How to make a size chart for your clothing brand (with a free Excel template)

A size chart is the table that tells a shopper which of your sizes fits them. To make one, you measure one sample, work out the steps to the other sizes, and add the details shoppers need to read it right: whether the numbers are body or garment, which unit, and which country's sizes.

This guide goes through it in the order we would do it for a small clothing brand, ending with how to publish it on Shopify. There is a free Excel template further down with ready tables to edit.

Step 1: body or garment measurements?

Before you measure anything, decide whose numbers the chart shows. This is the mistake behind a lot of "too big" returns. A shopper reads "Chest 52", measures their own chest at 98 cm and orders two sizes up, because 52 was the T-shirt laid flat.

Body charts are easier for shoppers. Garment charts are more honest about the fit, because they include the ease the designer added. Pick one per chart and put it in the headers, for example "Chest (cm, flat)". Our sister guide on garment measurements and pit to pit charts covers the flat version in detail.

Step 2: measure your base sample size

Pick one size as your base, usually the size your samples are made in (M or a 38 for many brands). Measure that first and build everything else from it. Pattern makers call this grading, and Wikipedia's article on pattern grading describes it as turning "base size or sample size patterns into additional sizes".

Which points to measure depends on the product. For clothing, the body columns below follow the primary and secondary dimensions in the European standard EN 13402-2, as summarised in Wikipedia's EN 13402 article. The garment columns use the points of measure in Delogue's spec guide, for example across chest "1” below the armhole" and body length from the highest point of the shoulder.

Measure with a soft tape on a flat table, without stretching the fabric. If you already have production pieces, measure two or three of them as well as the sample, because a sample is often made more carefully than the run. For shoes, the numbers that matter are foot lengths, and our shoe size chart guide has full tables.

Step 3: grade the other sizes

Grading means deciding how much each measurement changes from one size to the next. Every brand has its own grade rules, and pattern makers base them on body measurement data. You can still start from a published standard.

EN 13402-3, as summarised on Wikipedia, uses these steps between sizes:

The bust column in our women's template uses the same idea, with 4 cm steps from XXS to M (76 to 92 cm) and 6 cm steps from L to XXL (92 to 110 cm). It widens the step earlier than the standard, which keeps 4 cm up to a 104 cm bust. The same standard says a label should show the range "from half the step size below to half the step size above the design size". That is why body charts use ranges like 88 to 92 cm instead of a single number.

On a garment chart measured flat, remember that you are measuring half the circumference. A 4 cm step around the body is 2 cm on the pit to pit. Our T-shirt template grades pit to pit by 3 cm per size (6 cm around), which gives a looser fit as sizes go up.

Not every point grades the same. Length usually grows less than width, and some points barely move. In our jeans template, inseam stays at 81 cm from waist 28 to 32 and then moves to 84 cm. If you sell in two lengths, make that a separate column or a separate chart.

Step 4: add the sizes shoppers know

A shopper in Germany thinks in EU 38, one in London in UK 10, one in Texas in US 6. If you sell abroad, add a column for each market you ship to, and drop the ones you don't. Our clothing size conversion chart has the UK, US, EU and Asian tables with sources, so you don't have to work them out yourself.

Keep the letter size as the first column. It is the one column every shopper can read.

Step 5: units, centimetres and inches

One inch is exactly 25.4 mm, by the definition NIST gives for the inch. The US uses inches, nearly everyone else centimetres, so show both or let shoppers switch.

• Measure in one unit and convert once. Converting a rounded value and rounding again drifts by a size at the edges.
• Round to what a tape can show. Whole centimetres or half centimetres, and half inches (or quarter inches for small measurements like neck or wrist).
• Say the unit in every header. "Waist (cm)" leaves no doubt. A bare "Waist 32" could be inches or a label size.

In our template, the women's M bust of 88 to 92 cm becomes 34.5 to 36 in, rounded to the nearest half inch.

Step 6: tolerance and fit notes

No two pieces from a production run measure exactly the same. In a tech pack, the allowed difference is the tolerance, which Delogue describes as "denoted with a +/- sign" against the spec. Agree it with your factory, and if your garment charts come from real pieces, add a line under the chart such as "Measurements may vary slightly between pieces".

Then add what a table cannot say:

• How it fits. "Relaxed fit, size down for a closer fit" or "Runs small, size up".
• The model. Height and the size they wear in the photo.
• The fabric. Rigid denim and stretch jersey fit differently at the same measurement.

Step 7: write the how-to-measure steps

Shoppers need to measure the same way you did. For a body chart:

1. Bust or chest: around the fullest part, tape level under the arms.
2. Waist: around the natural waist, the narrowest part of the torso.
3. Hips: around the fullest part, feet together.
4. Inside leg: from the crotch to the floor, without shoes.

For a garment chart, tell them to lay a piece they own and like flat, buttons done up, and measure straight across the same points. A simple drawing with numbered marks that match the columns helps more than any paragraph.

Step 8: test it against real customers and returns

Before you publish, ask three or four people of different sizes to measure themselves with your steps and pick a size. If they land on the wrong one, the steps or the ranges need work, not the people.

After launch, read your returns. When you create a return in Shopify, you choose a return reason, and for apparel the Shopify help centre on creating returns gives "Too big" and "Too small" as examples. If one size keeps coming back as too small, move the range or add a fit note. If returns cost you money, our comparison of Shopify return fees shows what return apps charge.

Free size chart template (Excel)

If you would rather not start from a blank sheet, download our free size chart templates in Excel. There is no sign-up. The workbook has sheets for women's clothing (in centimetres and in inches), men's tops, jeans, a T-shirt measured flat and kids' clothing, plus an empty "Your brand" sheet for your own base sample. Every header carries its unit. The numbers are common starting values, so replace them with your own measurements before you publish.

It opens in Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers. Each sheet can be pasted straight into a Shopify page as a table, or into a size chart app (our guide on making a size chart from Excel or Google Sheets shows how that works in ours).

How to make a size chart on Shopify

There are three honest ways to publish it.

A page with a table. Shopify's rich text editor lets you insert tables in pages and product descriptions. Build the chart there and link to it from your product pages. It is free and fine for one or two charts.

A pop-up with a page metafield. Shopify's pop-up tutorial uses a size chart as its example. You create a page metafield on products, a page with your table, and a Pop-up block in the product template. Shopify states the limits in its own words. It "requires a theme that supports dynamic sources", "you can link only one page in the product metafield", and a product without a page shows a pop-up that "is blank". You also assign the chart product by product, and every shopper sees the same units and sizes.

An app. Worth it when you have several product types, sell to more than one country, or add products often. Our list of the best size chart apps for Shopify compares prices and limits. If you are on ESC and it has stopped showing, see our ESC Size Charts alternatives.

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

We make Plainfee Size Charts, so take this paragraph with that in mind. It shows each shopper their own country's sizes first (44 countries), in inches in the US and centimetres elsewhere, with how-to-measure drawings and steps in 31 languages. Each table says whether it is body or garment measurements, and garment charts get flat-lay drawings. You can paste a table from Excel, and the free plan covers 3 live charts; Pro is a flat $14.99 a month with no fees per order. It has no fit recommender. If you want one, Kiwi Size Chart has it.

Checklist before you publish

• The chart says whether it shows body or garment measurements.
• Every size you sell is in the chart, and no size you don't sell.
• Ranges come from your base sample and a grade rule, not guesses.
• Every header has its unit, and shoppers can see centimetres and inches.
• Country sizes cover the markets you ship to.
• Fit note, model size and fabric are on the product page.
• How-to-measure steps sit next to the chart.
• You checked it on a phone and with a few real people.
• You will read the returns by size after the first month.

A good size chart is a few numbers measured carefully, with enough words around them that a shopper reads them the way you meant. Start from one sample, grade from there, and let your returns tell you where it is still wrong.

Frequently asked questions