Clothing sizes

Many voyagers like to shop for clothes abroad. Some types of clothes might be significantly cheaper in another country, and often you can find things that you're unable to find in your home country.

When buying clothes abroad (or from a foreign online store) you may however run into a number of different systems for clothing sizes. In some stores (let alone in open-air markets and similar places) there are not facilities available for trying clothes, so having a reference of the local size system at hand can be useful.

In some cases clothes are marked by letters like S(mall), M(edium), L(arge), XL (extra large) and so on — souvenir t-shirts are often marked this way. However these do in practice vary — for example clothes of a certain size sold on the Asian market are often a bit smaller than American equivalents. Finally, clothing markings may be faulty or entirely missing.

Comparison tables
e.g. a dress marked 13-Y-PP or 13-Y-P would be designed for someone with an 89 cm bust and 89 cm hips, while a dress marked 13-B-T would be targeted at a taller individual with 105 cm hips, but the same 89 cm bust. The B fitting adds 12 cm and the T height modifier 4 cm to the base hip measurement 89 + 16 = 105 cm. Additionally there are a set of age based waist adjustments, such that a dress marketed at someone in their 60s may allow for a waist 9 cm larger than a dress, of the same size, marketed at someone in their 20s. The age based adjustments allow for up to a 3 cm increase in girth, per decade of life.

Italian sizes (ITA)
Dress sizes are calculated as follows:
 * Standard dress size = (Bust Circumference cm / 2)

French sizes (FRA/BEL)
Dress sizes are calculated as follows:
 * Standard dress size = (Bust Circumference cm / 2) - 4

Germanic sizes (DE/AT/NL/SE/DK)
Dress sizes are calculated as follows:
 * Standard dress size (Height 164–170 cm) = (Bust Circumference cm / 2 ) - 6
 * Short dress sizes (Height <164 cm) = Standard dress size / 2
 * Tall dress sizes (Height >170 cm) = Standard dress size * 2

Comparison tables
The nominal UK/US size for men's trousers is the garment's waist measured in inches minus three inches of 'ease', so the waistband of a pair of "size 30" trousers measures 33 inches around. By contrast, a medium-sized ladies' garment is no more than a "size 12" due to differences in the US size charts - so a lady "size 30" would be huge.

French sizes (FRA/BEL)
Chest / Suit sizes are calculated as follows:
 * Standard Size Code = ( Chest Circumference cm + 1) / 2

Germanic sizes (AT/DE/NL/DK/SE/FI)
Chest / Suit sizes are calculated as follows:
 * Standard Size Code (Normale) = ( Chest Circumference cm – 1) / 2
 * Short / Stocky (Kurz / Untersetzt) = Standard Size Code / 2
 * Portly (Bauchgrößen) = Standard Size Code + 1
 * Tall / Lean (Schlank / Lang) = (Standard Size Code - 1) * 2