Buying clothes that fit using The Measurement Conversion Technique

Buying clothes that fit is just one of those things. 

It’s one of the most common problems people come to me with. And that’s no surprise. 

Collectively, we hold a lot of shame around clothing sizes and body measurements. And the first step to buying clothes that fit is knowing your measurements. 

So in this post, I’m going to share how to use my favorite measurement taking technique, that I call The Measurement Conversion Technique or The Measurement Flip-Flop to buy clothes that fit – especially when sizing, measurements and numbers are a sensitive topic for you. 

Please enter this post with caution as we will talk about and around numbers and measurements. 

If that’s something you want to avoid or it’s something that can be a trigger – please feel free to skip this post and browse through the archives instead.  And/or check out this post on how to stop body shaming yourself using the clothes in your closet here.

If you don’t want to skip, enter with self-kindness and self-compassion.

And remember you don’t have to meet the standards of clothing, it’s time for clothing to meet your standards. 

Using the Measurement Conversion Technique

The Measurement Conversion Technique or The Measurement Flip-Flop is my favorite technique for taking body measurements without body shaming. At a very basic level, you measure yourself in a unit you do not judge yourself in. 

This technique works by creating mental space between taking your measurement and you judging your body.

You can deep dive into the technique and how to do it right here. 

Once you have your measurements in your preferred unit of measurement, it’s time to translate that into buying clothes that fit you. 

How to buy clothes that fit

First take your measurements. Take your measurements in whatever unit of measure you choose and make a note of them. 

Next, find the store’s size chart. If you’re shopping online, this may be linked from the product listing. Or in the store’s FAQ. Or on a dedicated sizing or measurements page. 

Third, on that sizing chart, locate the unit of measurement you used and ignore any others. If you measured yourself in centimeters, only look at the centimeters section of the size chart. If you used inches, only look at inches. Don’t worry about conversions to country sizes or anything else. Just focus on your non-judgemental unit of measurement. 

And finally try on clothes in that size. 

If you’re between sizes, try one one of each and buy the one that feels better to you. You can even mix up the sizes in the dressing room (or when you unpack the box) so you don’t know which size you’ve ended up with.

And that’s how you use The Measurement Conversion Technique or The Measurement Flip-Flop to buy clothes that fit and feel good for you. 

If you want your future-self to thank you, keep track of how you feel, sizes, brands, styles, etc in your wardrobe inventory. That way, you don’t have to rediscover the wheel every time. And if you don’t have an inventory of your wardrobe, check out The Wardrobe Inventory Workbook, where I’ll walk you through my favorite four step process.

My #1 tip for buying clothes that fit: it’s not about the number.

Remember this technique works by creating mental space between taking your measurement and judging your body. 

Ultimately buying clothes that fit is about listening to your body. Regardless of what the numbers say, wear the size that physically feels good to wear. 

To keep developing a kinder relationship with your clothing sizes, next read: Taking body measurements without body shaming and How do you find your clothing size?