Why One Size Fits Differently in Knit and Woven

Same letter on the label, two different fits on the body.

A man who wears a large in polos orders a large in a woven shirt and finds it tight across the back, or orders a large in a polo after a woven shirt and finds it loose. Neither is a sizing error. The two fabrics are built differently, and the same measurement behaves differently in each.

What the Fabric Is Actually Doing

A woven fabric is made of threads crossing at right angles. It has almost no give along either of those directions, and only a little diagonally. Whatever the chest measurement is, that is what you get, and your body has to fit inside it with room left over to move.

A knit is made of interlocking loops. Loops open and close, which is why a polo stretches when you reach forward and returns afterwards. The garment can measure smaller than the body it fits and still be comfortable, because it borrows the difference from the loops.

Chest Ease: the Number That Changes

Ease is the gap between your body measurement and the garment measurement. On a woven shirt you want real ease through the chest, enough that the front does not pull between the buttons when you sit and cross your arms. Pulling there is the most reliable sign a woven shirt is a size too small, and it is not something a wash will solve.

On a knit polo the same body can wear far less ease and be comfortable. That is why a polo in the same nominal size often measures narrower on the chart. The chart is not wrong, the garment is doing different work.

Sleeve Opening and Armhole

The sleeve is where the difference becomes obvious. A woven short sleeve has a fixed opening, so if it grips the bicep it will grip the bicep every time you lift your arm. A knit sleeve of the same width stretches over the same arm without binding. If your arms are the part of you that usually dictates your size, you can often drop a size in knit that you could not drop in woven.

The Collar Is the Exception

Everything above suggests knits are more forgiving, and at the collar that reverses. A woven collar has a stand and an interlining and holds its circumference, so it either closes comfortably or it does not, and you know immediately. A ribbed polo collar stretches to close over almost any neck, which means it can be too small without feeling too small, and it will look strained rather than feel it.

How to Decide Before You Order

Take a shirt of each type that already fits you, lay each one flat, and measure straight across from armhole to armhole. Write both numbers down. You now have a woven target and a knit target, and they will not be the same number, which is the entire point. Compare each against the matching listing rather than against your body.

If the call still goes wrong, that is what the return window is for, and the Return & Refund Policy sets out how it works.

Thank you for shopping with us, and for giving a good shirt a long rotation.