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Hallyu encapsulates all things "K"; this includes K-Pop, K-Drama, K-Beauty, K-Fashion, and so on. Korea has become a leading force when it comes to the hottest trends, effectively convincing millions to consume anything and everything that's produced by the country. K-Fashion has become accepted by countless individuals worldwide, in the hopes to replicate their favorite Korean celebrity. Online shopping retailers such as Yesstyle and Musinsa brings Korean fashion to your doorstep, making it easy to keep up with Korea's latest trends. And while they offer various color variations and sizes, when in Korea, sometimes options are limited to a one-size-fits-all.
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In Korea, they refer to the one-size-fits-all category as free size. This has become a staple in the Korean fashion industry for years, whereas the West consistently offers everything from XS to 2XL and beyond. While free size clothing is the norm in Korea, many have found that the standards it creates to be unrealistic and sometimes a source of stress for the consumer. Behind free size lies a complex web of thought and debate that goes much farther than a simple fashion choice.
Origins Of Free Size Clothing
Previously, many individuals across the globe wore tailor-made clothing. This, however, required immense amount of work as it included sizing, fitting, and occasionally altering the piece for just one person. But with the need for an unprecedented amount of uniforms for an army-worth of soldiers, full-body sizing systems were made. This paved the path to the mass production of clothing in general. The complexities behind sizing standards would be further explored and resulted in the established of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to ensure countries were in harmony in various standards, including clothing sizes. Although global standardized measurements were established, various companies maintained their own sizing beliefs.
Korea's free size label might carry the connotation of "one-size-fits-all", however, that is far from the case. As these types of clothing is only produced under free size, they don't need to adhere to the usual standards. This is because at its very core, free size was made to help with inventory management. Inventory is always at the forefront of a seller's mind and the ability to sell out all the products in order to turn over a profit. In the case of multiple sizes, there's the chance that one size could sell better than the others. What's left is an excess of products that take up space and become a pile of lost profits.
Free size looked to diminish this risk. Especially with the rise of online shopping in the early 2000s, companies looked to the free size label to help them keep their inventory small and manageable, eliminating the chance for excess. Although the fashion industry has changed since, free size has remained part of Korea's sizing labels. While it certainly helped sellers, customers were left wondering what free size really meant.
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