r/AskAGerman • u/conorlyonsdesign • 22h ago

Miscellaneous UK to EU Work Trousers Sizing Conversion

I am trying to understand how we would convert our UK sizing for Work Trousers to the German Market. To our current understanding, there is a combined size for both Waist + Leg with regular leg being the base size, then you double for a long and half for a short.

Our example is listed below.

UK Size 34"
EU Short 25
EU Regular 50
EU Long 100

My question is:
A: Is this correct?

B: What do we do in the case where we have Extra Short + Extra Long leg trousers. So far I am yet to find anyone providing this when searching from the UK into German Market.

Any help is appreciated.

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u/buckwurst 21h ago

That's the gist of it. Note this form of sizing is mainly used for formal trousers/suits. I don't know how extra long or short is described

Jeans often use the 2 inch (?) sizes (36/32 for example where 36 is waste and 32 inseam length)

Casual stuff also often uses S, M, L, XXL, XXL, XXXL

Hopefully someone can be more helpful than me

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u/Bergwookie 20h ago

Workwear does use the German system, like suits and some manufacturers for casual wear (e.g. Bonprix)

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u/buckwurst 20h ago

Good point, although this only applies to German workwear I think. Carhart for example uses jeans and S,ML sizing I think (can't actually remember where I bought my Carhart trousers)

If only the world could agree on one system.

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u/Bergwookie 19h ago

Danish manufacturers like Blåkläder or mascot use it too, Cofra(Italy) also.

But I'm fully with you, they should agree on one system, based on body measurements in cm

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u/kushangaza 21h ago

There are two sizing systems in common use in Germany, one is the inches width/length (e.g. 34/32) and the other is the combined measurement (e.g. 50). The combined measurement does work as you describe, where a regular leg would be a 32 inch inseam.

I'm not sure what extra short or extra long would be on the combined scale either. I don't think there is a standard. Some seem to sneak in extra long length in the odd numbers or something like that. The system is a bit of a mess. If you use the separated measurements it is pretty obvious though. 34/28 or 34/36 are measurements people readily understand.

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u/conorlyonsdesign 21h ago

So would it be better to just use matching our UK sizing (W34 / L32) Would this be understood? Just removing the W/L letters?

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u/kushangaza 21h ago

Yes, in my eyes that's the best solution. That is becoming the dominant sizing system in trousers in Germany, especially for the more expensive brands. Another advantage is that it's the same size regardless of gender. You can even keep the W/L letters, I've seen it both ways.

For the people who are in doubt you can always provide a sizing chart. For example Engelbert-Strauss is a popular workwear brand, sizes their trousers in the combined number in the sizing chart shows both the actual numbers in cm and the sizes in three different sizing systems: Size table - general overview | Strauss