Streetwear Sizing and Fit: How to Choose the Right Size for Graphic Tees and Shorts Before You Order

Sizing is the one part of a streetwear order you can settle in about two minutes. We keep a tape measure on the bench in our Portland workroom and measure every garment flat, logging each sample under a code before we look at the label. Here is the version of that routine we hand to first-time buyers of the catalog's graphic tees and shorts.

Measure a top that already fits

Skip the body tape. Lay a tee you actually wear on a hard, flat surface — a garment carries the cut, the seam placement and the ease of something already proven on your frame.

1. Pit to pit. Smooth the side seams and measure straight across from underarm seam to underarm seam. Do not stretch the jersey; it will lend you half an inch you do not own. This is a half measurement, so double it for the full chest circle.
2. Body length. From the high point of the shoulder, where the shoulder seam meets the collar, straight down to the hem. Some charts start at the center back neck, which adds roughly an inch. If the listing does not say which, ask before ordering.
3. Shoulder. Seam to seam across the back. On a drop-shoulder cut this means less, which is why a loose-fit tee reads bigger than its label.
4. Sleeve. Shoulder seam to sleeve hem, along the outside edge.

Cut-and-sew tolerance runs about half an inch on chest and length, so a single shirt is a sample, not a specification. Work in centimeters if the listing is metric; half-centimeter precision beats guessing at fractions of an inch.

Convert your numbers into a listed size

Streetwear charts are usually printed as full chest circumference, so double your flat pit-to-pit first, then find the row.

Your shirt, flat pit-to-pit	Full chest (doubled)	Usually reads as
19 in	38 in	XS to S, close fit
20 in	40 in	S on a full-cut chart, M on a trim one
21 in	42 in	M in most charts
22 in	44 in	M–L; Polo Ralph Lauren's Classic Fit medium is listed at a 44 in chest and a 20 in shoulder
23 in	46 in	L
24 in	48 in	XL

One pattern is worth memorizing: width moves faster than length as you climb the size run. Polo Ralph Lauren's logo crew steps roughly 1.2 inches of flat chest per size — about 22 inches at medium, 23 at large — while back length moves less than half an inch between those same two sizes. A shirt that is tight across the chest or pinching at the armhole is a size-up problem. A shirt that is short in the body barely is.

When to size up for an oversized drape

Oversized is a shape, not a number, and it comes from chest ease, a dropped shoulder and a lower armhole rather than extra length. Read the gap between the garment's chest and your own: roughly 2 to 4 inches of ease sits close, 4 to 6 reads regular, and 8 inches or more reads deliberately oversized with the hem near mid-hip.

A loose-fit crew such as the Polo Ralph Lauren logo tee is already cut fuller through the chest and sleeve with a lower armhole, so it gives you the relaxed look at your measured size. If you want more drape, go up one — two sizes usually trade drape for a shoulder seam sliding down your bicep. Between sizes on an unwashed cotton tee, take the larger one: cotton jersey that has not been pre-shrunk can lose 3 to 5 percent of its length in a first hot wash, which is a full inch off a 28-inch body.

Shorts: three numbers, not one

Shorts are where first orders go wrong, because a waist letter says almost nothing about how the leg hangs. Measure a pair you own:

• Waist, relaxed. Zip them, lay flat, measure across the top of the waistband and double it. Never read an elastic band stretched.
• Inseam. Crotch seam straight down to the hem, recorded as measured and never doubled. Five inches lands mid-thigh, seven reads lower thigh, nine sits near the knee.
• Rise and leg opening. Crotch seam up to the waistband top, and across one leg hem, doubled.

Here is the catch: in many shorts charts the inseam barely moves across the size run — a common pattern holds it at 7 inches from small through 2XL while the waist and hip grow. Sizing up buys room in the seat and thigh, not a longer leg. If length is what you are after, look for a different inseam figure, not a different letter.

Between two sizes: our decision order

1. Choose the size whose shoulder seam lands where you want it. On the bone means your measured size; off the shoulder means one up.
2. Read the tolerance band, not the single number. If the chart says 22 to 22.5 inches and you measure 22, you are at the edge — go up.
3. Let shrinkage break a tie on natural fibers. Take the larger tee if you machine wash warm.
4. If no chart is published in inches or centimeters, buy one piece, measure it flat, then order the remaining colors against that garment.

We scored the Polo Ralph Lauren logo tee's fit consistency 4.5 / 5. Size-to-size steps stayed close to the chart's stated tolerance across the pieces we measured, and at $20.90 testing a second color in a larger size is a cheap way to trial a drape before committing to a rotation.