I’ll admit, I’m a perfectionist. Moreover, I’m a perfectionist who really cares about the fit of clothes. I’m the type of person who will spend 2 hours taking apart, recutting, and sewing back together a second-hand tee-shirt so the armhole, sleeve length, and shoulder balance fit just how I want them.
Despite this, I don’t think a perfect fit is always achievable. It is not possible to make a perfectly fitting garment for everyone. It is only possible for someone specific. You have to know exactly who you are making the garment for. It doesn’t have to be just one individual, but you need to understand your tight niche customer who will be wearing the garment in order to make it fit.
When you are just starting out and launching your first collection or two, you may not have enough data about your customers to get a perfect fit on the first try. You can get close, but it won’t be perfect.
The trick for us perfectionists is to be okay getting the fit good enough and launching the garment in order to start getting the data. I’m not saying to put out poorly-fitting clothes (please don’t), but simply to acknowledge that as you get feedback from real customers, you will be able to improve the style. If you try to get the perfect fit before launching, you won’t achieve it.
It is only through testing, tweaking, and better understanding the women wearing the garment that, over time, you can achieve the perfect fit.