Clothing size conversion chart: UK, US and EU sizes for women and men

For women's clothing, a UK size is the US size plus four, and an EU size is the UK size plus 28. So a UK 12 is a US 8 and an EU 40, and an EU 36 is a UK 8 and a US 4.

Men's tops and jackets are simpler. The US and UK use the same number, and the EU size is that number plus 10. The tables below cover every common size, plus shoes.

If you sell clothes or shoes outside your own country, a single size table is not enough. A shopper in Chicago reads "38" as a shoe size, a shopper in Lyon reads it as a dress size, and a shopper in Milan expects a 38 to be smaller than the French one. Every one of those misunderstandings can end as an exchange or a return.

This guide gives you a clothing size conversion chart for women's and men's clothing and shoes, covering US, UK, EU, Italian and Japanese sizes. The numbers are the same ones we use in Plainfee Size Charts, checked against at least two sources per category. After the tables, we cover the common mistakes and how to show the right size system to each shopper on Shopify.

UK size chart for women: quick answers

If you know your UK size and need the US or EU one, start here. This is the same data as the full women's table below, with the UK column first.

The sizes people ask about most:

• UK 12 in EU: EU 40, which is also a US 8 and an Italian 44.
• EU 36 in UK and US: UK 8 and US 4. Many European brands label it S.
• Size 8: EU women's sizes are numbers like 36 or 40, so a "size 8" is UK or US. A UK 8 is an EU 36. A US 8 is an EU 40.
• US 12 in UK and EU: UK 16 and EU 44.
• US size conversion in one line: add 4 for the UK size and add 32 for the EU size.

The letters are the one-number-per-letter sizing used by fast-fashion brands. They vary more than any other column. For letter sizes with body measurements, see our XS to XXL size chart.

Women's clothing size conversion chart

This is the table most shoppers are looking for when they search "EU to US size women" or "size chart for women". It covers tops and dresses. Reading across a row, an EU 38 is a UK 10, a US 6 and an Italian 42.

Before you copy this into your store, check these points:

• EU, French and Spanish sizes share one column in this table because that is how Zara, H&M and most pan-European brands label today. Older German sizing (Konfektionsgröße) runs one step smaller, so a traditional German 36 fits like a French 38.
• Italian sizes are four numbers higher than EU sizes. An IT 42 and an EU 38 are the same garment. This is the conversion shoppers get wrong most often.
• UK and Australian sizes are four numbers higher than US sizes. "US to UK sizes" for women's clothing is simply US plus four.
• Letter sizes depend on the brand. Fast-fashion brands give one number per letter (S is EU 36). Many US brands give two (S is US 4 to 6). If you sell lettered garments, publish the numbers behind your letters.
• Japanese sizes use odd numbers (the JIS "go" sizes). Some charts shift them one step smaller, so check the fit of your own products if Japan is an important market.

Men's size conversion chart

Men's sizes are simpler because the US and UK use the same numbers. Jackets and tops use a chest measurement in inches, and dress shirts use a neck measurement.

Men's tops, suits and jackets

The rule of thumb is EU equals US plus 10, so a US 40 jacket is an EU 50. Japanese suits are often labelled with body-type codes (such as A5 or Y4) that this table does not capture.

Men's dress shirts (collar)

Collar sizes are a neck measurement, so the conversion is just inches to centimetres. The catch is rounding. A 16 inch collar is 40.6 cm, which most brands label 41, while a 40 is a 15¾. Our men's shirt size chart adds sleeve lengths and compares brands.

Trousers follow a different logic. Jeans are sized by waist and leg length in inches, and our jeans size chart with W and L sizes explains how to read and convert them. Kids' clothing is sized by age and height instead, which our kids size chart by age and height covers. If you sell rings as well, our ring size chart converts US, UK, EU, Italian and Japanese sizes with the inner diameter in millimetres.

Shoe size conversion: US to EU and UK

Shoes are where conversion formulas fail most often, because brands do not agree with each other. The tables below follow Nike's published EU sizes and add foot length, which is the only column that means the same thing everywhere.

Women's shoes

Men's shoes

The UK column is the one that varies most. These tables use the common rule that UK men's sizes are one below US men's, and UK women's sizes are two below US women's. Wikipedia's shoe size article explains that there are two US women's scales in use, which is why brands disagree. Nike's own women's chart lists a US 7 as a UK 4.5, not a UK 5.

Common size conversion mistakes

These are the mistakes we see most often in Shopify size charts, and each of them turns into returns:

1. Treating EU and Italian sizes as one system. An Italian 42 is a French 38. If your supplier is Italian, say so on the chart.
2. Using the shoe size rule for clothing, or the other way round. UK women's clothing is US plus four. UK women's shoes are roughly US minus two. The same "UK 6" means very different things.
3. Publishing letters without numbers. An M from a US brand and an M from a Spanish brand are not the same garment. Put the numbers or measurements behind every letter.
4. Copying a chart from another brand. Conversion tables tell shoppers how size labels relate. They do not tell them how your products fit. Measure your own samples, and follow our guide on how to make a size chart for your own products if you are starting from zero.
5. Showing only inches, or only centimetres. A shopper who measures in centimetres will not convert 34.5 inches in their head while standing in a fitting room at home.
6. Burying the chart. If the size chart is three clicks away from the size picker, shoppers will guess instead.

How to show the right size system to each shopper

Once you have the numbers, the next question is how to present them. There are three common approaches on Shopify, from simplest to most helpful.

1. One wide table with every column

Put all the systems in a single table on a page and link it from the product page. Dawn and other free Shopify themes have a Pop-up block in the product information section that opens a page in a modal, which is the most common way to do this without an app. If you are weighing apps instead, our comparison of Shopify size chart apps lists what each one costs and does.

It works, but it has two problems. On a phone, a table with six columns scrolls sideways, and the shopper has to find their own column every time.

2. A separate chart per market

If you use Shopify Markets with separate catalogues or languages, you can write one chart per market. This is clearer for shoppers but more work for you, because every change to a product's fit means editing several charts.

3. A chart that knows where the shopper is

Shopify themes can read the shopper's country through the Liquid localization object, which holds "the currently selected country on the storefront". A size chart can use it to put that country's column first and pick inches or centimetres:

{% assign country = localization.country.iso_code %}
{% if country == 'US' %}
  {% assign unit = 'in' %}
{% else %}
  {% assign unit = 'cm' %}
{% endif %}

The country comes from the shopper's selection in your country selector, or from the recommendation Shopify makes based on their location (see Shopify's geolocation settings). Either way, you write your table once and every shopper sees their own system first.

Plainfee Size ChartsSize charts that show every shopper their own country's sizes, with how-to-measure steps in 31 languages.See how it works

This is what we built Plainfee Size Charts to do. You enter your sizes once, and a shopper in the US sees US sizes in inches while a shopper in Brazil sees Brazilian sizes in centimetres, with measuring steps in their own language. A shopper can also pick the size they usually wear, say UK 12, and the matching row lights up with every other country's size. If you already have your sizes in a spreadsheet, the guide on adding a size chart from Excel or Google Sheets shows how to bring them in, and adding the size guide to your theme covers placement.

Measurements beat labels

Labels are a translation layer. What actually helps a shopper choose is a body measurement they can take at home: bust, waist and hips for women's clothing, chest for men's tops, neck for shirts, foot length for shoes.

Europe even has a standard built on this idea. EN 13402 labels clothes by body dimensions in centimetres, although adoption has varied by country and most shops still print the familiar 36, 38 and 40 next to it.

For your Shopify store, that means a good international size chart has three layers:

• The label in the shopper's own system (EU 38, US 6, UK 10).
• The body measurement that size is made for, in centimetres and inches.
• How to measure, with a short instruction or a drawing, so the shopper's measurement matches yours.

If you sell to shoppers in several countries, also check that your product and variant names do not hard-code one system. "Size 38" in a variant name will confuse a US shopper. "EU 38" will not.

A short checklist before you publish

• Every chart says which system its numbers use (EU, IT, UK or US).
• Letter sizes have numbers or measurements behind them.
• Shoe charts include foot length in centimetres.
• Measurements appear in both centimetres and inches.
• The size chart link sits next to the size picker, not in the description.
• You checked the chart on a phone.

When a size question comes in from a customer, add the answer to the chart. Keep the measurements as text rather than an image. Screen readers and AI shopping agents can only use what they can read, and if you sell to Europe, the EU rules for fashion stores make accessibility part of the checklist. Over a few months, that is what turns a generic conversion table into one that actually reduces returns. If you also sell gift cards to customers who are unsure about sizes, our guide on Shopify gift cards and store credit explains how to offer both.

Frequently asked questions