Every listing carries its own flat-measurement chart. This page explains how those numbers were taken so you can compare them with something you already own.
Measurements are taken flat, with the garment laid out and any stretch relaxed, and are given in centimetres. Bust is taken across the widest part and doubled; waist is measured at the narrowest point of the garment, not the body; length runs from the shoulder seam or the waistband and each chart says which. Lengths are measured from the high point of the shoulder or from the waistband, as stated on each chart.
Compare the chart against a garment you already like rather than against a size label, because labels differ between makers. Where your measurements fall between two sizes, take the larger for anything fitted and the smaller for anything loose — and read the fit note on the listing, since we say which is which. If you sit between two, take the larger.
Hand-measured garments vary, so every chart carries a tolerance of around one and a half centimetres. Where a fabric stretches, the chart gives both the relaxed and the stretched measurement, which matters on knitwear and on anything with an elastic waist.
Take the tape around the fullest point of the chest, level all the way round, over the underwear you would wear with the garment. Wear what you would normally wear underneath. If the tape slopes at the back you will read two or three centimetres small, which is the most common measuring error we see.
Find your natural waist by bending sideways: the crease that forms is it. Hips are measured at the fullest point, feet together.
Length is measured from the highest point of the shoulder down the front, and inseam from the crotch seam to the hem of the leg. Both are given flat on the chart, so a pair you already own tells you more about the fit at the ankle than any size letter does. Compare them against a garment in your wardrobe that ends where you want this one to end.
Flat measurements are the only ones a customer can reproduce at home: the garment is laid on a table and measured across, not around. Anything given as a circumference is labelled as such.
For fitted and structured garments, size up. If the two sizes differ only in length, choose by the length you want rather than by the width.
Lay a garment that fits the way you want this one to fit on a flat surface, smooth it without stretching, and measure across at the same points the chart uses. Do not pull the fabric taut, because a stretch knit measured under tension reads several centimetres wider than it wears.
Match numbers rather than a label. If your two key measurements point at different columns, the fit note on the listing says which one to follow.
Questions about this page? Write to [email protected] and we will answer within one business day.