Getting Sizes Right When Buying from Foreign Online Stores — From Reading Size Charts to Returns
Steps to reduce size mistakes when buying clothes, shoes and rings from foreign online stores: record your measurements, read the brand's size chart, convert inches, compare garment measurements, use reviews, and check return terms.
When you buy across borders, a wrong size costs more than in domestic shopping because international return shipping takes money and time. Instead of trying to solve it with a single conversion chart, checking in the order below can greatly reduce mistakes.
1. Record your measurements first
- Foot length (the longer of your two feet, in mm) and foot width
- Chest, waist and hip circumference (cm); for women, underbust and bust
- Circumference of the finger you'll wear a ring on (mm)
- Garment measurements of one piece of clothing that fits you best (chest width, total length, shoulder width)
How to measure is explained in How to measure foot length and How to measure your body.
2. The brand's size chart beats a conversion chart
International conversion charts show only average correspondences, and every brand has its own reference body. Find the Size Guide / Size Chart link on the product page and compare the body measurements the brand lists with your own. Use conversion charts as a supplement when there is no brand chart or when you need to understand another country's labels.
3. Tell ‘body measurements’ from ‘garment measurements’
| Label | Meaning | Compare with |
|---|---|---|
| Body measurements / To fit | Body measurements of the person the garment fits | Your body measurements |
| Garment measurements / Product dimensions | Measurements of the garment itself | Measurements of your own clothes |
| Chest width / Pit to pit | Chest width (one side, laid flat) | The flat chest width of your own clothes |
A garment's chest measurement includes ease, so it is larger than the body measurement. Mixing the two charts easily leads to being off by one size or more.
4. Converting between inches and cm
One inch is exactly 2.54 cm. A 32-inch waist is 81.3 cm, and a 40-inch chest is 101.6 cm. Switching the unit at the top right of the converter to inch changes all inputs and charts to inches.
5. Common pitfalls by country
- US brands: letter sizes (S, M, L) tend to run larger than Korean ones.
- Italian brands: women's size numbers are 6 higher than German/European and 4 higher than French. IT 44 is EU 38.
- UK brands: women's sizes are 4 higher than US. UK 10 is US 6.
- Shoes: US men's and women's sizes differ, and brands round UK and EU half sizes differently. First look for a chart based on foot length in cm.
- Asian fit: a separate line where the length and sleeves are shorter even at the same letter size.
6. Read the ‘size feel’ in reviews
Look for repeated phrases such as ‘runs small’, ‘true to size’ and ‘size up’. If reviewers list their height, weight and usual size, prioritize reviews from people similar to you.
7. Check return and exchange terms first
- Whether returns are free, and who pays the return shipping
- Whether exchanges (for a different size) are possible or only refunds
- The return deadline and the international return address
- Return fees at the package forwarder, if you used one
If you fall between sizes, buying from a store where exchanges are easy is the safest strategy.
Be especially careful with rings and jewelry
With rings, one size step is only about 1 mm of circumference, leaving almost no margin for error, and engraved or made-to-order pieces often cannot be exchanged. US sizes use 0.25 steps, UK sizes use letters and Europe uses circumference (mm), so if you know your finger circumference in mm you can convert to any label.
Size systems are approximate correspondences based on national standards and industry practice, and can differ by half to one size depending on brand, product and fabric. Always check the brand's own size chart before buying.