Women’s Clothing Size Chart: Bust, Waist and Hip by Size

Two dresses arrive in a size 14 and one of them will not zip. You ordered the number you always wear, and the number turned out to mean two different bodies. Below is a chart to measure yourself against when a brand does not publish one, the plus chart alongside it, the rows four retailers actually print, and which brands stock the range your numbers land in.

The chart

Measure bust, waist and hip, then find the row where your largest measurement fits. These are the generic US women’s sizes, the ones brands drift away from but start near.

Size	Alpha	Bust	Waist	Hip
0	XS	32 in	24 in	34.5 in
2	XS	33	25	35.5
4	S	34	26	36.5
6	S	35	27	37.5
8	M	36	28	38.5
10	M	37	29	39.5
12	L	38.5	30.5	41
14	L	40	32	42.5
16	XL	41.5	33.5	44
18	XL	43	35	45.5

And the plus chart from the same source, which is a separate scale rather than a continuation:

Size	Alpha	Bust	Waist	Hip
12W	0X	40 in	33 in	42 in
14W	1X	42	35	44
16W	1X	44	37	46
18W	2X	46	39	48
20W	2X	48	41	50
22W	3X	50	43	52
24W	3X	52	45	54
26W	4X	54	47	56
28W	4X	56	49	58
30W	5X	58	51	60
32W	5X	60	53	62

Put a 16 next to a 14W: the bust is close, 41.5 against 42, but the W size carries an inch and a half more at the waist. That is the difference the two tables are drawn for, and the same source spells it out: an XL “follows regular proportions” while a 1X is cut “with adjustments for wider areas like armholes and waist.”

Take the three numbers

The tape goes where the EN 13402 definitions put it, because that is what pattern makers work from.

• Bust: the fullest point, tape level all the way round, over the bra you will wear with the garment. The standard’s wording is “moderate tension over a brassiere that is expected to be worn underneath.”
• Waist: the natural waistline, between the top of the hip bones and the lower ribs, breathing normally. If you wear trousers lower than that, take that measurement too and label it.
• Hip: the fullest point of the hips and bottom, feet together.

Write all three down in inches and centimetres. Seasalt and Finisterre, two of the British charts below, lead with centimetres.

What four retailers actually print

The generic chart is a starting point. These rows are what the brands themselves cut to, copied from their size guides in September 2026.

Brand and size	Bust	Waist	Hip
Democracy tops XL (14 to 16)	41.5 in	33.5 in	43.5 in
Democracy tops 1X (14 to 16)	43	37	47.5
Democracy bottoms 14		33.5	43.5
Democracy bottoms 14W		35	45.5
Nobody’s Child UK 16 (US 12)	42	35	45
Finisterre UK 16 (USA 12)	40 to 42	32 to 33	42 to 43
Seasalt UK 16 (US 12)	104 cm (41 in)	87 cm (34 in)	114 cm (45 in)

Three things to take from that table:

• The same number is two garments. Democracy prints XL and 1X both as 14 to 16, and the 1X is three and a half inches bigger at the waist and four at the hip. If your waist is 36, the XL will not close and the 1X will.
• A UK 16 is three different UK 16s. Nobody’s Child cuts it for a 42-inch bust, Finisterre for 40 to 42, Seasalt for 41. The label converts to a US 12 at all three; the inches decide which one fits.
• Letters are the least portable label of all. Universal Standard labels its sizes in pairs, XS for 10 to 12, S for 14 to 16, M for 18 to 20, L for 22 to 24, up to 4XL for 38 to 40. Democracy’s XS is a 0 and its L is a 10 to 12. An L at one is a 22, at the other a 10.

Why nothing lines up

There is no mandatory clothing size standard in the United States. A government sizing guide existed, was downgraded to voluntary, and “was abolished altogether in 1983.” ASTM publishes body-measurement tables that a brand may use as a baseline, one for the Misses figure in sizes 00 to 20 and a separate one for the Plus figure in 14W to 40W, and nothing obliges anyone to follow either. The number on the label is the brand’s decision, which is why the rows above disagree and why two size 10 dresses “may have grossly different dimensions.”

Which brands publish your row

Once you know your inches, the useful question is who cuts for them and prints it. All four below publish the chart and sell in the range, with September 2026 list prices.

• Universal Standard, sizes 00 to 40 in one run, labelled in the pairs above. The Zadie Liquid Jersey Gathered Dress in black lists at $148 across all eleven size bands.
• Good American, jeans in a single size run rather than a separate plus line, 00 to 22 Plus on the Good Legs Straight Jeans, which list at $98 and print the inseam in the description, and up to 32 Plus on its petite and long straight styles.
• Democracy, misses 0 to 18, petite 0P to 18P, plus 14W to 24W, with the waist and hip for every one of those sizes on one page. Its “Ab”solution High Rise Straight Leg Jeans list at $78.
• Warp + Weft, plus jeans in 14W to 24W from $57, each style in one stated inseam.

Before you order

1. Let the largest measurement choose the row. Too small at the hip cannot be fixed; a loose waist can.
2. Check which measurement the garment is cut around. Trousers and skirts follow the waist and hip, dresses and tops the bust. The dress version of this lookup is in how to find your dress size.
3. Near 14 to 20, check both tables. That is where the misses and plus scales overlap in number only.
4. Read the length option in inches, not as a word. The brand inseams are in how to measure inseam for women.
5. On a British site, convert the label first, then read the row: uk size 6 to us.

The rest of the measuring guides are in size guides.

Where these numbers come from

The two generic charts are the Blitzresults women’s size tables, last updated in April 2024; the brand rows, size ranges and prices are copied from each retailer’s own size guide and product pages on 19 September 2026. Universal Standard’s letter-to-number pairs are the size labels on its product listings.

Frequently asked questions

What size is a 38-inch bust in women's clothing?

On the generic US chart a 38-inch bust with a 30-inch waist and 40-inch hip is a size 12, or an L. At Democracy the same bust sits between its M and L tops, and at Nobody's Child it falls between the UK 12 and 14 rows. Use the chart on the page you are buying from, and let the largest of your three measurements pick the row.

Is a 14W the same as a 14?

No. On Democracy's bottoms chart a 14 is cut for a 33.5-inch waist and 43.5-inch hip, a 14W for 35 and 45.5. Plus sizes come from a separate table drawn for a fuller figure, and the numbers overlapping from 14 to 20 does not make the garments the same.

Why is an L a 10 at one brand and a 22 at another?

Because a letter marks a position inside one brand's own range. Democracy's L is a 10 to 12, Seasalt's L is a UK 16 to 18, Universal Standard's L is a 22 to 24. Letters cannot be converted between brands; compare inches instead.