US to UK clothing size: the women's and men's size charts, from jeans to jackets

Short answer: for a women’s US to UK clothing size, add 4: a US 8 is a UK 12, and a UK 10 is a US 6. Men have it easier, because US and UK men’s sizes are the same number: the chest in inches for a jacket, the waist in inches for jeans. European sizes are another story. A women’s US 8 is a 40 in France, a 44 in Italian sizes and a 38 in Germany, and a men’s 40 jacket is a European 50. The tables below give women’s sizes and men’s sizes country by country, with the waist and inseam behind every pair of jeans.

A dress spotted on an American site, a coat from a British shop, jeans from an Italian brand: every country numbers its clothes its own way. France, Belgium and Spain share one scale, Italy counts two sizes higher, Germany one size lower, the UK has its own numbers, and the US mixes small numbers for women with inches for men. So a US to UK clothing size is not something you guess. You read it in the right table: women’s or men’s, tops or trousers (pants in the US).

US to UK clothing size for women: tops, dresses and jackets

This US to UK clothing size table comes from the app’s Tops for Women screen. Each row is the same garment in every country, and the bold row, US 8, is the one in the screenshot further down. Spain and Belgium use the French size, which the app calls EU.

US	UK	EU / France	Italy	Germany	Letter
0	4	32	36	30	XS
2	6	34	38	32	XS
4	8	36	40	34	S
6	10	38	42	36	S
8	12	40	44	38	M
10	14	42	46	40	M
12	16	44	48	42	L
14	18	46	50	44	L
16	20	48	52	46	XL
18	22	50	54	48	XL
20	24	52	56	50	XXL

The women’s scale moves in fixed steps, which makes it easy to remember. The UK size is the US size plus 4, so the UK to US clothing size is the UK number minus 4. The French size is the US size plus 32, the Italian size is the French size plus 4, and the German size is the French size minus 2. Going from UK to US clothing size is the same sum backwards: a UK 14 is a US 10, and a UK 16 is a US 12, which is a 44 in France.

Women’s trousers and jeans: the US jeans size

For trousers, the app’s Bottoms for Women screen adds a column that catches many shoppers out in a US to UK clothing size lookup: the US jeans size. On jeans, the American number is no longer 2, 4 or 6 but the W, for waist, measured in inches.

US jeans (W)	UK	EU / France	Italy	Germany
26	6	34	38	32
27	8	36	40	34
28	10	38	42	36
29	12	40	44	38
31	14	42	46	40
33	16	44	48	42
35	18	46	50	44
37	20	48	52	46
39	22	50	54	48

American dress pants, on the other hand, use the same small numbers as tops: a French 38 is still a US 6, and a UK 10. So check the label before you look up a US to UK clothing size. A “28” on jeans is a W28, a UK 10 and a French 38, while an “8” on suit pants is a UK 12 and a French 40.

Men’s US to UK clothing size: jackets, shirts and sweaters

For men, the rule is simple: in the US and the UK alike, a jacket size is the chest measurement in inches, so the US to UK clothing size conversion is no conversion at all. The European size is that number plus 10, and France, Italy, Germany and Spain all share it for tops. This table comes from the app’s Tops for Men screen.

US	UK	Europe (FR, IT, DE, ES)	Japan	Letter
34	34	44	S	XS
36	36	46	M	S
38	38	48	L	M
40	40	50	XL	L
42	42	52	2XL	XL
44	44	54	3XL	XXL
46	46	56	4XL	XXXL
48	48	58	5XL	4XL
50	50	60	6XL	5XL

A US or UK 40 jacket therefore means a 40-inch chest, about 102 cm, and a European 50. Watch the Japan column: Japanese letters run one size small, so a European M becomes a Japanese L, and an L becomes an XL.

Men’s jeans: W and L in inches

American jeans carry two numbers, for example W32 L34. W is the waist in inches and L the inseam in inches: L30 is 76 cm, L32 is 81 cm, L34 is 86 cm. The app’s Bottoms for Men screen converts the W, and British jeans use exactly the same W, so for jeans the UK to US clothing size is simply the same number.

US (W)	UK (W)	France / Spain	Europe (DE, IT)	Japan (cm)	Letter
27	27	36	42	69	S
28	28	38	44	71	S/M
30	30	40	46	76	M
32	32	42	48	81	M/L
34	34	44	50	86	L
36	36	46	52	91	L/XL
38	38	48	54	97	XL
40	40	50	56	102	XL/XXL
42	42	52	58	107	XXL
44	44	54	60	112	XXL/XXXL
46	46	56	62	117	XXXL

From W30 up, the French size is the W plus 10 and the German or Italian size is the W plus 16: a W32 is a French 42 and a German 48. In Japan, trousers show the waist directly in centimeters. Length does not convert into a size: pick the L closest to your inseam.

Take your measurements before you order

Any US to UK clothing size conversion starts from a size you already know. When you are unsure, a tape measure settles it, and it takes three minutes.

1. Chest: around the fullest part, tape level under the arms, without pulling tight. It sets the size of a man’s jacket or shirt.
2. Waist: at the narrowest point, above the navel. It is the W of jeans, in inches: divide your centimeters by 2.54.
3. Inseam: from the crotch to the ankle, along the inside of the leg. It is the L of jeans.

Then three rules:

• Between two sizes, take the larger. A garment that is a little loose can be taken in; one that is too small cannot be worn.
• Be wary of letters. S, M and L vary the most from one brand to another and from one country to another, especially between Europe and Asia.
• If the brand publishes its own chart, that one wins. Our tables give the most common equivalent, not the cut of every brand.

American, British or Italian sizes: what each country counts

Behind every label there is a different logic, and it explains the gaps in our tables.

• French sizes are also used in Belgium and Spain, and they are what the app calls EU sizes for women.
• Italian sizes run two sizes higher, so 4 more: a French 38 is an Italian 42.
• German sizes run one size lower, so 2 less: a French 38 is a German 36.
• UK women’s sizes go from 2 to 30 in the app, 28 below the French size: a French 38 is a UK 10. For men, UK sizes are in inches, just like US ones.
• US women’s sizes start at 00 and 0, then go up in steps of two. For men, they are the chest or the waist in inches.
• Japan runs small in letter sizes for tops and gives the waist of trousers in centimeters.

Europe does have a labelling standard, EN 13402, which describes a garment by body measurements in centimeters, chest or waist, rather than by a number. Few labels show it, and national sizes still rule in stores, so a US to UK clothing size is still read from a chart. Big international brands often print several of these sizes on the same label. When they do not, our clothing size chart (US, Europe and UK on one row) takes two seconds to read, and the app takes one.

Faster than a US to UK clothing size chart: the app

Once you know your size in one country, a US to UK clothing size or any other is just a lookup, and that is what Conversion Calculator is for. Its Tops for Women, Bottoms for Women, Tops for Men and Bottoms for Men screens, grouped in the premium clothing category, take a size from any country and show all the others on the same screen, offline. Children’s sizes and bra sizes sit next to them, with shoe sizes in the category next door.

Get the app free, and keep the printable clothing size chart by your computer for the next time you need a US to UK clothing size on an American or British site. For heights in feet and inches on product pages, the height conversion chart is the next page to bookmark.