Select Gets the Measure of British Kids

UK agency Select Research has begun work on the first large-scale project to measure the size of children across the country using 3D body imaging scanners. Known as Shape GB, the project is sponsored by major retailers Next, Monsoon and George at Asda.

Joining the retailers are co-sponsors The University of Hertfordshire, Manchester Metropolitan University and Loughborough University. Over 250 children have already been measured in a pilot study in Birmingham, and the partners aim to measure at least 6,000 boys and girls aged 4-17 across the country during 2009.

The 3D Scanner, housed in a 5 foot square upright booth, involves no contact, radiation or lasers. Instead, a series of 16 sensors and 32 cameras feed into a computerised 'virtual' body image. Completed in less than 2 minutes, the scan is saved anonymously on a secure server, for the use of retailer and data analysts.

Select have been using 3D Body Scanning technology for more than a decade, collecting data for more than 25,000 men, women and children to plot the size and shape of the human body for clients such as M&S, Next and the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI). The firm developed the Body Volume Index (BVI) in 2000 as a potential replacement for the 170-year-old Body Mass Index (BMI) - details of its progress are at www.bodybenchmark.org .

Select says the data gathered over the next year will provide a more sophisticated means of measuring and analysing children's measurements and will identify the differences in height and body shape between children of different ages. Details of Shape GB, along with forms for parents to register their children for Phase 1, are at www.shapegb.org .

Select, which specialises in Patient Information Leaflet testing, qualitative research and analysis for retail and healthcare clients, was formed in 1995 by former RI Fieldwork Director Richard Barnes.

Web site: www.select-research.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.