Almost every sizing complaint in our order log traces back to the same two minutes of work that nobody did. The buyer read the letter — M, L, XL — picked the one that matched their usual label, and skipped the centimetre columns underneath. On streetwear t-shirts sold through agent warehouses, the letter is the least reliable number on the page.
Read the flat measurements first
A size chart on an agent listing describes the garment, not your body. Lay a tape on the flat tee and four numbers do nearly all the work:
- Chest width (pit to pit): edge to edge, roughly 2.5 cm below the armhole seam. Double it for circumference.
- Body length: high point of shoulder (HPS) to hem, or centre back (CB) to hem. CB generally adds 2–3 cm, so check which one the listing used.
- Shoulder: seam to seam across the back. It only means something on a set-in sleeve — a dropped shoulder puts the seam halfway down the arm.
- Hem width: the bottom edge, seam to seam. A hem close to the chest width signals a boxy cut; a narrower hem signals a tapered one.
A typical streetwear chart, read properly
| Measurement (flat, cm) | M | L | XL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chest width (pit to pit) | 54 | 56.5 | 59 |
| Body length (HPS) | 70 | 72 | 74 |
| Shoulder | 52 | 54 | 56 |
| Sleeve | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| Hem width | 53 | 55.5 | 58 |
The M here is a 108 cm chest. On a 101 cm chest that is 7 cm of ease — regular fit, wearable over a shirt, not oversized. The L gives 113 cm and 12 cm of ease, which reads relaxed. If you want the shoulder seam sitting 6 cm past your own, that is the XL at 118 cm.
Watch what happens to length while you climb: 70 cm to 74 cm across three sizes. If you are around 190 cm and sizing up for width, the chest and shoulder grow faster than the body does, which is exactly how a sized-up tee ends up short through the torso. Compare the body length against a tee you already own before you commit.
Half-chest or full chest? The doubling trap
Charts mix conventions. Some list half-chest (the flat width), others the full circumference. The tell is the number itself: a flat half-chest above 100 cm would describe a 200 cm garment. Figures in the 45–65 cm range are half-chest; 90–130 cm are circumference. Getting this wrong moves you one to two sizes, so run the doubling maths and check the result is wearable before you order.
Ease, tolerance and the exchange window
Ease is the gap between garment circumference and your chest. Slim runs about 5–10 cm, regular 10–15 cm, oversized 20 cm and up. Then subtract production tolerance: knit tees are cut to roughly 1–2 cm on chest and 1.5 cm on length, so two pieces from the same run are not identical. Measure three pieces before you conclude anything about a run.
If the warehouse offers QC photos, request a flat shot with the tape visible across the chest and down the body. Our desk treats a tape reading 2 cm or more off the published chart as grounds for an exchange before the parcel leaves the warehouse — an exchange fee is a fraction of the cost and delay of a return from Rotterdam.
Cotton shrinks, and it shrinks lengthways
Knitted cotton jersey relaxes with water and heat. Mill specs for cotton jersey put first-wash shrinkage at roughly 3–8%, with most of the movement inside the first three washes. A laundering study on 100% cotton single jersey recorded about 11% length reduction after 20 cycles — enough to change how a size L behaves. Add 2 cm of length headroom on any unwashed cotton tee, wash cold and hang dry. Width tends to spring back with wear. Length does not.
The fit reference that surprised us
The Polo Ralph Lauren Classic Fit tee in the product catalog is a useful benchmark because the brand publishes its numbers: size M measures 112 cm at the chest, 51 cm across the shoulder and 72.5 cm in body length. That 112 cm chest is roughly 56 cm flat — almost the same as the L in the market chart above, one size above where most buyers would start. Classic Fit is the roomiest of the brand's silhouettes; Active Fit is about 2.5 cm trimmer at the chest and shorter in the body, and Custom Slim roughly 6 cm trimmer.
If you wear a European or US M and you order a Classic Fit M expecting your usual fit, you get around 11 cm of ease and a fuller sleeve that falls closer to the elbow. Some buyers want exactly that. If you do not, order down a size.
“Letters are marketing. Centimetres are facts.”
— Garment measuring glossary, Sunday (teamsunday.com)
What to write down before you order
- Measure a tee you already like — flat, relaxed tape, no stretching. Record chest width, body length and shoulder.
- Match those numbers to the chart in centimetres, ignoring the letter entirely.
- Check whether length is HPS or CB, and add 2 cm for first-wash shrinkage.
- Confirm half-chest versus full circumference, then cross-check the QC tape photo once the item reaches the warehouse.
Two minutes with a tape measure is the cheapest insurance in this hobby. It removes the only sizing risk that a warehouse exchange cannot fix after the parcel has already flown.