As a parent, I would hope that if something is true to size, it means that I should be able to buy the size that matches by child's age. So, if my kid is 3 years old, I should be able to buy size 3 or 3T, right? Of course, this assumes that I know if my kid is average for their age in terms of height and weight and that both I and the brand have the same idea of what that is. The problem is that, children's clothing designers use different approaches to develop their size charts and design standards. And, depending on what source of child measurement data a manufacturer uses and when they accessed that data, "typical" measurements vary. What has your experience been with different brands? What brands do you find run true to size - and if they do, does your child have typical measurements? Any designers out there that want to weigh in on the subject: what data do you use? Read the rest of this entry »