Clothing Sizes

Following a recent thread I was watching on a Facebook group, I thought I’d provide a little bit of guidance on clothes shopping here in New Zealand. Full disclosure: I still get a majority of my clothing from the US through online shopping. I find the quality and pricing to be better even with GST and shipping. However, there are certainly times when I’ve picked things up from New Zealand stores, but the first few shopping trips were confusing because of the sizing issue.

I walked into a store expecting to find find the typical size 0-2-4-6-8-10-12-etc. options, only to be completely confused when the smallest I could find anywhere was a size 6. I walked out of the shop feeling confused and defeated because I had no idea what size clothing I should even try on.

So here’s the deal: New Zealand shops generally follow Australian/UK sizes. A general guide to size comparisons and measurements is below:

However, just like in the US, each brand is designed to fit a certain body type. In the States, usually I was somewhere in the 0-2-4 range, and in New Zealand, I am generally in the 6-8-10 range. There are quite a few international brands that list multiple countries’ sizes on their tags, i.e. H&M and Zara. There are a few others that follow their own sizing, i.e. Ted Baker. However, I have a good starting place when trying things on. The hardest part is the pseudo-blow to my ego because all of a sudden I’m not a size 2 anymore. (Silly, I know…)