The first time I tried on a jacket here, the tag said 88 and I nearly walked out. Turns out that’s not a joke about my size, it’s just how Korea labels clothes. Numbers instead of letters, and the numbers don’t map to anything you already know. Shoes are worse, they’re in millimeters, measuring the actual length of your foot.
None of it’s complicated once you’ve seen the chart once. Here’s the actual conversion, plus one thing worth knowing before you shop: Korean sizing tends to run a size smaller than what you’re used to, especially in women’s clothing. If you’re between sizes, size up.
Korean size converter
Pick what you are buying, then the size you already wear at home. The Korean number is what the tag says and what you ask for in the shop.
Approximate. Sizing varies by brand — when in doubt, check the item’s own size chart.
What is my size in Korea?
Find your usual size in the chart above, and if you land between two, take the bigger one. That covers most of it. But people usually arrive here with one specific number already in their head, so here are the ones I get asked about most.
- US 4 is a Korean 55 (S)
- US 6 is also a 55, though anything fitted will want a 66
- US 8 is a Korean 66 (M)
- US 10 is a 66, sometimes a 77
- US 12–14 is a Korean 77 (L)
- EU 38 is a 55, EU 40 and EU 42 are a 66, and EU 44 is where 77 starts
If those were shoe sizes rather than clothes, it’s a different chart entirely, because Korea labels shoes in millimetres. EU 38 is 240mm, EU 40 is about 250mm, EU 42 is about 270mm. US women’s 8 is 240mm; US men’s 8 is 260mm.
Korean XXL size
In women’s clothing, Korean XXL is 99. In menswear it’s 110. Those two aren’t the same kind of number, which is the part that trips everyone up.
Men’s sizes are the chest measurement in centimetres, so a 110 is a 110cm chest — about 43 inches. A 105 (XL) is roughly 41 inches, a 115 (3XL) about 45. If you know your chest in inches, multiply by 2.54 and round to the nearest 5, and that’s your Korean number.
Women’s numbers aren’t measurements. A 99 isn’t 99 centimetres of anything, it’s a legacy code, so there’s no inch conversion to do. Go by the chart instead: 99 lines up with a US 20–22, UK 24–26, EU 52–54.
One thing worth knowing before you go looking. Plenty of Korean labels simply stop at 88 or 99, and the ones that do carry bigger often keep it online only. Department store floors, Uniqlo and the international chains are where you’ll actually find XXL and up on a rack.
Korean XL, and what a “100” means
Korean XL is 88 in women’s tops, which is a US 16–18, and 105 in menswear, which is a 105cm chest and a straight US XL.
100 is the one that causes arguments, because it means two different things. On a men’s tag it’s a large — a 100cm chest, roughly 39 inches. On a women’s tag it’s the size above 99, so XXXL. Nine times out of ten, a tag reading 100 is menswear.
Are Korean sizes smaller?
On paper the labels line up with what you’d expect, and that’s what the chart above is. In the fitting room they don’t. The same nominal size is cut narrower here, and it shows up in specific places: shoulders and upper arms on women’s tops, the seat and thigh on trousers, and the inseam, which is cut for a shorter leg.
So yes, and the fix is the boring one — size up. The exception is shoulders. If a top fits everywhere but pulls across the shoulders, that’s the cut rather than the size, and the next size up usually won’t fix it.
The cut is only half of it, though. Free size racks, where the bigger sizes are actually stocked, and the point where shoe sizes simply run out are the things that catch people out once they’re standing in the shop. I went through all of that in why you’re suddenly an XXL in Korea.
A few things worth knowing
Fitting rooms exist almost everywhere, even at small stalls in places like Dongdaemun, so ask 입어봐도 돼요? (ibeobwado dwaeyo? — “may I try this on?”) before committing. Staff are used to it.
Shoe sizes in mm sound intimidating but they’re just your foot length. If you don’t know it, most department stores have a sizing chart you can stand on, or you can measure at home and round up 5mm if you’re between sizes.
Streetwear brands and smaller boutiques tend to run smaller than the department store chains. If you’re shopping somewhere like Hongdae or Seongsu, sizing up once is rarely a bad call.
Once you’ve got your size sorted, actually talking to the person ringing you up is the next hurdle. I put together the real phrases for shopping, restaurants, cafes, and taxis, worth a look before you go.
Once you know your size, the next question is usually “wait, is that actually expensive?” Korean prices look bigger than they are, I put together a quick won converter with live rates for the currencies most visitors use.
Prices in Korea come with their own sale signs, “1+1,” “정가/세일가 (jeongga / seilga — list price and sale price),” percentage stickers that don’t always mean what you’d guess. I put together a sale price calculator that works out the final price in won and your currency, plus a quick guide to what those signs actually mean.
Reading a Korean tag: what the number on it means
Most of this page assumes you know your size at home and want the Korean equivalent. Plenty of people arrive from the other direction: you are standing in a shop in Seoul holding a shirt whose tag says 95, and you want to know whether that is your size. Here is that direction.
If the number is small and doubled — 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99 — it is a women’s garment. 44 is roughly a US 0–2, 55 a US 4–6, 66 a US 8–10, 77 a US 12–14, 88 a US 16–18, and 99 a US 20–22. The scale is easy to misread because the numbers climb in nines and measure nothing you can picture. They are labels, not centimetres.
If the number is a round figure in the nineties or hundreds — 90, 95, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120 — it is a chest measurement in centimetres, and it is usually a men’s top. 90 is a small, 95 a medium, 100 a large, 105 an XL, 110 an XXL, 120 a 4XL. So a tag reading 95 is a men’s medium, and a tag reading 100 is a large rather than the extra-large the big number suggests.
For European sizes the women’s line runs roughly 44 = EU 32–34, 55 = 36–38, 66 = 40–42, 77 = 44–46, 88 = 48–50, and the men’s chest numbers map to EU 46 through 58 across 90 to 120.
And if the number is in the two hundreds — 240, 255, 270 — you are holding a shoe. That is the length of the foot in millimetres, which is the one part of Korean sizing that makes immediate sense the first time you see it.
When the tag just says FREE
A large share of Korean women’s clothing, especially online, is not sold in sizes at all. The tag says FREE, or 원사이즈 (won-saijeu, “one size”), and that is the whole size chart. It is not a generous size and it is not an average of the others — it is a decision not to make sizes.
In practice a free-size garment is cut somewhere in the 44 to 55 range, which is roughly a US 0 to 6, with a bust around 82 to 88 cm. Korean fashion academics put it more bluntly: free size here is a US small. The reason is inventory rather than fit. Producing one size instead of four means far less is left unsold at the end of a season, and a 2014 study in The Korean Fashion and Textile Research Journal found that women in the 55 to 66 range are the largest part of the market — so that is where the single size landed.
The part that surprises visitors is that width is usually not the problem. Free-size pieces are often cut loose or oversized through the body, so a US 8 gets into plenty of them. What does not stretch is length. Sleeves, hems and total length are drafted for someone around 160 cm, so a dress that fits fine across the shoulders finishes several centimetres higher than the photo suggests on a taller frame, and an oversized jumper quietly becomes a normal-length one.
So if you are a US 8 or above, treat FREE as a fitted size in disguise, and read the numbers rather than the label. Korean listings almost always publish 실측 (silcheuk) — the garment’s own measurements — under headings like 총장 (chongjang, total length), 어깨 (eokkae, shoulder), 가슴단면 (gaseum-danmyeon, half chest) and 소매길이 (somae-giri, sleeve). Half chest doubled is the garment’s chest. Lay a piece you already own flat, measure it the same way and compare. That comparison will tell you more than any size label on this page.
Size 4, 6, 8, 38, 40 and 42 in Korea
“What is size 8 in Korea?” has two correct answers, and which one you want depends on whose 8 you are. American and British womenswear both use small even numbers, but the two scales are offset from each other by four, so a US 8 and a UK 8 are two different bodies. Korean labels sit on a third scale again. Here is each of the numbers people actually ask about.
Size 4 in Korea. A US 4 is a Korean 55, the size most Korean shops treat as their default. A UK 4 is much smaller — a Korean 44, which is the smallest size most brands bother to make.
Size 6 in Korea. A US 6 is also a 55, because 55 covers US 4 to 6. A UK 6 is a 44. This is the pair that catches people out most often, since a UK 6 and a US 6 land two whole Korean sizes apart.
Size 8 in Korea. A US 8 is a Korean 66. A UK 8 is a Korean 55. So if you are a US 8 and something labelled 55 looks like it ought to fit, it will not — 55 is a UK 8, one full size below you.
Size 38 in Korea. That is European sizing, and a EU 38 is a Korean 55 in clothing. Not an 88: the two numbers look like they should be related and they are not, because Korean numbers are an internal code while EU numbers come from body measurements. In shoes, a EU 38 is a 240 to 245.
Size 40 in Korea. A EU 40 is a Korean 66 in clothing, and a 255 in shoes.
Size 42 in Korea. A EU 42 is a Korean 66 in clothing — the same 66 as a EU 40, because one Korean size spans two European ones. In shoes a EU 42 is a 270. This is the number that produces the most bewildered messages, because 42 and 270 look nothing like each other.
Size 100 in Korea. This one depends on which department you are standing in. On a men’s top, 100 is a chest measurement in centimetres, so it is a large — roughly a US or UK L, a EU 50. In womenswear the ladder runs 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99 and then 100, where 100 is an XXXL and has nothing to do with centimetres. Same three digits, opposite ends of the range.
Size 9 in Korea. Almost always a shoe question. A women’s US 9 is a 255 and a men’s US 9 is a 270; our Korean shoe size converter handles the rest.
The rule underneath all of it: Korean clothing numbers are not measurements, and they are not the same kind of number as a US or EU size, so there is nothing to calculate. Look yours up once, remember it, and when you fall between two, take the bigger one. Korean cuts run narrower than Western ones at the same nominal size, and a garment that is slightly loose reads as intentional here in a way that a tight one does not.