Asian Clothing Sizes Explained

Every Asian size is a body measurement

Western sizes are labels, a US 4 or a UK 12, with the body they fit hidden in a chart. The Japanese, Korean and Chinese systems do the opposite: the size is the body. A Chinese 160/84A states the height and bust outright. A Japanese number is the bust at a reference height, with letters for how tall and how broad. A Korean 55 began as the last digits of a height and a bust. Read the number and you have the wearer's measurements, which is why an Asian size is a surer guide to fit than a Western letter, once you know how to read it.

Japan: the odd number 9 plus a letter code

Japanese women's sizes follow JIS L 4005, where an odd number is the bust in centimetres at a standard height of 158 cm: 7 is a 80 cm bust, 9 is 83, 11 is 86, 13 is 89. A 9 is the most common adult size, a bust of 83 cm, close to a Western EU 36 and US 4 in our catalog. Two letters can follow. The first is the figure type, from the hips relative to the bust, where A is the standard proportion and Y, AB and B run slimmer or fuller. The second is height: R is the regular 158 cm, P a petite 150 and T a tall 166. So 9AR reads as a bust 83, standard hips, average height, the statistical middle of the Japanese women's range.

Korea: the old 44 to 88 and the new centimetres

Korea's numeric sizes, 44, 55, 66, 77 and 88, were set in 1981 from a 1979 national survey of about 1,700 people. The average Korean woman then stood 155 cm with an 85 cm bust, and the last digits of each, a 5 and a 5, gave the base size 55. Each step up adds about 5 cm of height and 3 cm of bust, so 44 is the smallest and 88 the largest. A 55 fits a bust near 85 cm, a Western EU 36 and US 4. The scale was withdrawn in 1999, when the national body found the population had outgrown it and recommended labelling in centimetres, yet 44, 55 and 66 survive across the retail market beside the newer centimetre labels, where a women's top may be marked 85, 90 or 95 for the bust it fits, so a Korean rack can show both a 55 and a 90 for the same garment.

China: height over bust and a body-type letter

China's GB/T 1335 writes the size as height over bust with a letter, so 160/84A is a 160 cm height, an 84 cm bust and body type A, close to a Western EU 36 and US 4. The letter grades the build by the difference between bust and waist: Y is the slimmest, with a 19 to 24 cm drop, A the standard 14 to 18 cm, B a fuller 9 to 13 cm and C the heaviest at 4 to 8 cm. Most garments on the Chinese market use A, and the common run is 155/80A as a small, 160/84A as a medium and 165/88A as a large. Men's clothing uses the same format around the chest, so a 170/88A is a 170 cm height with an 88 cm chest and a standard build, where type A is a 12 to 16 cm chest-to-waist drop.

Why Asian sizes run one to two sizes small

The gap is not that Asian clothing is cut mean; it is that each system was built around a smaller standard body. The Japanese 9, Korean 55 and Chinese 84 all sit at a bust near 84 cm, which our catalog places at a US 4. A Western medium is drawn around a larger body, a bust closer to 92 cm, a US 8. So an Asian medium meets a Western small, and a shopper who takes their home letter across ends up a size or two short. The fix is to match the body, not the letter: your bust in centimetres against the Asian number, which is that measurement already.

A quick decode table

What the standard women's size means in each country:

Western equivalents are the nearest women's size to that bust in our catalog, and clothing varies by cut, so treat them as a starting point.

How to buy across the gap

Measure your bust and height in centimetres, since that is the language all three systems speak. Match the bust to the number, not the letter: a Chinese 84 or a Japanese 9 wants an 84 cm bust, a Korean 55 an 85 cm bust. Where a body-type or height letter is offered, pick the one nearest your own proportions, and check the garment's own centimetre measurements before ordering, because a top and a jacket in the same size are cut with different room. Going the other way, a Western US 8, a bust near 92 cm, reads as a Japanese 15, a Korean 77 and a Chinese 165/92A, each the same body in its own code. The body measuring guide covers the readings, and the women's clothing charts convert a Western size. Asian shoe sizes work on a different principle, the foot length in millimetres, covered in the shoe-label guide.

Frequently asked questions

What does Korean clothing size 55 mean?

The standard Korean women's size, built for a bust near 85 cm and a height around 155 cm, close to a Western EU 36 and US 4. It dates from a 1981 survey where those were the average measurements.

What is Chinese size 160/84A?

A height of 160 cm, a bust of 84 cm and body type A, the standard build. It is the common Chinese medium, close to a Western US 4.

What is Japanese size 9AR?

A bust of 83 cm (the 9), a standard hip proportion (A) and regular height of 158 cm (R). It is the most common adult women's size in Japan, close to a US 4.

Why do Asian clothes run so small?

Each system was drawn around a smaller standard body, a bust near 84 cm rather than the 92 cm of a Western medium, so an Asian medium meets a Western small.

What is a Korean 66 in US?

A Korean 66 is a bust near 88 cm, one step above the 55, close to a Western US 6. Korean sizes run one to two below the US number.