French Size to US: Shoes & Clothes Size Charts, Men & Women

Women's Apparel

Women's Shoes

Men's Apparel

Men's Shoes

How do French Clothing Sizes work?

France as with the US and UK uses its own set of measurement for clothes and shoe sizes. As one of the world’s fashion capitals, it’s only fitting that we also learn how French sizing works.

French clothing and shoe sizes for Men, Women, Kids

French clothing for men, women, and kids use two basic sizing standards: the SML system or “small, medium and large” sizing with variations of XXS, XS, and XXL. The French also uses the numeric system which simply means “numbers corresponding to sizes.”

In general, to get the French counterpart of your US size, simply add 32 to your existing American size. A US size 8 in clothing, for example, is a French size 40. For UK sizes, add 28 to your existing size to get the French size equivalent.

For shoes, you can find the French equivalent of your US shoe size by adding 31 to your existing US size. If you’re a US size 6, your French shoe size will be approximately a size 37.

Note that French sizing is also used in Spain, Portugal and Belgium and measurements are in centimeters (cm).

French Shoe Sizes Men

Shoe sizes for men using the French sizing could be a bit confusing. Not just are French sizing using larger numbers for the sizes, it is also noteworthy that they don’t generally offer half sizes in between, unlike the UK and US shoe sizing standards. Even then, sizes in France are not completely standardized and could still vary slightly from one manufacturer to another.

The easiest way to convert your US men’s shoe size to French size is to add 35 to your existing shoe size. Take, for example, if your US shoe size is 9, then most likely, your French shoe size is 44. For UK sizes, add 33-34 to get your French size equivalent.

French Shoe Sizes Chart – Men

French Shoe Sizes Women

Women’s shoes using French sizing also measures the shoes based on the Paris point and uses bigger numbers to label the sizes. In general, the fastest way to convert your shoe size from US size to French size is to simply add 31 to your existing American shoe size.

For example, if you are wearing a US women shoe size 5, your approximate size in a French size is 36. Be careful though and double-check with the brand to be sure of the sizing standard used.

French Shoe Sizes Chart – Women

French Shoe Sizes for Kids

Similar with the men and women’s shoe sizes, French shoe sizes for kids are measured based on the actual length of the feet as measured in Paris points, or often represented in cm.

French Shoe Sizes Chart – Children

French Shoe Size Conversion

To convert your US sizes to French shoe sizes, add 35 to your existing US shoe size for men and add 31 to your US shoe size for women to get the approximate French size equivalent, although there is no such thing as a standardized measure as individual manufacturers might also be using a different sizing standard.

For UK sizes, add 33-34 to get your French size equivalent. For EU sizes, add 1 to your size to convert it to French sizes for women. For men, add 2. If you’re wearing a shoe with Japanese size, simply add 14 to your existing Japan size for women and add to get your approximate French size.

French Shoe Size Conversion Chart – Women

French Shoe Size Conversion Chart – Men

French Clothing Sizes Men

French clothing sizes for men uses both the “SML” and numeric sizing standards. In general, men’s sizes are more consistent than women’s. In men’s clothes, the size is the actual dimension of some body parts in either inches or centimeters.

Shirt Sizes

In the men’s shirt, the first number reflects the circumference of the neck all the time, while the second number measures the length of the sleeve.

To get your French shirt size equivalent, simply multiply your US shirt size (in inches) by 2.54 then round up or down the result to the nearest whole number. Say, if your US shirt size is 34, simply multiply it by 2.54 and you’ll get 86.36 which when rounded off is a size 87 which is your French size equivalent.

Remember: When buying clothes in French sizes, you may need to go a size up since generally, the average French body structure is smaller compared to the UK or the US.

French Shirt Size Chart

Suit Sizes

French suits, just like in other sizing standards, are often measured depending on the size of the chest which is usually measured under the arms. It’s easy to find your suit size by making sure that you know your body measurements.

Let’s say your US coat/suit size is 14, just multiply it by 2.54 too and you’ll get a 35.56. When rounding up, this will yield a 36 which is approximately your French size counterpart.

French Suit/Coat Size Chart

French Clothing Sizes Women

As with the men’s sizing, French sizes for women also use the “small, medium and large” sizing standard with variations of XXS, XS, and XXL. They also use numeric sizing depending on the brand of French clothing.

Blouses, Sweaters, Dresses, Suits Size

In terms of French sizes for women’s clothes, it generally starts with a 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44 and so on. In numerical equivalent, these sizes are equal to XXS, XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL.

For dresses and suits, depending on the brand, the size is based on the bust, waist and hip measurements.
For US sizes, the easiest way to get your French clothes size equivalent is to add 34 to your existing American size. If you’re wearing a US size 6 for example, your French size will most likely be a size 40.

Blouses, Sweaters, Dresses, Suits Size Chart

French Clothing Sizes for Kids

Kids clothing sizes in France are usually based on the height and age of the child. This means that you will probably be seeing French sizes like 3,4,5,6,8,10 and 12; and also sizes using children’s height, shown mostly in cm, although depending on the brand, inches could also be used as size measurement.

French Kids Clothing Size Chart

French Clothing Sizes Conversion

Nonetheless, this is not an exact science. It’s still advisable to check the sizing standard used by the brand to see the actual measurements that they are using for easier and more accurate conversions.

Use the conversion chart below for easier conversion from French sizing to US, UK, EU, and Japan sizes.

French Clothing Sizes Conversion Chart

How do French Shoe Sizes work?

French shoe sizes unlike the US and UK shoe sizing uses a standard system with larger numbers, with rare half-sizes offered in between.

As the name suggests, the French shoe sizes use the Paris point measurement which is equal to two-thirds of a centimeter. Unlike the US and UK shoe sizes which label their shoe sizes with smaller numbers, derived from “barleycorn measurement”, the French shoe sizes indicate the actual length of a shoe as measured in Paris point.

A barleycorn measurement is equal to one-third of an inch, and the largest shoe size is a 12, which measures 12 inches too. Any size smaller than that is at least one barleycorn smaller in size.