# Clothing size converter for US, UK and EU sizes

> Convert clothing sizes between US, UK, EU, German, Italian and Japanese labels for women's dresses and tops, men's suits and shirt collars.

Interactive version: https://www.calcopenly.com/conversion/clothing-size-converter
Subject: Unit converters

Clothing size labels in the US, UK, EU (French), German, Italian and Japanese systems convert by table lookup for three garment types: women's dresses, tops and coats; men's suits and jackets; and men's dress-shirt collars. The converter finds the chart row holding the size entered, then reads the target system's column. Women's sizes and suits come from the sizeguide.net charts, collars from Wikipedia's neck-girth table.

Use it when buying from a foreign retailer. The default, a women's US 8, shares a row with UK 12, Italy 44, France 40, Germany 38 and Japan 13, letter size M. A size between rows, such as US 9, moves up to the next row, US 10.

The charts record labelling conventions, not body measurements, and brands cut differently. When a retailer publishes the chest, waist and hip measurements a size fits, compare those instead.

## Inputs

- **Garment** (options: Women's dresses, tops and coats, Men's suits and jackets, Men's dress shirts (collar))
- **Size**: The number on the label; shirts use the collar size in inches (US, UK) or cm
- **From** (options: US, UK, EU / France, Germany, Italy, Japan)
- **To** (options: US, UK, EU / France, Germany, Italy, Japan)

## Results

- Converted size — main result
- Letter size
- US
- UK
- EU / France
- Germany
- Italy
- Japan

## Worked examples

### Women's US 8 in Italian sizes

- Garment: Women's dresses, tops and coats
- Size: 8
- From: US
- To: Italy
- **Converted size: 44**
- **UK: 12**
- **EU / France: 40**
- **Germany: 38**
- **Japan: 13**
- **Letter size: M**
- Checked against: sizeguide.net women's chart row: US 8 = UK 12 = IT 44 = FR 40 = DE 38 = JP 13 (M)

### Women's UK 10 in US

- Garment: Women's dresses, tops and coats
- Size: 10
- From: UK
- To: US
- **Converted size: 6**
- Checked against: sizeguide.net women's chart row: UK 10 = US 6

### Men's suit US 40 in Italy and Japan

- Garment: Men's suits and jackets
- Size: 40
- From: US
- To: Italy
- **Converted size: 50**
- **Japan: 42**
- **Letter size: M**
- Checked against: sizeguide.net: US 40 = EU 50 = JP 42 (M); tailorsizeguide.com: Italy 50 = US 40

### Shirt collar 16 in (between chart rows) in EU

- Garment: Men's dress shirts (collar)
- Size: 16
- From: US
- To: EU / France
- **Converted size: 41 cm**
- Checked against: sizeguide.net men's shirt chart: US 16 = EU 41 (Wikipedia's chart lists 41 cm as 16¼ in, the next row up)

### Women's US 9 (odd size) rounds up to US 10

- Garment: Women's dresses, tops and coats
- Size: 9
- From: US
- To: Italy
- **Converted size: 46**
- **US: 10**
- Checked against: sizeguide.net women's chart has even US sizes only; the next size up, US 10, is IT 46

## Questions

### What is a US size 8 in UK sizes?

UK 12. In the sizeguide.net women's chart for dresses, tops and coats, UK sizes are US sizes plus 4, so US 8 = UK 12 = Italy 44 = France 40 = Germany 38 = Japan 13, letter size M. The same British sizes are used in Australia and New Zealand.

### How do European women's sizes compare with US sizes?

There is no single EU number. French sizes, also used in Belgium, Spain and Portugal, are US + 32; German sizes, used in Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, are US + 30; Italian sizes are US + 36. A US 6 is therefore France 38, Germany 36 and Italy 42 (sizeguide.net).

### What size is a US 40 suit in Europe?

EU 50, and Japan 42. US and UK suit sizes follow chest girth in inches, so a 40 is cut for roughly a 40 in (102 cm) chest. In the sizeguide.net chart, European suit sizes are the US number plus 10, and the same European numbers are used for Italian, French, German and Spanish suits.

### How do shirt collar sizes convert between inches and centimetres?

Collar size is neck girth: inches in the US and UK, centimetres in Europe and Japan. The chart pairs 15 in with 38 cm, 16¼ in with 41 cm and 17 in with 43 cm (Wikipedia, Clothing sizes). A US 16 is not a chart row, so the converter moves up to 16¼ in and returns EU 41.

### Why does my size change from brand to brand?

Because each brand sets its own body measurements for a size number. Vanity sizing has also shifted labels over time, so the same number now fits a larger body. The European standard EN 13402-3 tackles this by labelling garments with the body measurements, in centimetres, that they are made to fit.

### How accurate is the clothing size converter?

Accuracy depends on your inputs and the method's assumptions. Decimal arithmetic uses 50 significant digits, but estimates, numerical methods and source data can be less precise; the displayed rounding does not remove those limits. It is checked against 5 worked examples whose answers come from independent sources; for example, “Women's US 8 in Italian sizes” is checked against sizeguide.net women's chart row: US 8 = UK 12 = IT 44 = FR 40 = DE 38 = JP 13 (M).

### Where does the method come from?

sizeguide.net — Women's clothing sizes, international conversion chart; sizeguide.net — Men's clothing sizes, international conversion chart; tailorsizeguide.com — Men's suit size conversion (US, EU, UK, Italy); Wikipedia — Clothing sizes: men's shirts by neck girth; hemden.de — Shirt size conversion (collar sizes in Germany, France, Italy).

## Sources

- [sizeguide.net — Women's clothing sizes, international conversion chart](http://www.sizeguide.net/womens-clothing-sizes-international-conversion-chart.html)
- [sizeguide.net — Men's clothing sizes, international conversion chart](http://www.sizeguide.net/mens-clothing-sizes-international-conversion-chart.html)
- [tailorsizeguide.com — Men's suit size conversion (US, EU, UK, Italy)](https://www.tailorsizeguide.com/blog/mens-suit-size-conversion-us-eu-uk-italy)
- [Wikipedia — Clothing sizes: men's shirts by neck girth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_sizes#Men)
- [hemden.de — Shirt size conversion (collar sizes in Germany, France, Italy)](https://www.hemden.de/en/converting-shirt-sizes)