Chikankari Sizing & Measurement Guide for Wholesale Buyers

For wholesale and international buying, the size label alone is not enough. A dependable Chikankari order should be built around actual garment measurements, intended body measurements and the amount of ease required for the fit.

This guide uses the Indian garment measurements supplied in the reference size chart as the base framework, then adds practical fit guidance and an approximate US/UK conversion for international buyers.

The chart below uses the garment measurements from the supplied Chikankari reference. Measurements are in inches; centimetres are rounded for international readability. Treat this as the reference sizing framework for this guide. For any bulk or private-label order, the approved product measurement sheet should remain the final specification.

Important: these are garment measurements, not body measurements.

For tops and kurtis: use bust as the primary starting measurement. For bottoms: waist and hip become more important. If a customer carries more volume at the waist or hip than the bust suggests, size to the largest relevant measurement rather than forcing the smaller label.

This conversion is designed for international wholesale planning, not as a universal retail standard. It uses the 4-inch relaxed-fit ease from the Indian garment chart to estimate the wearer’s body bust, then aligns that body bust with common US/UK womenswear sizing ranges.

Why this is approximate: US and UK brands do not use one legally fixed apparel size standard, and fit blocks differ by brand, category and customer. For a wholesale or private-label order, use this table only for market orientation; approve the final garment measurement chart before production.

Fitted-fit note: if you use only 2 inches of ease instead of 4, the same garment can fit a larger body measurement and its international body-size equivalent may shift upward.

Garment measurements: measure a finished sample consistently and record bust/chest, waist, hip, shoulder, sleeve length, armhole, bicep, garment length and relevant bottom measurements. Shoulder, sleeve and length should be style-specific rather than assumed from one universal size table.

• Define whether the chart is body or garment measurement. Never use the same table for both without explanation.
• Approve the base size first. Confirm one sample size before applying grading to the complete range.
• Lock ease by silhouette. A straight kurta, oversized shirt, fitted top and co-ord set should not automatically share the same ease.
• Approve size grading. Confirm how bust, waist, hip, shoulder, armhole, bicep, sleeve and length change between sizes.
• Test the actual fabric. Cotton, rayon, modal, muslin, Chanderi and other fabrics can change the way the same measurements feel and fall.
• Confirm tolerance. Handmade and stitched garments need a defined acceptable measurement tolerance rather than expecting mathematical perfection.
• Check the complete set. For kurta sets and suit sets, approve top and bottom measurements together.
• Use a production measurement sheet. The final approved measurement chart should travel with sampling, QC and repeat orders.

For international buyers, the safest approach is to separate the market-facing label from the production measurement specification. A product may be sold as US 8, UK 12 or India L, but production should still be controlled by the approved garment measurements behind that label.

For private-label development, buyers can generally work in one of three ways:

1. Use the Indian garment block and publish a clear conversion guide for customers.
2. Relabel the same approved garment measurements for the target market after fit testing.
3. Provide a buyer-specific US/UK size chart or tech pack and develop samples to that specification before bulk production.

For serious international scaling, option 3 is usually the most controlled approach because it aligns the garment with the brand’s own customer data rather than relying only on generic conversion labels.