Every return is proof the system failed shoppers first. BodyCodes says it's ready to fix the problem.
AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Apparel Genetics, Inc. today announced the official launch of BodyCodes, a groundbreaking shape-based fit system disrupting traditional women's apparel sizing. The debut comes with the company's first manufacturing licensee and a new line of premium denim jeans, offering shoppers a personalized, BodyCode-driven fit experience that eliminates the guesswork in finding clothes that truly fit.
When women began to go into the workforce in the 1930s, ready-to-wear was invented. It had to be production friendly because garment assembly beyond tailoring was new. By 1952, The Mail Order Association demanded that there be some standard for clothing as men had been addressed during the Civil War. So they measured post ration caucasian military women and averaged the measurements.[1] Linearizing the structure of the garment sizes came from building on one shape - the hourglass. The sizing has never been adjusted since that time. The women themselves were never taken into consideration - only production ease and friendliness.
Cricket Lee has studied how women's bodies change methodically. Today, after three full iterations of fit by shape standard development through intensive longitudinal studies alongside data learnings and testing the system in all retail venues, she is in her third market entry with Premium Denim Jeans. "My vision is that women are prescribed their own body code that will connect them to factories that are making their shape on behalf of smart designers ready to embrace change," says Lee.
Lee has tested the concept successfully in all retail venues: Nordstrom, QVC, Macy's, designer boutiques in pants from $39 to $600 retail and direct to consumer, where her own brand, Little Black Pants with FItlogic, sold $10 million in 15 months.[2] She has not been involved in that company since 2018, and formed Apparel Genetics, Inc. in 2020 to create a new and more sophisticated application - now with four bottom shapes.
"The industry was not ready for change, and there were many emulations by big companies who tried shapes, but it only made the marketplace more complicated," said Lee, "Fit is not something to compete with as the women have to hunt harder for a good fit and no one category can satisfy a women's wardrobe. My vision is that it is the other way around - that brands actually build by a shape standard and connect to women directly through their code. Size just no longer works."
The returns problem, Lee argues, is not a shipping problem. Every year women order five sizes hoping one fits, and most of it comes back. Fit related returns cost the industry an estimated $250 billion annually .[3] Lee calls that proof the whole system is a guess, paid for by women's time and patience.
International fashion studies show that fewer than 20% of women fit the standard body proportions used by clothing manufacturers.[4] With all of the difficulty finding clothes that fit, the interesting thing is that women think that
means there's something wrong with their bodies and they don't realize it's just how clothing is being made.
The media has taken notice, with cover stories through her journey in The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Dallas News,[5] and segments on the Today Show, and Good Morning America.[6]
BodyCodes is opening the market with their first manufacturing licensee with premium denim jeans, and tops, dresses, and more are to come. Shoppers who want to see the system or to try the fit can use the introductory discount code WELCOME for 20% off OneJean, powered by BodyCodes, at www.onejean.com.
Media: For more information, contact Gee-Anne Avila at [email protected].
Footnotes:
- National Bureau of Standards, Commercial Standard CS215-58, "Body Measurements for the Sizing of Women's Patterns and Apparel."
- Financial performance figures for Little Black Pants available upon request.
- Appriss Retail estimates the global cost of apparel returns at $500 billion annually (apprissretail.com); Coresight Research attributes roughly 50% of apparel returns to fit issues (coresight.com).
- Why Is It So Hard To Find Clothes To Fit? - The Interline (Why Is It So Hard To FInd Clothes To Fit?)
- Cricket Lee Takes On the Fashion Industry, Wall Street Journal By Ann Zimmerman at March 17, 2008;
- Clothes that Fit the Woman. Not the Store-The New York Times By Michael Barbaro, March 31, 2006; Little Black Pant May Be A Right Size Revolution by Cheryl Hall February 13, 2003
- Cricket Lee Today Show w Katie Couric, Today Show on Aug 27, 2009
- Today Show w Meredith Vieira, Stacy London and Kate White of Cosmo, Today Show, April 2008
- The Right Fit Segment, Good morning America, on Apr 30, 2020
About BodyCodes
BodyCodes is a construction level, shape based fit system created by Cricket Lee, former CEO and founder of Fitlogic and Little Black Pants, now founder of One Jean powered by BodyCodes under Apparel Genetics. Built on 26 years of research into how women's bodies actually change, and how clothing is made and sold, BodyCodes replaces traditional clothing sizes with a personal body code, eliminating guesswork for shoppers and massive returns for retailers.
BodyCodes' differentiator is straightforward. It solves fit at the construction level, not with better data layered on a broken system. Virtual try on and body scanning are still built on the same flawed sizing premise. BodyCodes rebuilt the pattern architecture itself around real body shapes, eliminating sizes forever and replacing them with a bodycode in a personal online profile. From there, shoppers see only the garments made for their code, online and in store. The company is now bringing in fashion brands to license the system who see the endgame the same way. Several major brands have tried to emulate the system over the years. None have been able to duplicate it, according to Lee.
Media Contact: Gee-Anne Avila [email protected] +1 (917) 708-0205 Apparel Genetics, Inc. Austin, TX / Santa Monica, CA: Corporate Website: www.apparelgenetics.com Product Website: www.onejean.com
Media Contact
Cricket Lee, Apparel Genetics, 1 9177080205, [email protected], https://www.apparelgenetics.com/
Gee-Anne Avila, Apparel Genetics, 1 9177080205, [email protected], https://onejean.com/
SOURCE Apparel Genetics, Inc.
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