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Converting Asian Size to US Size for E-commerce businesses

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Running a successful online clothing venture is not just about stocking your inventory, listing your products, then waiting for an order. The minor details, such as understanding and storing different styles and sizes – especially sizes – will greatly influence your company. When consumers receive the wrong size products, they will expect refunds, returns, and customer policy. There are many significant challenges as e-commerce companies offer clothes in one area like Asia to consumers familiar with apparel styles in another. When you run a retail store as an eCommerce company, you must learn how to convert Asian sizes into U.S. sizes.

This article will go through the idea of size conversion, learn how Asian sizes differ from the US sizes, and how you can manually convert Asian sizes to the US sizes to meet your customers’ expectations.

About Asian Size to US Size conversion

Sizing is the first important element in clothing ventures - and as an e-commerce store owner, you should understand the significance of size conversion and the advantages it brings to your business. The challenge is that there’s no official sizing system, and manufacturers usually make clothes based on local and regional sizing. This is where problems blow in.

For example, Asian sizes are usually much smaller than European/American sizes, so when you source products from Asia to sell in the European/American market, it’s necessary to convert those sizes to fit your target audience’s measurements.

The importance of Size Conversion to E-commerce businesses

When shopping overseas, it is effortless to order the wrong clothing size. That’s why you need to provide your customers with precise information about size conversion to guarantee them the best shopping experience.

Meet customers’ expectations

Every store owner wants happy customers. When a customer makes a clothing purchase in an e-commerce store, they will surely have certain expectations from your services (shipping time, customer policy, etc.) and, most importantly, the product. Happy customers get what they have expected, and for a clothing product, the sizing should be as precise as written in the description and fit the customers perfectly with no defects. By supplying your consumers with the exact size details, you can help decide their needs’ suitability and save their time.

Avoid returns and customer inconvenience

When you source products from Asia to the US market without converting the product sizes, your customers will likely buy the wrong-sized items. The scenario will surely frustrate them, and they will ask for a return as a result. If your return policy guarantees full benefits for your customers, it may not influence their overall shopping experience.

However, it’s always troublesome for a business owner to deal with returns as you will have to go through a whole process just to handle one order. Not to mention that returning items to the suppliers may be expensive, which earns you no overall profit. Or you might have to provide a refund if the item is not returnable.

As I’ve mentioned, receiving product returns might not be the worst-case - there’s still a chance to win back your customers’ trust if your return policy is generous and your customer service is in time. The worse scenario is that these wrong sized items can deter the customers from coming back to your store again, which is a big minus to your business growth. Therefore, you must ensure that your customers are informed about the size charts to get the right-sized items.

Be prepared in case the suppliers don’t provide size conversion

Sometimes an exact conversion does not exist. In such situations, you can seek to log precise measurements of the product, and you can check the inventory records, and the consumers can determine if the item is correct for them. If you can’t find measuring details on the product, ask whether the manufacturer is the safest one to deal with and whether the item is correct for your shop. Maybe an alternative product for which you can receive sizing details would be a safer choice would pose fewer problems.

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How to convert Asian size to US size

Converting Asian sizes to US sizes with your suppliers

The first and foremost thing to do is to get in contact with your suppliers. Your suppliers usually must have a size and measurement chart of all the items they make, so you should email them and order an Asian-to-American conversion chart. When you have the size chart, you will find that it’s quick and convenient to convert your products from Asian sizes to American sizes. If you are using AliExpress or Shopify, you will be grateful as most suppliers on these platforms are willing to give you a sizing chart of their products, which makes your size conversion from Asian to American more seamless.

You could find yourself in a little binding if you cannot find the size charts for an item you’re interested in stocking. You may simply search for the same or related product on other e-commerce websites to solve this issue. They might have a size chart on their page, which will make it easier for you to deal with such a situation.

Converting Asian sizes to US sizes in your store

Once you’ve obtained the right size charts that possibly help you proceed with the Asian-to-American size conversion, you should tabulate those details and display them in how your customers can easily access them. As a store owner, you’re responsible for ensuring that both your prospective and returning customers can get the correct information to make the desired purchase.

Below are several common characteristics of area-specific size structures:

In China sizes, clothes are labeled in two numbers, although different sizing standards are used to measure two different parts of the body. For example, a Chinese size of 88-90 is also 165-170, or 36-37, and it’s equivalent to the US’s women 4-6.
Sizings in Japan usually consist of a system of letters and numbers, such as S-36 converted into the international standard of “XS”, which is extra small for American people.
In Korea, general numbers are used for sizing guidelines. For example, 90 in Korea is “XS” for the international standard for men’s clothes.
U.K. clothing sizes are usually one or two sizes bigger than the U.S. sizes.

Asian sizes to US sizes charts examples

Creating sizing charts for your online shop provides your consumers with valuable details they can use when choosing the best clothes to buy. You have to ensure that your size charts contain clear information – or else they will just be useless.

Here are some examples of Asian-to-American size charts to make your size conversion easier.

Clothes

Women’s clothes

International	US	UK	China	Japan	Korea
XS	4	6	160-165/ 84-86	S 36 5	44
XS	6	8	160/165 84/86	S 36 7	44
S	8	10	165/170 88-90	M 38 9	55
S	10	12	165/170 88-90	M 38 9	55
M	12	14	167-172/ 92-96	L 40 11	66
M	16	16	167-172/ 92-96	L 40 11	66
L	18	18	168-173/ 98-102	LL, XL 42 13	77
L	20	20	168-173/ 98-102	LL, XL 42 13	77
XL	22	22	170-176/ 106-110	XXL 3L 15	88
XL	24	24	170-176/ 106-110	XXL 3L 15	88
XXL	26	26		4L 17
XXL	28	28		5L 19

Women’s clothes size charts by Blitzresults

Men’s clothes

International	US/UK	China	Japan	Korea
XS	14		S 36	90
XS	14.5		S 37	90
S	15	165 88-90	M 39	95
S	15-15.5	165 88-90	M 39	95
M	15.5-16	170 96-98	L 40	100
M	16	170 96-98	L 41	100
L	16.5	175 108-110	LL XL 42	105
L	17	175 108-110	43	105
XL	17.5	180 118-122	44	110
XL	17.5	180 118-122	44	110
XXL		185 126-130
XXL		185 126-130

Men’s clothes size chart by Blitzresults

Children’s clothing sizes

UK	European	US	Australia
12m	80 cm	12-18 m
18m	80-86 cm	18-24m	18m
24m	86-92 cm	23/24m	2
2-3	92-98 cm	2T	3
3-4	98-104 cm	4T	4
4-5	104-110 cm	5	5
5-6	110-116 cm	6	6
6-7	116-122 cm	6X-7	7
7-8	122-128 cm	7 to 8	8
8-9	128-134 cm	9 to 10	9
9-10	134-140 cm	10	10
10-11	140-146 cm	11	11
11-12	146-152 cm	14	12

Children’s clothing sizes by Tripsavvy

Shoes

Women’s shoes

US	UK	China	Japan	Korea
3.5		35	21.5	220
4		35	22	220
5	2.5	35.5	22.5	225
5.5	3	36	23	230
6	3.5	37	23.5	235
6.5	4	38	24	240
7	4.5	39	24.5	245
7.5	5	40	25	250
8	5.5	40.5	25	250
9	7	42	26	260
9.5	7.5	42	26	265
10	8	44	27	270
10.5	9.5	45	27.5
11	10.5	46	28
12	11.5	47	28.8
12.5	13	49	29

Women’s shoe size chart by Blitzresults

Men’s shoes

US	UK	China	Japan	Korea
5	4	27	23.5	235
5.5	4.5	39	24	240
6	5.5	40	24.5	245
6.5	6.5	41	25	250
7.5	7	42	25.5	255
8	7.25	43	26	260
8.5	7.75	44	26.5	265
9	8	45	27	270
9.5	8.5	46	27.5	275
10	9	47	28	280
11	9.5	47.5	28.5	285
11.5	10.5	48	29	290
12	11		29.5	295
12.5	11.5		30	300
13	12			305
14	12.5			310
14.5	13			315

Men’s shoe size chart by Blitzresults

Children’s shoes

UK	European	US	Japan
4	20	4 ½ or 5	12 ½
4 ½	21	5 or 5 ½	13
5	21 or 22	5 ½ or 6	13 ½
5 ½	22	6	13 ½ or 14
6	23	6 ½ or 7	14 or 14 ½
6 ½	23 or 24	7 ½	14 ½ or 15
7	24	7 ½ or 8	15
7 ½	25	8 or 9	15 ½
8	25 or 26	8 ½ or 9	16
8 ½	26	9 ½	16 ½
9	27	9 ½ or 10	16 ½ or 17
10	28	10 ½ or 11	17 ½
10 ½ or 11	29	11½ or 12	18 or 18 ½
11 ½	30	12 ½	18
12	31	13	19 or 19 ½
12 ½	31	13 or 13 ½	19 ½ or 20
13	32	1	20
13 ½	32 ½	1 ½	20 ½
1	33	1 ½ or 2	21
2	34	2 ½ or 3	22

Children’s shoe size chart by Tripsavvy

Some tips for handling size conversion issues

Make sure to contact your suppliers in advance

Each supplier will use specific size guidelines, and certain manufacturers can get correct product dimensional information or “fit” information. Tell your supplier to present you with an Asian-US size chart and add the chart to your website. Be sure you follow the measurements or dimensions of your manufacturer. You should also not copy a supplier’s charts and use other suppliers’ as a default model.

Order samples before selling

If you’re still uncertain about the correct sizings even when provided with a size conversion chart, don’t hesitate to order some initial check-up samples. Order at least one size for each product you’re planning to sell and let your models wear it in advance to check the exact sizing. You can use the measurements from these samples as a reference to your manual Asian-to-US conversion size chart as well.

Display size charts based on categories and measurements

When you present size charts on your e-commerce website, make sure to filter them by categories such as men’s, women’s, or children’s clothing. Also, display detailed body measurements customized for each product, such as height, arm length, waist, hips, shoulders, etc. to help your customers visualize more easily.

Plug in customizable size chart

You can consider plugging in a customizable size chart extension to help minimize manual effort. An ideal custom size chart should be easy to design and applicable to any types of products available in store. It should create a professional appearance for your online store as well.

If you’re selling on Shopify, consider integrating the Size Chart on Shopify app store for FREE as the extension is a comprehensive solution to the uncomfortable sizing issues.

If you’re using other platforms rather than Shopify, such as Magento or any else, take a look at Size Chart on AVADA.io.

With AVADA Size Chart, you can get 11 ready-to-use templates for all your product types with just one instant click. You can design your size chart however you want, add/remove any elements, upload unlimited photos and images, and apply this size chart to almost every place on your website. See how intuitive your store can turn out with the AVADA Size Chart here.

Final words

A part of e-commerce consumers is hesitant to shop for clothes online for fear of getting the wrong sized items, which eventually results in unwanted returns, or if worse, getting stuck with a paid product they can’t even use. Sizing issues or errors is unavoidable when you source clothes from one region to another, especially Asia to the US since Asian sizes are much smaller. Therefore, you should understand the idea and conduct of size conversion to apply to your business and build a successful venture.