While “close enough” is often good enough for the sizes of most products, clothes and shoes are different. The lack of an exact size can break a sale. In fact 46% of shoppers have returned a product for being the wrong size.

A sizing chart is extremely essential in fashion due to all the contradicting sizing conventions. These tend to change from country to country. Since fashion supply chains tend to span the globe, sizes can get confusing pretty fast. Shoes happen to have less sizing complications compared to other clothing items and their sizing chart still looks like this:

US Sizes	UK Sizes	EU Sizes
6	5.5	39
6.5	6	39
7	6.5	40
7.5	7	40-41
8	7.5	41
8.5	8	41-42
9	8.5	42
9.5	9	42-42
10	9.5	42-44
10.5	10	43-44.5
11	10.5	44-45
11.5	11	44-45

Sizing for women’s clothing is even more complicated. It’s like every other country has its own sizing conventions. The fact that every individual item of clothing is sized differently and the habit of some fashion brands unilaterally making up their own sizing standards doesn’t simplify matters.

As such, a sizing chart will be needed for customers to accurately determine their size based on the standard they’re familiar with. You should also include exact dimensions (in inches and centimeters) for customers who don’t know their body measurements.

Consider integrating virtual try-on software

There are programs that use AI to show customers how well an item of clothing will fit them (tight, close, loose, or baggy fit). Usually, all a customer has to do is upload a photograph of themselves and the software does the rest. Big players like Walmart and Snapchat are already buying up the startups that make such programs so there’s a good chance they’re going to play a major role in online fashion retailing in the years to come.