CN Sizing Decoded: Measure, Never Trust the Letter

Sizing is the single biggest source of avoidable losses in agent buying. The rule that prevents almost all of them: never order from the letter size — order from the measurements.

Apparel: the pit-to-pit method

Chinese apparel sizing runs roughly 1–2 letter sizes smaller than US/EU labels, with narrower shoulders and shorter sleeves, and there's little vanity sizing. So: take a garment you own that fits well, lay it flat, and measure pit-to-pit (armpit seam to armpit seam — doubled, that's your chest circumference with ease), shoulder seam to seam, and length. Compare those numbers to the listing's measurement table in centimetres. A "tag says XL" that measures like an L is a known failure mode — some sellers sew generic tags — so for fit-critical pieces, ask the agent warehouse to measure the actual item before you green-light it.

Shoes: the number 44 is ambiguous

Two Chinese systems coexist. Legacy "Old CN" is computed as 2 × foot length in cm − 10, and it diverges from EU sizing as feet get bigger: at 27.0cm an Old CN 44 corresponds to about EU 43; at 28.0cm an Old CN 46 is roughly EU 44.5. The current national standard (Mondopoint) labels shoes in millimetres of foot length instead. Because a bare "44" could be either system, the community's reliable trick is to ignore the size number entirely and ask for the insole length in centimetres— then compare against a shoe you own. It's the one number that consistently predicts fit.

Use the QC stage as your fitting room

QC photos normally show the size tag — check it against what you ordered. But remember the tag isn't proof of measurements: a measurement request at the warehouse costs little and beats an international return, which is effectively impossible. Once you approve shipment, the sizing decision is final. The full checklist lives in how to read QC photos.

Quick reference

• CN letter sizes ≈ 1–2 sizes smaller than US/EU — measure, don't guess.
• Pit-to-pit × 2 ≈ chest circumference; allow 1–2 inches of ease.
• Old CN shoe size = 2 × foot cm − 10; Mondopoint = foot length in mm.
• Ask for insole length in cm — the universal shoe-fit number.
• Machine-translated size text can be wrong; the cm chart is the truth.