensure that the sleeves are long enough.
We then show this garment as our "recommended size". But we don't stop there; we also show you how we think the same garment will fit in a year's time, allowing you to assess whether our choice will give sufficient growing room. We give the same information for the next size up or down, or you can select a size, and we'll show you how that will fit. We've converted this information into simple "fit" statements as our customer research told us that this was more meaningful than garment dimensions. We also try to offer some growing room in our fitting suggestions, as we know that garments need to last at least a full year. You are still free to order whichever size you like, but we'd strongly advise you to trust our recommendations, and either select our recommended size, or if you feel you need even more growing room, the next size up.
When you order a product, we log whether you followed our recommendations and use this data, alongside our returns information, to refine our database, so every year our sizing predictions will be more and more accurate.
Some FAQ's
No recommendations are appearing for my child?
Please check your measurements. 99% of our garments use Intelligent Sizing (the exceptions are one-size items, and hats). If your child falls outside of our range, then we will provide descriptions, but no recommendations.
What do you do with my child's data?
We do not share it with anybody else, and just look at aggregates. So we will look at all of the children shopping with us with the same dimension as your child, and analyse our returns data to see what we got right and wrong. But we won't identify your child in our data, and won't send this data anywhere else.
I have used the sizing recommendations in the past and they were wrong. Why should I trust you now?
We have recently improved our sizing system and have spent tens of thousands of pounds and thousands of working hours refining the programme and collecting the data to make it as accurate as possible. It has been thoroughly tested and we are confident that it works. Please give it another try!
How does skirt length work?
Different schools have different regulations on skirt length. We agree with each school what those regulations are, and then use our Intelligent Sizing system to recommend the correct length of skirt for your child, based on your entered height measurement.
How to measure
Please refer to the how to measure guide. Remember, our sizing recommendations will be only as accurate as your measurements. Here are a couple of general points:
- Children are quite squashy! If you pull the tape-measure tight the dimensions will get smaller, but when the garment arrives it will be too tight! The tape measure should feel a little loose, and it should be possible to slip 2 fingers under the tape easily.
- Our garments leave room for movement - they are sized "to fit" not "as the garment". The actual amount varies by garment, and fashion. Likewise our recommendations will err on the larger size. We expect every garment to be wearable for a full year.
- Please be aware of the units you are measuring in. We have lots of examples each year of customers mixing up inches and cm.
- Please take the time to re-measure, particularly before you do the big "back to school" shop.
Note
The Intelligent Sizing system, including our statements, the child measurement system and our suggested size boxes are all copyright to Schoolblazer.