Clothing Size Guide
Here you will find the Surplus and Outdoors Guide to sizes
New Clothing
New items come in a range of sizes according to their manufacturer. We try to include sizes when they are slightly different from expectation.
As as guide ....
Jackets and tops
XSmall 30/32 chest
Small 34/36 chest
Medium 38/40 chest
Large 42/44 chest
XLarge 46/48 chest
Trousers
When looking at trousers and shorts then these will be listed in a waist size in inches, your waist size can be found by either measuring your waist... or where you plan to wear them! or your actual trousers. This can be done by measuring all the way around your waist with a tape measure around belly button height, or by lying trousers on a flat surface and measuring across the top of the waist band and doubling it.. ie it measures 22 inch so this is a 44 inch waist. All new trousers unless stated have a standard leg of 31/32 inch
Outerwear
Over trousers and outer garments by their very nature go over the top of you and your clothing.. so you will need to measure over the top of what you are wearing to get a chest / waist size, you may have a 40 inch chest in your skin but add a jumper and a fleece and you will be more like a 42/44! so be sure to take this into account when choosing your size
But as we all know makes will vary and if you are unsure please just ask.
Used Clothing
Generally used clothing has been washed and may have been shrunk or tailored, so we hand measure items and do not rely on the label size. If you want a particular label size please ask and we can look for you but please bare in mind it may not be the correct actual size for you and may not fit
Jacket & Shirt Sizing
We measure each jacket or shirt from armpit to armpit to get a rough idea of how it fits. If a garment is between sizes, we mark it a size down. For example, if a shirt measures 20 inch from armpit to armpit this would be a very tight fit with no room to move so we will list as a 36/38 thus allowing something underneath and it not being skin tight. British military surplus smocks, overcoats, parkas or wet-weather clothing are sized to fit a specific chest size and will designed to wear several layers underneath.
The MOD will issue for example a shirt in a size 112 to fit a chest size of 44 inch, a jumper in a 112, a smock size 112 and a water-proof jacket in a size 112 and it will all fit the person and they will be able to wear all the garments the same time......Therefore, when purchasing top layer items, please keep in mind that the stated chest size option is designed to be worn over layers and maybe loose when worn on its own
British Military Size guide
The military use height then chest when labelling garments and is shown as a NATO size 160/88 for example. From below you can see this is designed to fit someone who is upto 5ft 3 and a 34 chest. Not all sizes are made in each garment so you may have to go to your nearest size
Height
160 upto 5ft 3 1
70 upto 5ft 7
180 upto 5ff 11
190 upto 6ft 3
200 upto 6ft 6
Chest sizes
85 33/34 inch chest
88 34 inch chest
96 38 inch chest
100 40 inch chest
104 41/42 inch chest
108 42/43 inch chest
112 44 inch chest
116 45/46 inch chest
118 46 inch chest
120 47/48 inch chest
128 50 inch chest
130 51/52 inch chest
Trousers and Shorts
In order to get these these measurements we lie a pair of trousers down flat on the ground and then measure across the waist. We take this reading and double it to get the waist size. For example, if a pair of trousers measures 16 inch across the waist it will fit a 32 inch waist and listed as 32 inch. We measure the inseam from the crotch seam to the bottom of the trousers. For example, if a pair measures 30" from the crotch seam to the bottom of the leg we will list it as a 30 Leg or 30L
Footwear
We do a range of foot wear that is listed in either UK, Euro, or the military mondopoint sizes. UK Sizes are either full or half and when available have width fittings. Non military footwear will have a standard regular width fitting (not a wide or extra wide fitting)
Military Footwear
With UK footwear we have listed the size as for example UK6 this is what is on the label / sole. Some of the footwear has width fitting as follows
S or N this is small / narrow fitting
M or R this is a Medium / regular fitting
L or W this is a large / wide fitting
the letter used will depend on the manufacturer and both mean the same
Mondopoint
This is the universal military sizing system. You can find your size by standing on a piece of paper on a hard flat surface drawing around your foot and then measuring the length in mm, this will give your size ie 275mm is a 275 size. We do always try to include the UK conversion to help along with information if the size comes up large or small.
