The Essential 5-Minute Guide to Grading for Fashion brands
(Why it matters, why it goes wrong, and what brands need to understand)
One of the most common issues I’m asked to fix for brands is grading that has gone wrong - usually because the brand relied on the factory’s recommended grading.
If you take one thing away from this post, let it be this:
Grading is extremely technical and fundamental to good fit, it is not something to cut corners on.
When the grading is wrong, you’ll know it: high returns, strange proportions at the top or bottom of your size range, customer complaints, and inconsistencies across your styles.
Let’s break it down properly.
what is grading?
Grading is the process of increasing or decreasing your base size pattern to create a full size range.
Every part of the garment has its own grade rule. As you move up and down the size range, different points on the pattern shift on an x/y axis, meaning the garment becomes proportionally larger or smaller.
It is not as simple as adding a few centimetres to the side seams. I wish it was!!
What are grade rules?
Grade rules are the specific increments you add or subtract from your base pattern at each size.
It’s easy to assume these increments should be even across the size range, and often this is exactly what I see. But this kind of linear grading is lazy and can create distorted shapes, especially at the top and bottom of the range.
A good example is the shoulder seam.
A size 8 female will generally have a more petite frame than a size 24 customer, so the shoulder needs to increase as sizes go up. But that increase should not be a straight, identical jump at every size.
If you added 0.3 cm per size from a size 8 to a size 24, you’d end up adding 2.4 cm to the shoulder overall. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s enough for the larger sizes to end up with a droopy, dropped shoulder - a very common grading issue.
There are countless areas like this where more thought is required, particularly around the smallest and largest sizes.
Another important consideration:
Are your sizes meant to fit single-size customers, or multiple sizes at once?
For fitted garments, single grading is best.
For looser garments such as tees, hoodies, or pyjamas, a double grade is often more appropriate, and has the added benefit of fewer sizes overall (which factories always appreciate).
Why grading takes so much thought (and why I spend so long on it)
Grading is one of the areas I spend the most time thinking about when working with a brand.
I don’t just apply rules and move on. I look at:
your target customer
your competitors
what grade rules they appear to use
how the specific details on a garment will translate to larger and smaller sizes
Once I’ve generated a graded spec, I check, re-check, and take brands through it line by line before production.
Getting grading wrong can be disastrous. By the time you notice, production may already be underway. Factories will sometimes flag oddities, but I never rely on that!
When a single size range isn’t enough
If your size range is broad - for example UK 6–24 - you should not expect one set of grade rules to work for everyone.
Technically, you can grade from a size 8 straight to a size 24.
But:
that’s what the high street does
it’s one of the biggest reasons plus-size customers are unhappy with fit
the garment loses integrity and proportion as it gets larger
the bigger sizes stop reflecting real bodies
This is why curve/plus ranges ideally need a separate fit process, separate patterns and it’s own graded spec.
If your brand values good fit, this should be non-negotiable.
Paying a garment technologist to produce accurate grading before production is always cheaper than remaking stock.
If the reason you want to start a brand is to offer better fit than the high street, I highly recommend you speak to a garment tech.