Every week someone in the shop holds up a jacket, checks the label, and puts it back. The label says 38. They wear 38. The jacket would have fitted.
Sizing is the single biggest reason people hesitate over vintage, online and in store alike. It is also the easiest problem to solve, once you stop trusting the number printed on the label.
Sizes have been quietly growing for decades
This is documented, not folklore. In the American Sears catalogue, a 32 inch bust was labelled size 14 in 1937, size 8 in 1967, and size 0 in 2011. The same body, three different numbers, from one retailer.
The industry standards moved with it. Under the 1958 American standard, a size 12 meant a 34 inch bust. By 1970 it was 35 inches. By 1995 it was 37.5 inches. By 2011 it was 38.75 inches. Nearly five inches of drift attached to an unchanged printed number.
The effect has a name, vanity sizing, and it is not confined to the United States. A British study in 2011 found that more than half of the garments checked carried misleading labels, the worst of them understating waist measurements by 1.5 to 2 inches.
Why no standard protects you
The European standard EN 13402-3 describes a sizing system based on body measurements. It standardises how a body is measured. It does not oblige any manufacturer to cut a garment to those measurements. That distinction is the whole problem: the norm governs the body, not the jacket.
German confection sizes follow a straightforward formula: bust measurement in centimetres, divided by two, minus six. An 88 centimetre bust gives size 38. The current German bands look like this:
| Size | Bust | Waist | Hips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | 78 to 81 cm | 62 to 64 cm | 85 to 89 cm |
| 36 | 82 to 85 cm | 65 to 68 cm | 90 to 94 cm |
| 38 | 86 to 89 cm | 69 to 72 cm | 95 to 97 cm |
| 40 | 90 to 93 cm | 73 to 77 cm | 98 to 101 cm |
| 42 | 94 to 97 cm | 78 to 81 cm | 102 to 104 cm |
A German label from the 1980s reading 38 was cut for a body at the lower end of that band, often below it. A 1990s Italian 42 is a different garment again. The direction of the drift is well documented. The exact gap depends on the decade, the country and the house that made the piece, which is why the only reliable answer is to measure.
How to measure a vintage garment properly
Do not measure your body and compare it to a size chart. Measure a garment you already own and wear happily, then compare it to the vintage piece. Flat measurements beat body measurements every time, because they account for how the piece was cut.
- Lay the garment flat, buttoned or zipped, without stretching it.
- Chest: armpit seam to armpit seam, straight across. Double it for the full circumference.
- Waist: the narrowest point, across, doubled.
- Shoulders: seam to seam across the back.
- Sleeve: shoulder seam to cuff.
- Length: highest point of the shoulder down to the hem.
Compare those five numbers with your favourite jacket. Within a centimetre or two, it fits. The label is irrelevant.
What the tape measure will not tell you
The cut belongs to its decade. A 1980s blazer carries shoulder pads and volume through the body. Something from the late 1990s sits closer. Two pieces with identical chest measurements can wear completely differently.
Material decides how much forgiveness you get. Wool, tweed and knitwear give a little and settle onto the body after a few wears. Woven silk, leather and tightly structured tailoring give nothing at all. On those, measure twice.
Older tailoring was built to be altered. Seam allowances on garments from the 1970s and 1980s are frequently generous, sometimes two or three centimetres per side. A piece that is slightly too small on paper can often be let out. A good tailor will tell you in a minute whether the fabric allows it.
The short version
Ignore the label. Take five flat measurements. Compare them to something you already wear. Ask about the fabric before you decide, and ask about the seam allowance before you walk away from something you love.
If you are looking at a piece on this site and the measurements you need are not listed, send us a message and we will measure it that day. If you are in Berlin, come and try it on. That is still the part a tape measure cannot do. While you are here, our guide to designer vintage in Berlin Mitte covers the rest of the quarter.
Berlin Vintage Corner
Elisabethkirchstr. 1, 10115 Berlin, Mitte
Monday to Saturday 12:00 to 19:00, Sunday 12:00 to 17:00