Everything You Need To Know About International Clothing Sizes

Check out our guide to understand the clothing sizes across the world.

Clothing size charts differ worldwide, and you’d know this if you’ve ever bought clothes from a foreign country or brand. Size charts often change between brands and geographies, which is one of the primary things that decide how a dress will look on you once you wear it.

Knowing the difference between European size charts, US size charts, and other size charts around the world is vital to find the best fit for your body. 

Once you get a hang of size charts, international clothing sizes, and other such things, shopping becomes easy for you. You no longer need to keep trying different things if you know size conversions and relations among sizes.

As we advance in this article, we will look at multiple things like why a right-fitting dress is important, what is a size chart, why size charts are important, the benefits of knowing size charts, and the different prominent size charts. So sit back and let’s get started.

Why is the Right Fit of Clothing Sizes for Women Important?

A good fit is what everyone needs to look their best version, and apart from just making you look good, there is the significant importance of the right fitting.

Below are some of the reasons why the right fit of clothing sizes for women is important.

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Helps you Stand Apart from The Crowd

Today almost 70% of types of clothes are mass-produced, so they cannot have the best fitting. 

While manufacturing clothes at a large scale, brands plan to cater to multiple body types and sizes in the same fit, and this ends up in a way that very few customers get the ideal fit. You’ll stand apart from the crowd if you get the right fit.

A right-fitting dress is the type of clothing aesthetics and will complement all your features. It will also enhance your overall personality which is quite important. 

The better the fit, the more organized and authoritative you’ll look. Both these characteristics are quite important in professional settings, and you’ll see a change a right-fitting dress brings in how people approach you. 

Long Lasting

Trends come and go, but the right-fitting clothing sizes for women always stay. You may run behind oversized types of t-shirts and baggy clothes at the moment, but their trend will fade, leaving you with clothes that don’t match the trend.

Such things never happen if you have the right women’s clothing sizes. Clothing that fits in a proper way lasts longer because it does not experience the wear and tear that poor-fitting clothes do. 

A clothing item that is too tight will wear out faster, while anything too loose will get stuck somewhere and tear apart. 

No More Alterations Required

When you wear the right-fitting cloth, it is natural that you’ll not need any alterations. A piece of cloth that does not fit well will need some alterations so that it can look good on you. 

Most times, when you do some alterations, you end up ruining the natural aesthetic of the clothing piece. This does not happen if you have the right fit.

Having known about the importance of getting the right fitting cloth, you might be wondering how to find one. The answer is simple—with a clothing sizes chart. So in the next section, we will have a look at what a size chart is.

What Are the Clothing Sizes for Infants, Women, and Men?

Human bodies have more than 60 points to find accurate measurements. When the data from these points are collated together, they often give out the perfect fit for a person.

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A size chart is a chart that shows relative brand sizes to body measurements, and it works like a mapper. 

Brands create clothing sizes for infants, women, and men based on 15-20 data points on different body types. They tweak them as and when required to keep the sizes relevant for a wider audience.

Brands can also decrease their inventory customization by making space for multiple body measurements in the same size.

For example, the brand creates different types of shirts in sizes “Small.” It can create a size chart where it can specify the body measurements, which can fit in the “small” size. This way, it becomes a bit easier for buyers to understand the correct fit for their bodies.

As you know what a size chart is, you should also know why women, men, and infant clothing sizes are important, and that’s what the next section is all about.

Why are European Clothing Sizes to US Charts Important?

Wearing the right size is important. You can find all the information on size charts on clothing items, woven labels, or hang tags.

To find the perfect fit for yourself, you require a size chart, but that’s not just one reason why you need a size chart. 

There are multiple reasons European clothing sizes to US charts are important; we will discuss them below. 

Image Source: Amazon 

Varying International Sizes

Some years back, it was the norm for every brand to keep their sizes standard. That’s not the case today. 

If you step into a shop to buy shirts today, you will often come across different size mappings from the brands you check out. So, even if you think you can adjust a bit, it wouldn’t be the best option.

The same brand’s shirt sizes may change when you buy from a different geography. In such cases, if a customer ends up buying something from a European country expecting the size to be the same as what it is in the USA, they may run into issues. 

Varying European clothing sizes to US sizes is one of the biggest reasons a brand needs a standardized size chart and guide for their customers. 

Increasing Return and Exchange Rates

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Another reason why a size chart is important is when the return rates of your products are increasing. 

When customers end up buying the wrong size wedding dress sewing patterns, they’ll either want to return it or to get it exchanged. In such situations, you’ll end up with a steep increase in return and exchange rates.

You need to create a size chart and guide to stop that from happening for your business. 

Once those things are ready, you’ll see that your customers will be able to find the right sizes the first time, and your return and exchange rates will start dropping. 

Low Sales

When your customers are confused about the sizes you follow, they often choose to go with brands that provide surety. 

Most customers will abandon the cart and shop from another place when they don’t find an explanatory size guide near your products.

Such cart abandonment can become a leading reason for your low sales. If you want to change that, publishing women, men, and children’s clothing sizes is important.

Knowing why you should create size charts, let’s look at the benefits you can enjoy after creating a clothing size chart for your brand.

3 Benefits of International Charts (US Clothing Sizes)

Clothing companies create multiple items, and though it becomes hard to manage so many different clothing charts, they are all necessary. 

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It is much better to look at the benefits you get if you create an international (us clothing sizes) chart for your brand and all the items on an individual basis. 

Decrease Return Ratio

When you publish your international (us clothing sizes) charts and make them accessible to your customers, it provides them with a better way to find the right fit for them. 

When customers can identify their fits for your products with utmost ease, the chances of purchasing wrong and misfitted products decrease. 

As customers purchase the correct products, they don’t have to run to the store again for returns. This also decreases your return ratios. 

Making Choices Easier

If someone buys clothes made from different types of textile fibers from your brand for the first time, they would be confused about the sizes you follow. One of the simplest ways to make the customer’s purchasing journey easier is by publishing a size chart.

By showing the size chart across all your selling mediums, you can make the customer’s work a lot easier. This will also help them make the right choices by reducing the options. 

Image Source: Nataliya Vaitkevich On Pexels

Reduced Support and Assistance For Shopping

Before making a purchase, every consumer needs substantial information about the goods. The more information you include on your product pages, the less human interaction will be required.

Customers will not need to contact a customer service representative in the shop or on online chats. They can just use your sizing guides to determine which size suits them. 

This can also lower your brand’s expenditures, and the money saved can be reinvested in improving the brand.

Now you know why size charts are important and what are the advantages of creating one for your brand. 

So now is the perfect time to understand the different clothing sizes for men and women. First, we will start with Women’s Clothing sizes.

Women’s Clothing Sizes

Women have the most type of clothes, and this might make it difficult to create a clothing size chart for them. It is essential as the majority of clothes shopping is done by women and for women.

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As a brand that manufactures women’s clothes, you should never miss out on creating a women’s clothing sizes chart. 

Women’s size charts differ from country to country, and one of the best ways to understand the relations between international sizes is through a table.

Below is an international clothing size chart for women from various geographies like the US, UK, Europe, French, and Italy.

International  Women’s Size	US	UK	Europe	French	Italy
XS	0	4	30	32	36
XS	2	6	32	34	38
XS	4	8	34	36	40
S	6	10	36	38	42
S	6	12	38	40	44
M	10	14	40	42	46
M	12	16	42	44	48
L	14	18	44	46	50
L	16	20	46	48	52
XL	18	22	48	50	54
XL	20	24	50	52	56
XXL	22	26	52	54	58
XXL	24	28	54	56	60

If you see the table above, you may see that even if you are buying a dress with international size S, it can be either 10 or 12 in the UK or 38 or 40 in France. All the measures shown here are in the regional measurements. 

While the UK may use inches to measure, other geographies may also use centimeters or any other measure. So you can use these UK to US clothing sizes to buy the best fit.

You just saw how the same international size could change for a woman when she buys from another geography, which also happens with men. In the next section, we will have a look at the different clothing sizes and a chart for men.

Men’s Clothing Sizes

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Even though men have basic everyday dressing options, there is a lot of variation between geographies. It is known that each geography around the world has an average body type, and the regional measurements revolve around those body types.

Regional measurements and brands don’t give much importance to international sizes, and that’s where it becomes hard to shop across the world. It is always important to know the right men’s clothing sizes to buy the right thing as a man.

So below is a size chart for men like you who want to understand international sizes and measurements.

Size	US	UK	Europe	Russia	Japan	Korea
XXS	30	30	40	40	32	80
XS	32	32	42	42	34	85
S	34-36	34-36	44-46	44-46	36-38	90-95
M	38-40	38-40	48-50	48-50	40-42	100-105
L	40-42	42-44	52-54	52-54	44-46	110-115
XL	46	46	56	56	48	120
XXL	48	48	58	58	50	125
XXXL	50	50	60	60	52	130

By going through the above chart, you can understand that US-UK sizes remain the same for men. French clothing sizes to US sizes also differ for men. 

Though there are pairs, both of them change a lot. The XXS starts from size 30 in US-UK while the same size starts from 40 in Europe and Russia.

Kids Clothing Sizes

Image Source: Kids Around

Kids have different types of clothes ranging from t-shirts to overalls and many different things in between. 

All these clothing items are available throughout the world, and just like women’s dresses, kid’s clothing sizes differ. So we have curated a toddler clothing sizes chart to help you get the best fit for your little one wherever you go.

US	UK	Europe	Australia
12-18m	12m	80 cm
18-24m	18m	80-86 cm	18m
23/24m	24m	86-92 cm	2
2T	2-3	92-98 cm	3
4T	3-4	98-104 cm	4

If you are from the UK and you are looking to buy clothes for your little one from a US brand, you may often run into issues as there are significant differences between the sizes. 

Your baby clothing sizes in Australia 2, but if you think that a US size 12m might fit him/her, you can run into significant issues as it is quite smaller than what you wear on the Australian scale. Clothing sizes in Spain also differ for kids.

Men’s Shoe Sizes

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When purchasing men’s shoes online or from a retailer in another country, picking the correct size can be difficult. 

This section gives an overview of men’s shoe sizes in the United States and compares them to those in other nations throughout the world.

US	UK	Europe	Australia	Japan
6	5	38	5	23.5
7	6	39	6	24.5
7.5	6.5	40	6.5	25
8	7	41	7	25.5
8.5	7.5	42	7.5	26
9	8	43	8	27
10.5	9.5	44	9.5	28
11.5	10.5	45	10.5	29
12	11	46	11	30
13	12	47	12	31
14	13	48	13	32

By this point, you know many things about size charts and international clothing sizes for men and women, but you still need to know something in the next section.

What Are the Best Practices to Follow While Creating Size Charts?

Following best practices is one of the essential items while creating a new size chart. By doing so you can minimize significant issues, and there will be no need to redo things.

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The best practices are adopted processes, which will simplify your size chart creation process. Below are some best practices that you should consider: 

Highlight Common Size Differences

While creating European clothing sizes and charts, there will be numbers where most of your shoppers fall on the size chart. You should highlight the size differences in such areas if there are differences that can be misunderstood. 

Make Size Measurements and Validations Easier For the Customer

When customers step out of their homes, they don’t carry measuring tapes everywhere when they shop. A large portion of shoppers don’t know their measurements in the correct way.

In such cases, the best practice is to make size measurements and validations easier for your customers. You can do this by following a size chart that is accepted across the world and complies with international sizing guidelines.

The size chart should be good enough to cover size validations even if the customer knows some basic measurements like height, weight, shoe size, etc.

FAQs

After reading so much about international clothing sizes, you may have some questions about the size charts. So let’s address the FAQs below. 

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Why is There a Size Difference Across Geographies?

In most cases, each brand has its own way of measuring its clothes. For example, a French brand may follow french clothing sizes, so there might be a size difference across geographies. 

What Shoe Size Will Fit a Man Who Wears a Uk 8?

Any man wearing a UK 8 shoe should wear a US 9 for a comfortable fit. This size is indicative. It may change if you switch between brands, but there won’t be any drastic changes, so that you can rely on this. 

What Dress Sizes Are Perfect for a Woman With Us Size 0 in Europe?

A conversion from Italian clothing sizes to US is simple. A woman who wears US size 0 should wear size 30 in Europe or whenever she purchases from European clothing care labels.

Conclusion

So there you have it! If you’re reading this article, you’ve been through a lot of stress trying to figure out what size clothes you are.

If you’re anything like us, your life has been a series of “Oh my god, I’m too big for that dress!” followed by “Wait—I can’t fit into that dress because I’m too small!” followed by “Why does the world hate me?”

Now, thanks to this article and the handy international clothing sizes and charts we’ve included. You can cut through all the confusion and figure out which clothes will fit your body type best.

What happens when you do find something that fits? It’ll feel like an absolute miracle.

So go forth and shop with confidence! You deserve it.