What is a size 6 in a man's jacket?

[Seb Lucas]

From time to time I see leather jackets - especially army and work gear, labeled Size 6 or 8. What scale is this from and what are the equivalences?

 

[GHT]

That's a good question Seb, formal fabric jackets, suits, blazers, et cetera, are always sized by the chest measurement, be that metric or imperial. The only conclusion that I can draw from the numbering sizing system is that it's based on ladies sizing. The ladies, when ordering a fitted garment, have what's known as darts in the fabric, (whispers delicately, the chesticles need to be comfortable,) and so ladies sizing tends to follow the number system, or so it seems.

You can get a much better gist of this from the Simons Leather Company website.
https://www.simonsleather.co.uk/home/sizing.php

 

[Doctor Damage]

That's a good question Seb, formal fabric jackets, suits, blazers, et cetera, are always sized by the chest measurement, be that metric or imperial. The only conclusion that I can draw from the numbering sizing system is that it's based on ladies sizing. The ladies, when ordering a fitted garment, have what's known as darts in the fabric, (whispers delicately, the chesticles need to be comfortable,) and so ladies sizing tends to follow the number system, or so it seems.

You can get a much better gist of this from the Simons Leather Company website.
https://www.simonsleather.co.uk/home/sizing.php

Yeah, it's 99% likely to be women's sizing. (FWIW there are a few menswear retailers that use numbered sizing such as Lacoste for their tennis shirts and Brooks Brothers for their Black Fleece stuff).

 

[Seb Lucas]

Thanks for the feedback. Curious. I'm pretty sure it is also used in men's sizes as I bought a men's donkey jacket that fit me - a size 8 that had a 25 inch pit to pit and a 32 inch back length - equivalent to a size 46 or 48.

 

[Grayland]

I've seen lower numbers used occasionally in older military clothing as illustrated in the Aero sweater below. I also seem to recall seeing it used in some of the vintage duffle jackets.

http://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/product-detail.php?id=3708