u/Rae_555

ok so fast fashion sizing has never once fit me and I finally got fed up. I’m trans and I wanted to start a clothing brand making stuff on demand, and originally I just wanted a little preview thing so people could see how something would sit on their body before ordering. that snowballed way past what I planned.

(not sure this is the right sub for this, couldn’t really find a better one.)

for context I sew, I used to do clothing design and sim for VFX in MD, and I’m a programmer.

so instead of picking a size you just put in your tape measurements, and it builds a body out of them and drafts the pattern to that. I’ve been testing it against ~20k people’s measurements from ANSUR and every girth you enter lands on the mesh exactly. there’s an easy mode where you start with height and weight and a few basics and it guesses the rest, and then every measurement you add makes it more specific about where the mass sits and whether it’s fat or muscle. 42 measurements max, but you’d never need most of them. if the estimates keep matching what you enter, it means it’s close and you can stop.

(it’s still not great and I’ve just started, you can see in the screenshot. there’s a lot to be done.)

what I’m actually stuck on is whether any of this is worth doing. it takes a lot of time and a lot of trial and error to get right. does it already exist and I just haven’t found it? FreeSewing does parametric made-to-measure but every design has to be written as a program by someone who codes, and the commercial CAD stuff does it but it’s studio software, nothing you’d ever put in an ordering flow.

and if I’m making my own clothes anyway, is profiling customers actually worth it? measure once and everything they order from me fits, the patterns get adjusted without any manual input. is the measuring step enough to make people give up, and how badly do people measure themselves in practice?

or would it be more useful as something other designers use, where you link your own pattern and it comes out fitted per customer? idk. Patterns might be too personal to hand over to someone else’s system (but I can probably link it to any app that supports a good python api).

doing all this around a full time job so I’d honestly rather hear “this doesn’t work because X” now than in a few months. thanks ^^

ok so context: I used to do a lot of clothing design and simulation, mostly for animation and VFX. I love designing clothes and sewing.

here’s my problem: I hate whatever clothes I buy or thrift.. like 80% of the time. baggy pants that sit right on your hips with a shirt that’s tight around the waist and a bit shorter in the back is like transfem 101, but even that’s hard to get right sometimes, let alone a dress. same with a lot of transmasc friends wanting hoodies and shirts that work with their shape, shoulder length etc, and are gender affirming. I love Hot Topic but nothing ever fits right (I’m a basic emo/alt/grunge bitch when it comes to clothing tbh). really into Jirai Kei too. it’s always hard to find something casual, fem, pretty and that actually works with my form. most of the time stuff needs adjusting or just fits wrong, and it’s pure disappointment.

so here’s the thing. to make good trans clothing you need nontraditional measurements compared to what you give when you order online. transfem side that’s stuff like where your hips actually sit, shoulder width vs hip width, torso length, rise, shoulder-to-waist, chest circumference separate from bust point. transmasc side it’s a completely different set. chest with and without a binder, waist-to-hip difference, front and back rise measured separately, shoulder point to shoulder point etc.

so what I want to build is: I design the outfits, people can make a fit online, put in those measurements, and it hooks into my API to auto-fit my pattern to the body. I can do a basic check on how it actually drapes on your measurements before anything gets cut. on-demand alt clothing you know will actually fit and look good. and honestly I don’t think it’s even a trans-specific thing. plenty of cis people deal with this too.

I know FreeSewing already does parametric made-to-measure patterns (open source, really cool project) but that’s patterns for people who sew, I want to make the finished garment. and I know this won’t be fast fashion prices, it’s closer to tailoring, but the whole point is you’re not paying for alterations or ending up with something you never wear.

anyone seen something like this for finished clothing? would you actually use it or do you think it's a good idea? and what would you want first? thanks ^^

building made-to-measure into the ordering flow instead of a size chart, is it a good idea?

I hate 80% of clothes I buy and they often disappoint me. So I've been thinking...