It’s well known that if you shop at Zara, the sizing can sometimes be a little off.
Without any standardisation to sizes in the UK, they aren’t exactly on their own though.
In fairness, Zara do have a good sizing guide to assist when shopping online. Simply enter your height, weight and how you want the garment to fit (tighter, perfect, or looser). Then, it gives you your ideal size for the item you’re looking at.
Lots of online retailers offer similar sizing and fitting guides (for example, Boden use True Fit). Plus, I highly recommend reading the measurements to improve your online shopping experience and reduce returns. I’ve talked about this in my blog: How to shop with success.
The Zara sizing code
zara symbol label guide
On each garment label, it shows the size of the garment (in EU, USA and MEX) with a symbol.
This symbol relates to fit and you’ll see one of three symbols.
Square fits true to size, a triangle means it fits on the smaller side, and a circle on the bigger side.
Worth noting is that it hasn’t been confirmed by Zara. Instead, it’s rumoured the symbols indicate the different clothing collections rather than sizing.
What I found
From my personal experience of the garments I checked, broadly speaking, the symbols are a good indicator.
Here’s my examples:
zara dress label
This Zara dress was the one I dyed here and is a size small with a circle.
I always found this was on the larger side but it has a tie belt I use to pull the garment in at the back for a better fit.
My Zara coat I bought in XS with a square symbol.
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- zara coat label
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- zara coat on
Interestingly, I originally sized down for this one as I felt it drowned me in the next size up.
The style however is more of a loose fit with an open front and I prefer a slimmer line so went for the smaller size.
zig zag dress label
The cult zig zag dress from the blog a few months ago was XS with a circle symbol.
Of the many reasons why this dress didn’t work was the fit.
Despite it being XS it totally swamped me so was definitely an over-sized fit.
Finally, another dress which I found at the same time as the zig zag dress was this blue one. A size small with a square symbol.
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- Zara blue dress label
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- Zara dress when worn
It was for me, a perfect fit, it just wasn’t my ‘style’ but I would agree that it was true to size.
Conclusion
On the whole, I would recommend using the symbols as a guide when buying in store and using the measurements and fit guide online.
Why not check your own garments against the symbols and let me know?
Just remember that size doesn’t matter. Learn to dress for your shape in garments which fit and flatter your shape and your proportions and you’ll always look fab. (especially in the right colours for you!)