Buying knitwear online is mostly a guessing game, and the guessing is why so much of it comes back. It does not have to be. Four checkpoints tell you almost everything.
The shoulder seam
The seam where the sleeve joins the body should land at the outer edge of your shoulder bone — the point where your arm starts. If it hangs down your upper arm, the shirt is too big. If it sits inside the bone and pulls when you reach forward, too small.
This is the one measurement that cannot be fixed by anything else, so check it first.
The chest
You want three to four inches of total ease — enough to pinch an inch of fabric at either side of your ribs. Less and it clings and shows everything. More and it reads as borrowed.
On knitwear specifically, err tighter. Knit relaxes with wear and a shirt that starts slightly snug settles into shape. One that starts loose only gets looser.
The sleeve
A short sleeve should finish around the middle of your bicep, give or take. Higher looks deliberate; much lower and it starts reading as a t-shirt.
The length
The hem should sit an inch or two below your waistband — enough to stay tucked if you tuck, short enough not to look untucked-by-accident if you do not. A knitted polo with a ribbed hem is designed to sit at the hip and stay there.
The two-minute method
Forget measuring yourself. Measure a shirt instead.
- Take a polo you already own and like the fit of.
- Lay it flat on a table, front up, and smooth it out.
- Measure straight across the chest, one inch below where the sleeve joins the body. That number is the garment chest.
- Match it to the chest column in the brand’s size guide.
This works because it removes your body from the equation entirely. You are comparing a known good fit against a stated measurement.
If you are between sizes
In knitwear, take the smaller one. In a woven shirt, take the larger. Knit gives; woven cloth does not.
A note on Indian sizing
Labelled sizes are close to meaningless across brands — an L in one shop is an M in another and an XL in a third. Garment measurements are the only reliable comparison. Any brand that will not publish them is asking you to gamble.
Our full measurements, S to XL, are on the size guide. Still unsure? Tell us your usual size in a brand you wear often and we will tell you which of ours matches.