Dress sizes when you shop from US and EU sites
Last updated: 12 October 2026
How UK clothing and shoe labels line up with US and EU numbers, where the charts disagree, and what to measure before you order.
Start with a measuring tape, not the size you usually order
A UK 12 is not a promise that a US or EU garment in the “matching” number will fit. Brands cut differently, and several numbering systems share the same words. The conversions on this site are published charts, used so you can read a label. They are not a fitting. If the shop prints a garment measurement, that measurement beats the size number. If it only prints a number, convert the number and then check the bust, waist and hip it claims.
Ireland uses the same clothing and shoe sizes as the UK. A chart labelled UK/Irish is the same scale. Ordering from a British shop to an Irish address does not need a conversion. Ordering from a US or continental shop does. No customs-duty percentage is given here. Duty depends on the goods, the origin and the value, and a guessed rate would be worse than none.
Women’s clothing: UK, US, and two different Europes
The women’s chart used here is the Unit Juggler dress table. UK 12 lines up with US 8, EU 38, FR 40, IT 44 and AU 12. The body row attached to that size is a bust of 88–91 cm, a waist of 72–75 cm and hips of 96–98 cm. AU clothing matches the UK number on this chart, so an Australian 12 is not a US 12.
The EU column is the numbering used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. The FR column is France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal. They are not the same number. UK 8 is US 4, EU 34 and FR 36. Some shops, including ASOS on its published size chart, print the French number under the heading “European”, so a UK 8 is shown as EU 36. That 36 is the FR column, not the DE/NL column. If a French brand and a German brand both say 38, they are not claiming the same UK size. UK 12 is EU 38 and also FR 40.
Use the women’s clothing size converter and read the row, including the centimetres. A US plus size is a separate column from the straight US number. Ordering the straight US size when the garment is cut as a plus size is a common reason a converted size still comes back.
Men’s jackets and trousers
Men’s tailoring on this chart is measured in inches. The UK number and the US number are the chest or the waist. A 40-inch chest is UK 40 and US 40. The EU jacket number is the chest plus 10, so 40 becomes EU 50, which is 101.6 cm. A 38-inch chest is EU 48.
Trousers use a different offset. The EU number is the waist in inches plus 16. A 32-inch waist is EU 48. A 34-inch waist is EU 50. A jacket in EU 50 and a pair of trousers in EU 50 are not the same garment measurement. The men’s clothing converter asks which you are converting so the two offsets are not mixed. Letter sizes such as M and L are not on that inch chart. If the shop only offers letters, use the garment’s chest measurement in centimetres.
Shoes, including the EU number that moves by one
Women’s shoes on the ASOS chart used here run US = UK + 2 and EU = UK + 33. UK 6 is US 8 and EU 39, with a foot length of 246 mm. UK 8 is EU 41 and US 10, with a foot length of 262 mm. Some shops print the EU number one higher than that chart. If the product page also gives a millimetre length, trust the length.
Men’s shoes are US = UK + 1. Published EU charts use both UK + 33 and UK + 34, so the converter shows both. UK 9 is US 10, and the EU pair is 42 and 43. The foot length on the barleycorn guide is 271 mm. A seller who only prints one EU number may be using either convention. Measure the foot in millimetres at the end of the day and compare it with the length, not only with the EU integer.
The women’s shoe converter and the men’s shoe converter are the pages for those rows. Children’s shoes are not a scaled-down adult chart. Age is a wide range. Use the children’s shoe converter and a foot measurement.
Bras and rings are not dress sizes
A dress conversion does not produce a bra size. UK, US and EU cups step differently after DD, and the band is a separate number. The bra size converter keeps the band and the cup together, and it lists sister sizes. Guessing from a dress size is how a band that is too loose gets paired with a cup that is too small.
Rings are letters in the UK, numbers in the US, and millimetres of inner circumference in the EU system. The ring size converter follows the BS 6820 step for the letters. A jeweller’s measure of the finger you will wear it on is better than a conversion from a size you remember. Fingers change with temperature.
A practical order before you pay
Write down the body measurement the shop is selling, in centimetres or inches, and convert only the unit if you need to. If the shop has no measurement, convert the label with the chart that matches the country, and remember the FR and EU split. Then read the returns page. A converted size that is one step off is cheap to fix when the return postage is paid, and expensive when it is not.
The page on buying from US and EU shops collects the same warnings next to the converters. Charts disagree, and a brand’s own size guide overrides a generic table. If two pages on this site ever disagreed, the converter’s row is the one the tests check.