International clothes sizes compared - the mysteries of international shopping, EXPOSED!

When visiting other countries, you may notice that in general, there are many differences, cultural, geographical, etc... But did you realize that there is not an universal system for clothing sizes? Just like currencies and AC/DC voltage, you have to convert your clothing size.

My realization of this happened in Austria. I grabbed the same number off the rack and spent 20 minutes trying to squeeze myself into a shirt that would have never have fit me, even when I was 12 years old! (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration...) I thought I had become a lard ass, but really I just had no concept of the different sizes around the world! So, I think that I should let you in on the little secret, which could save some of you the worry that you’ve lost your mind and/or gained 2 stone in a week...

As a warning, all of these are ESTIMATES that I’ve put into charts from what I have found on the web. Do not think that this is possibly an exact science or that I sat down and measured garments from all over the world (have neither the time or the income to be taking on such endevours). So if you have some corrections, just send ’em on over.

Hope this helps!

Women’s Clothing:

Women’s Dresses (Based on a completely arbitrary system of numbers not corresponding to size, which is very logical, I think... who came up with this system? Morons.)

Women’s Shoes:

First interesting item I learned in my search was, in women’s fashion, "the more expensive a dress, the more likely the manufacturer is to label the dress with a size or two smaller than its true size." (Onlineconversion.com, see link below.)

The second interesting item was how to find the bra size. The band size of the bra is found by "measuring around the rib cage just below the bust line, adding 5, and rounding up to the nearest even number. The cup size is found by measuring along the fullest part of the bust and subtracting the band size. The letters correspond to the result as follows: A (1"), B (2"), C (3"), D (4"), DD (5"), and DDD (6").)" (Onlineconversion.com, see link.) onlineconversion.com

Men’s Clothing:

Men’s Shirt Collars

Men’s Suits, Sweaters, and Jackets

Men’s Shoes

Socks:

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Thanks to Ms. Mary Gibson, who sent her help to her Knickerbocker from the Dominican Republic.