Sizing clothing for the Nigerian market

More clothing imports disappoint on fit than on any other single thing. The fabric is fine, the colour is right, the price was good, and then a run of dresses arrives cut for a frame that most of your customers do not have. The cause is almost always the same: Chinese standard sizing is generally cut smaller and narrower than what many Nigerian customers expect, and a size label is a marketing word, not a guarantee. The fix is to stop trusting labels and start trusting numbers.

Why China sizing runs small

Chinese domestic sizing is built around a different average body than the Nigerian market. A garment labelled "large" in a Guangzhou stall can sit closer to a Nigerian medium, and cuts tend to be slimmer through the bust, hip and arm. This is not a defect; it is a different reference body. The problem only appears when you assume the label means the same thing it means at home.

So a label that reads XL tells you very little. The garment's actual measurements tell you everything.

Buy on measurements, not labels

Before you commit to quantity on any style, get the real numbers. For each size, ask for the garment measurements (the garment laid flat), not just the body the size is "meant" to fit:

• Tops and dresses: chest or bust, waist, hip, shoulder, sleeve length, total length.
• Trousers: waist, hip, thigh, inseam, total length.
• Skirts: waist, hip, length.

Then compare those numbers against garments your customers already wear and love. A tape measure laid over a best-selling top from your own shelf is the single most useful sizing tool you own.

The size label is a suggestion. The measurement chart is the truth. Buy on the chart and your returns fall.

Use samples on real bodies

Numbers get you most of the way; samples close the gap. Order a sample in the sizes you plan to stock and try them on real people in your target market, not just on a hanger. A garment can measure correctly and still hang badly because of the cut, the fabric drape or where the seams sit. Real bodies reveal that in minutes.

If you are producing private label, this matters even more, because you control the size chart. Specify your own measurements in the tech pack rather than accepting the factory's default grading, and you can build a fit that suits your customers from the start.

A sizing checklist

Run every apparel order through this before paying the balance:

1. Got a garment measurement chart for every size, in centimetres.
2. Compared those numbers to proven sellers from your own stock.
3. Ordered samples and tried them on real people in your market.
4. Decided a size curve weighted to your actual demand, not an even split.
5. For private label, written your own size chart into the tech pack.
6. Set fit and measurement tolerance as a pass condition for pre-shipment inspection.

Plan the size curve

Buying an even split across sizes is a quiet way to end up with unsold stock at the extremes. Look at what actually sells and weight your order toward those sizes. It is better to reorder a popular size than to clear a slow one at a loss.

Settling the payment

Whether you buy ready-made or produce your own, suppliers are paid in RMB on Alipay, with private-label work staged across deposit and balance. A trade-facilitation service settles each from Naira at a locked rate, with a receipt, so every payment is recorded.

So treat the label as noise and the measurements as signal, test samples on real bodies, weight your size curve to demand, and make fit a pass condition before the balance. When a payment is due you can make a request to settle on Alipay from Naira. Get sizing right and you stop selling stock that comes back.