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.
Compare the chart against a garment you already like rather than against a size label, because labels differ between makers. Lay your own piece flat, measure it the same way and choose the size whose numbers are closest.
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. A tape that rides up at the back reads short, so check in a mirror or ask someone to check the line for you.
The waist is the narrowest point of the torso, usually just above the navel, and the hips are the widest point below it — measure those two separately rather than assuming the ratio from the chest. Hips are measured at the fullest point, feet together. For trousers and skirts the listing states which of the two drives the size, because a straight-cut pair sits on the waist and a low-rise pair does not.
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.
Take the larger size on anything close-fitting or unlined, and the smaller on loose, straight-cut pieces where a little extra room simply reads as a relaxed fit. If the two sizes differ only in length, choose by the length you want rather than by the width. Where a chart shows the two sizes are nearly identical apart from the hem, pick on length. And if you are still unsure, write to us with the measurement you want and we will tell you which column to choose.
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. Write the numbers down — comparing two charts from memory is where most sizing mistakes begin.
Match numbers rather than a label. Where chest points at one size and length at another, decide which matters more for how you will wear it — and if you would rather not guess, send us the measurements and we will pick the column for you.
Questions about this page? Write to [email protected] and we will answer within one business day.