Korean Size Converter

Work out your Korean size for shoes and tops — from a size you already know, or from your own measurements, which is the more reliable of the two.

Shoes are the easy part

Korean shoe sizes are the length of the shoe in millimetres, so a 260 is a 260 whichever brand made it. That makes them the most honest sizing system in common use — there is no vanity sizing and no letter grading to interpret.

One thing trips people up: the number describes the shoe, not your foot. A 260 mm shoe is built for a foot of roughly 250–255 mm, because footwear needs room at the toe. So measure your foot, add about 5–10 mm, and round to the nearest 5. Measure late in the day with the socks you actually wear, standing up with your weight on the foot.

Clothing sizes are a different story

Korean women's sizes come from a 1981 standard set by the Korea Industrial Advancement Administration, based on a national body survey of about 1,700 people carried out in 1979. The average woman in her twenties then was 155 cm tall with an 85 cm bust, and that became size 55. The sizes around it step by 5 cm of height and 3 cm of bust: 44 below it, then 66, 77 and 88 above.

Men's sizes are simpler and still literal — the number is the chest measurement in centimetres, so 95 means a 95 cm chest.

The catch is that the official grading behind the women's numbers was withdrawn in 1990. Brands kept the labels and set their own measurements, which is why published conversion charts disagree with each other, sometimes by two full sizes. The chart on this page reflects current retail practice, but the measurement column is the part to trust.

Why Korean sizes run small

A Korean L is not an American L. Korean brands grade to a smaller frame and cut closer to the body, so the same label typically lands one to two sizes down from its US equivalent. Arm length and shoulder width are usually the first places it shows, ahead of the chest.

The gap is widest in fast fashion and in merchandise, where a single size often covers a narrow range. It is narrowest in international brands selling in Korea, which usually keep their home grading. When a Korean site publishes actual garment measurements — 어깨 (uh-kkeh) for shoulder, 가슴 (gah-suhm) for chest, 총장 (chohng-jahng) for total length — use those instead of the label, and compare them against a garment you already own.

Ordering from Korean sites

Free size (프리 사이즈, puh-ree sah-ee-juh), which appears constantly in Korean online fashion, is usually cut around a Korean 55–66. It is not one size fits all. When a listing gives only 프리, the measurement table underneath it is the real specification.

For shoes, Korean sizing in 5 mm steps is finer than half sizes in the US or UK system, so you may land between two familiar sizes. Take the larger one if you have a wide foot; Korean lasts tend to be narrow.

Related tools

Convert prices with the currency converter, check the time before contacting a seller with Seoul time, and see plain measurements with the length converter.