Measure Once, Order Once: How to Find Your Jacket Size

Ordering a jacket online always comes with the same small worry: will it actually fit? We'd rather you got it right the first time, so here is how our sizing works, straight from the patterns we cut in our workshop.

Two numbers that get confused

Every size chart mixes up two different things.

• Body measurement: the size of you. Your chest, measured with a tape.
• Finished measurement: the size of the jacket, laid flat and measured.

The difference between the two is called ease: the extra room a pattern-maker builds in so you can breathe, reach, layer and move. A jacket with no ease would fit like a wetsuit. A jacket with too much hangs like a tent. Ease is where a garment gets its character.

Our body sizes

All our jackets are drafted from the same body measurements:

So if your chest measures 100 cm, you're our M, in every jacket. What changes from one jacket to the next is the ease.

Why each jacket fits differently

Each design gets the room it needs for what it's for:

Take a size M with a 100 cm chest. In the Stray Jacket, 16 cm of ease makes the finished chest 116 cm, or 58 cm across when laid flat. In the Deck Jacket the same size measures 122 cm around. Same person, same size, a deliberately different feel.

Ease isn't only about width. On the Stray Jacket, the low sleeve cap, the action-back pleats and the forward-pitched sleeves are there so you can reach for a handlebar, a steering wheel or a rock without the whole jacket riding up. That's why our jackets can look fitted and still feel easy.

How to measure yourself in two minutes

1. Wear a thin shirt. Not a sweater, and not bare skin.
2. Chest: wrap a soft tape around the fullest part of your chest, under the arms and across the shoulder blades. Keep it level all the way round. Breathe normally and don't pull it tight.
3. Shoulders: across your back, from the point of one shoulder bone to the other. This one is easier with a friend.
4. Arm: from the shoulder bone to the wrist bone, with your arm hanging relaxed.

No tape measure? Take a jacket you love the fit of, zip it up, lay it flat and measure straight across from armpit to armpit. Double that number and compare it with the finished chest of our jacket. It's often the most reliable method of all.

Between two sizes?

• If you layer heavily in winter, or like room to move, take the bigger size.
• If you want a cleaner, closer look and mostly wear a shirt underneath, take the smaller one.
• Broad shoulders or long arms count for more than chest. If those are your measurements that sit at the top of a size, go up.

Hats, too

The Safari Hat is sized by head circumference. Measure around your head just above the ears and eyebrows, where the hat will sit. Medium fits 57–59 cm and Large fits 59–61 cm.

The quickest way to be sure

Every product page has a Size guide button right next to the sizes. Enter your chest and it tells you which size fits that particular jacket, in centimetres or inches.

Better still, come and try one on, at our shop in Antelias or our new spot at The Local in Pasteur, Beirut. And if you're still unsure, message us your measurements. We made the patterns, so we're happy to help you choose.