Women’s Size Converter

Quick answer: on the published ladder, US 6 = UK 10 = EU 36 = FR 38 = IT 42 = M, and each step up adds 2 to the US and UK numbers and 2 to the European ones. Japanese sizes are set by bust girth, so US 6 lands near JP 9. Brands cut differently, so the converter above shows what each chart says rather than one promise.

How to use it

Pick what you have. A size turns any size — US, UK, EU, French, Italian, Japanese or a letter — into all the others, and shows the measurements each chart says that size is cut for. My measurements takes your bust, waist and hips and gives the size each chart would call you, so you can see the spread before you order. A jeans size takes the waist number off the label. Switch between inches and centimetres at the top, and every answer has its own link.

Women’s clothing size chart: US, UK, EU, France, Italy

This is the comparison table in Wikipedia: Clothing sizes, which cites the national standards. Wikipedia prints the letters over the first seven sizes (XXS to XXL); the rest follow the same step. The letters match the mapping Mango prints on its own size guide.

Women’s jeans size conversion

Jeans carry a waist number instead of a dress size. Wikipedia’s women’s jeans conversion table: the waist number on the label, and what it is called elsewhere.

Why two brands call the same body different sizes

US sizes have drifted over the decades, which is why two brands can both call the same body a 6 and an 8. That is why this tool shows each chart’s own answer instead of one number. Take a bust of 36 inches: on Patagonia‘s chart that is a US 8, on Mango‘s a US 6, and on Wikipedia’s inch-based table a US 8. None of them is wrong — they cut for different bodies. Brands cut differently: the same body measures a different size at each of them. Take the size the charts agree on most, and check the brand’s own chart before you order.

Between two sizes? The bigger one is the safer buy for a fitted piece: a seam can be taken in, but not let out.

How to measure yourself

Measure over your underwear, not over clothes: the bust at its fullest, the waist at its narrowest, the hips at their widest, with the tape level and snug. Keep the tape parallel to the floor, breathe normally, and write the numbers down — they are the only part of this that does not change between brands.

What is missing, and why

• Australia. Australian sizes are not here: none of the charts we could read maps them, and we will not print a conversion nobody published.
• Most retailers. Most retailers’ size guides refuse a server request or need a click-through, so the two brand charts here are the ones that could be read: Mango and Patagonia.
• Japan is matched by bust. The Japanese ladder is set by bust girth, so the converter finds the Japanese size whose bust matches, and says so in the answer.

What to wear once you know your size

NeedleStyle has plus size winter outfits, outfits for broad shoulders and a large bust and outfits for short and curvy women.

FAQ