Home / Measuring Guide
Five minutes, one tape
Six numbers, all in centimetres. Get them right once, keep them, and every piece you order after this arrives already sitting the way it should.
Wear something thin — a vest or a fitted t-shirt. Measuring over a jersey adds two or three centimetres and that's exactly the amount that makes a jacket feel tight across the back.
Stand normally. Don't pull your shoulders back, don't suck anything in, don't hold your breath. We're measuring the body that's going to wear the clothes on the day.
Keep the tape flat against you and level all the way round — a tape that dips at the back reads longer than it should. Snug, not tight: you want to be able to slide one finger under it.
Ask someone to help if you can. Chest and shoulder are hard to do accurately on yourself, and a partner takes thirty seconds over each one.
The six
Round the fullest part, usually just under the armpits and across the nipples. Arms relaxed at your sides, tape level front and back. This is the number that decides your jacket size.
Round your natural waist — the narrowest point, roughly level with your belly button. Not where your jeans sit, which is normally lower and a few centimetres bigger.
Feet together, round the fullest part of your seat. Usually about 20cm below the waist. Matters most for trousers and anything cut close through the seat.
From the bone at the top of your shoulder, down the outside of a slightly bent arm, to the wrist bone. Bent, not straight — a straight arm reads short.
Across the back, from the tip of one shoulder to the tip of the other. Easiest with help. This is the one measurement a tailor can barely change, so it's worth getting right.
Shoes off, back to a wall, heels together, looking straight ahead. Mark the wall and measure to the floor. Tells us where a hem should land on you.
Getting it right
Do each one twice and write down the second reading — the first is nearly always a bit off while you're still working out how to hold the tape. If the two are more than a centimetre apart, do a third. And measure at a normal time of day rather than straight after gym or straight after a big lunch.
Common mistakes
Laying a shirt flat and measuring that gives you the shirt's numbers, not yours — including whatever ease the brand built in. Measure the body.
A tape pulled hard reads two or three centimetres small, and the piece comes back too close through the chest. Snug is the whole instruction.
Trouser size on a label and your actual waist are rarely the same number. Take the tape to it rather than copying what's on your jeans.
Give us the real number, including the half centimetre. Rounding is our tailor's job, and they'd rather round from something true.
Rather not do it yourself?
Book a fitting in Johannesburg and we'll take all six properly, keep them on file, and you never have to hold a tape again. Bring the shoes you'd wear with the piece.
How the fitting worksGive them once and every later order uses the same numbers
If the fit is out, the first alteration after delivery is on us
Leave it blank and order As-Is, or book a fitting instead