About These Vintage Size Guides
Vintage clothing sizing is a patchwork of national standards, era-specific conventions, and manufacturer quirks. A garment labelled "size 14" in 1955 America, 1970s France, and 1980s Soviet Russia can all mean something entirely different — and none of them match a modern size 14. This site exists to decode that complexity.
Converters vs. Charts vs. Guides
The size converters are interactive tools — select your size and region, and get immediate equivalents with body measurements. The size charts are printable reference tables you can keep open while shopping. The fitting and buying guides answer the harder question: even when you know the number, does it mean the garment will fit your body?
EU, UK, Russian and Soviet Sizing
European sizing for clothing runs roughly 30–34 units higher than US sizes. British sizing historically ran 2 units below US for women. Soviet sizing under GOST used half the chest measurement in centimetres as the garment number — so a Soviet men's jacket marked "48" corresponds to a 96 cm chest. All of these systems changed subtly across decades, which is why this site breaks conversions down by era wherever possible.
How to Use These Tools
Start by identifying the garment type (jacket, pants, hat, shoes) and the country of origin from the label. Use the relevant converter to get a modern US or EU equivalent, then cross-reference against your own body measurements using the fitting guides. When buying vintage online without trying on, always compare measurements rather than size numbers — the number is a starting point, not a guarantee.
Military and Uniform Sizing
Soviet and Eastern European military surplus is among the most popular vintage on the market. These garments use strictly standardised GOST sizing with size codes combining chest measurement, height and sometimes waist. The military size guides and converter on this site cover these three-part codes and map them to modern Western equivalents for jackets, trousers, boots and hats.