Across this catalog the same letter covers very different bodies depending on which garment carries it. That is not sloppiness on the brand side so much as the nature of hosiery, where a cotton knit stretches in a way a tulle skirt never will. The workable approach is to ignore the letter until the last moment and start with a tape measure.
Take three measurements once
- Thigh. Stand up, feet slightly apart, and put the tape around the widest part of the thigh, usually within a couple of inches of the crotch. Do not pull it tight. Sitting down adds an inch or so, and that is the number thigh highs have to live with all day.
- Waist. Around the narrowest part of the torso, roughly at the navel or just above it. Breathe out normally rather than holding it in.
- Hip. Around the fullest part of the seat with the tape level front to back. This is the one that decides whether a pencil skirt sits or rides up.
Write them down. They will not change much, and every size table in this catalog answers to one of them. Then open the fit finder, pick which measurement you took, and the catalog narrows to the pieces whose own table covers it.
What the tables actually contain
Of 97 pieces, 75 publish a table. The columns that show up most often, counted across the catalog:
- Length in inches, on 50 pieces. Useful for hosiery, less so for anything with a waistband.
- Waist in inches, on 45. This is the workhorse column for skirts and overalls.
- US shoe size, on 16. Hosiery brands use foot size as a proxy for overall build, which is a rough proxy at best.
- Hip in inches, on 26.
- Thigh circumference in inches, on 9. Rare, and the most valuable column on the page when it appears.
The letters, roughly
Where the brand grades from XL to 5XL, which it does on 42 pieces, the steps are close to even and each letter picks up about two to three inches of waist. As a rough orientation only, and never as a substitute for the table on the actual product page:
- XL tends to start around 33 to 34 inches at the waist.
- 2XL and 3XL carry most of the middle of the range.
- 4XL and 5XL run to the top of the published span, which on the widest tables in this catalog reaches 78 inches.
Thigh figures across the catalog run from 22.8 to 39 inches. If your thigh is above 30 inches, the standard hosiery section is mostly not for you and the plus size thigh highs are where the graded tables live.
When it just says one size
26 pieces here publish nothing but the words one size. That is common in hosiery and it means the maker is relying on stretch to cover a range they have not committed to in writing. Two things follow. First, read the listing bullets, because the range is sometimes buried there as a height and weight span. Second, treat one size as a real risk if you are at either end of the range: it is the label that produces most of the returns in this category, in both directions.
Two habits that save a return
Measure again if it has been a year. Bodies drift, tapes get borrowed and nobody remembers the number correctly. And when you sit between two sizes on a knit, size up rather than down. A slightly loose thigh high with a silicone band stays put; a tight one rolls, and a rolled band cuts a line you can feel for the rest of the day.