The EU sizes children's clothes by height in centimeters; the US and UK size by age instead. Select your size in any system to see it in the others — and if you know your child's actual height, use that over their age for a better fit.
Stand your child against a wall with heels touching the baseboard, mark the top of their head, then measure floor to mark in centimeters. Match that number to the EU column below — it's the same figure the garment was cut for, so it's a more direct guide than an age range that assumes an "average" child.
The EU system sidesteps age entirely: a size 104 is simply cut for a child about 104 cm tall, whether that child is a small 4-year-old or a tall 3-year-old. The US and UK instead assign a size to an age band — 2T for roughly 2-year-olds, "3-4 y" for the UK equivalent — which works fine for an average-sized child and badly for anyone else, since real 3-year-olds range widely in height.
US sizing also has its own quirk below the numbered range: sizes ending in T (2T, 3T, 4T) are cut roomier through the diaper/nappy area than the plain numbered sizes that follow (5, 6, 7…), which assume potty-training is done. That's why EU 104 can be sold as either "4T" or plain "4" depending on the brand and which cut they intend.
| EU (height cm) | US (age) | UK (age) |
|---|---|---|
| 92 | 2T | 1.5-2 y |
| 98 | 3T | 2-3 y |
| 104 | 4T / 4 | 3-4 y |
| 110 | 5 | 4-5 y |
| 116 | 6 | 5-6 y |
| 122 | 7 / 6X | 6-7 y |
| 128 | 8 | 7-8 y |
| 134 | 10 | 8-9 y |
| 140 | 12 | 9-10 y |
| 146 | 14 | 10-11 y |
| 152 | 16 | 11-12 y |
Every size here is approximate — brands cut differently, and kids grow at very different rates. Height beats age, but trying the garment on beats both.
Height, whenever you know it. Kids of the same age can differ by a full size or more, while the EU system's height-in-cm basis describes the garment directly — a size 104 is cut for a child about 104 cm tall, regardless of how old they are.
EU 104 is a US 4T (some brands print it simply as "4"), for a child about 104 cm tall.
T stands for "toddler" — sizes like 2T, 3T, and 4T are cut roomier through the diaper area than the numbered sizes that follow (5, 6, 7…), which assume a child is potty-trained and shaped a bit differently.
No — UK kids' clothing is labelled by age range (like "3-4 y"), while UK kids' shoe sizing uses its own numbered scale that restarts after 13. They're unrelated systems that happen to share the phrase "UK kids'."