Suit Sizes Explained: What 38R, 40S and 42L Actually Mean

Somebody asked us this through the website a few days ago: "What size should I pick? I'm normally a 42 regular." Here is what 38R, 40S and 42L actually mean, and why a garment cut from your own pattern carries no size at all.

The short answer

The number is your chest measurement in inches, taken around the fullest part of the chest and under the arms. The letter is a length designation for your height, not your girth. So 42R is a jacket drafted for a 42 inch chest on a man of roughly average height. 40S is the same build, shorter. 42L is the same chest, taller. That is the whole code.

The number: chest, in inches

The finished garment is cut larger than the number on the label, because it has to close over a shirt and let you move. Most makers add four to six inches of ease, so a 42 jacket may measure 46 or 48 inches round when buttoned. That allowance is the maker's choice.

European labels give the same measurement in centimetres. Add ten to the American number and you have the Continental one, so a 42 is a 52 and a 38 is a 48.

The letter: S, R and L

S is short, R is regular, L is long. The letter changes the jacket length, the sleeve length and, properly done, the position of the buttons and pockets, so the proportions stay right at a different height. Roughly, and it varies by house:

• S, up to about five foot eight.
• R, about five foot eight to six foot.
• L, about six foot and above.

Many makers do not offer S or L above or below certain chests, which is why a short man with a 46 inch chest often finds nothing on the rail.

The trousers: the drop

Trousers sold with a jacket are sized by a fixed difference called the drop, six inches being the common one. A 42 jacket arrives with 36 inch trousers, a 40 with 34, a 38 with 32. If your own difference between chest and waist is not the one the maker chose, half the suit will be wrong, and it is usually the trousers. And how long the trousers should finish over the shoe is a decision nothing on the label covers.

Why no two brands agree

Ease is a choice. A house cutting four inches of ease and a house cutting six will sell you two very different 42s.

Every maker drafts on its own block. A size is not a measurement of a man, it is a measurement of a mannequin. Each house has a house figure with its own shoulder slope, chest fullness and back length, and the whole range is graded from it. The differences between British, Italian and American cutting are differences of block before they are differences of style.

Labels have drifted. Sizes have quietly grown more generous over thirty years, so a 42 today is often cut for a chest nearer 44.

Sub-fits sit on top. Slim, tailored and classic are not sizes, they are separate blocks with the same number printed on them. A slim 42 and a classic 42 can differ by three inches at the waist.

Women's sizing is less consistent still, sold on a numbered or lettered scale that measures nothing, because bust, waist and hip move independently and one number cannot carry three measurements. We dress women as well as men, and the checks worth making are in how a woman's suit should fit.

What a size cannot record at all

A size records two facts, a chest and a height. A jacket needs rather more: shoulder width and slope, whether one shoulder sits lower than the other, whether the neck carries forward, blade prominence, arm length and pitch, posture and stance. None of it appears on a label, and the faults it causes are precisely the ones that cannot be altered out afterwards.

So if you are buying off the peg, buy for the shoulder and the chest and ignore the ticket. Fasten the waist button and check the collar against your shirt, the shoulder seam against your own shoulder, and the chest for strain lines. The eleven checks are in how a suit should fit. If you have not yet written your own numbers down, how to measure yourself for a suit sets out the ten worth taking.

Why a bespoke garment has no size

Nothing we make carries a size, because there is nothing for a size to approximate. At a consultation we take around thirty measurements head to toe and three photographs, front, side and back, and the photographs record the posture and stance a tape cannot. From those, a paper pattern is drawn for one client and kept. You are not a 42, you are a set of measurements with a shoulder slope.

Made-to-measure, by contrast, begins with an existing block and adjusts it. That is a real service but not ours; Mr James does not offer made-to-measure in any form. Every garment is cut from its own pattern, built full canvas, and made by hand by Max in our atelier in Southern Brittany, France. The words are untangled in tailored, made-to-measure or bespoke, and what each garment involves is in types of suits.

Come and be measured

An hour with a tape will tell you more than any chart. The consultation is free and you meet Robb or Ben rather than a salesperson. A two-piece starts at $1,795, a three-piece at $2,045, with unlimited fittings and a year of complimentary alterations included; the process is on the bespoke page and the first hour in what happens at a consultation.

We are at 221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey, by appointment, with free parking front and back. Book a fitting, use the book a fitting page, or telephone 310-503-3592.

Questions we are often asked

What does 42R mean on a suit?

A jacket drafted for a 42 inch chest, in a regular length for a man of roughly average height, about five foot eight to six foot. The number is always the chest in inches and the letter is always a height designation.

What does the S, R or L after a suit size mean?

Short, regular and long. The letter changes the jacket length and the sleeve length, and in a well-graded range it also moves the buttons and pockets so the proportions stay correct. It says nothing about width.

How do I measure my suit size at home?

Wearing a shirt, run a tape around the fullest part of your chest and under your arms, level and snug without pulling. Read it in inches and add nothing, because the maker has already added the ease. Your height then gives you the letter.

Why do I take a different size in different brands?

Because a size measures each maker's own house figure rather than you. Houses add different amounts of ease, draft on different blocks, and print the same number on slim, tailored and classic fits.

What is a European 52 in American suit sizes?

A 42. Continental labels give the chest in centimetres, so adding ten to the American number gives the European one: 48 is a 38, 50 is a 40, 52 is a 42, 54 is a 44.

What size trousers come with a 42 jacket?

Usually 36 inch, because most suits are cut to a six inch drop between chest and waist. If your own difference is not theirs, the trousers will be the wrong half.

What size is a bespoke suit?

It has none. The garment is cut from a paper pattern drawn for one client from around thirty measurements and three photographs, including posture and stance. A chest measurement in inches is one line on that pattern rather than a label.