A winter coat should fit with the shoulder seams sitting at the edge of your shoulders, the sleeves covering your wrist bone, and enough room to fasten it over your thickest jumper without the buttons pulling. You should be able to reach forward and cross your arms without the back feeling tight. Length is down to style, but the coat should cover whatever you wear underneath.
That is easy to judge in a changing room, and much harder from a few photos and a size label.
Where should the shoulders of a coat sit?
The shoulder seam should sit at, or just past, the edge of your shoulder bone. Further in, and the coat will pull across your back when you move your arms. Well past it, on a coat that is not meant to be oversized, and it is probably too big.
Get the shoulders right first. A tailor can usually shorten sleeves or a hem, but shoulders that are too narrow or too wide tend to stay that way.
There are two exceptions. On oversized and dropped-shoulder styles the seam is meant to sit lower, and raglan sleeves run diagonally from the collar to the underarm, so there is no shoulder seam to check. For both, judge the chest and sleeve instead: measure the sleeve from the centre back of the collar to the cuff on your own coat, and ask the seller to measure it the same way.
How should winter coat sleeves fit?
With your arms relaxed by your sides, the cuff should cover your wrist bone and finish around the base of your thumb. Reach forward, as if holding a steering wheel, and your wrist should still be covered.
A winter coat's sleeves can be a touch longer than a jacket's, because they go over jumper cuffs and meet your gloves.
How much room do you need for a jumper underneath?
Enough to do the coat up over the thickest thing you plan to wear under it, without the fastenings pulling or creases spreading from the buttons.
There is no single number that suits everyone, and padded coats and puffers have less room inside than their outside measurements suggest. The most reliable benchmark is a coat you already own that fits well over a jumper.
How long should a winter coat be?
Long enough to cover what you wear underneath it: a coat worn over a blazer or a long jumper should finish below it. Beyond that it is personal. A knee-length coat covers more of you, and a hip-length one is easier for driving and cycling.
Words such as "midi" and "longline" depend on your height, so check the length figure, not the description.
How to check a second-hand coat's fit before you buy
Compare the listing with a coat that already fits you.
- Choose your benchmark. Pick a coat that fits well over a jumper.
- Lay it flat and do it up. Smooth it out without stretching.
- Take four measurements. Shoulder, seam to seam across the back. Chest, pit to pit, from armpit seam to armpit seam. Sleeve, from the shoulder seam to the cuff. Length, from the highest point of the shoulder to the hem. These are the four our guide to measuring clothes uses for coats and jackets.
- Compare like with like. Pit to pit is half the way round, so compare it with your own coat laid flat, or double it and check it comes out well above your bust or chest, since a coat goes over a jumper.
- Ask when anything is missing. Measurements are optional on Rewear UK, so not every coat has them. A short message to the seller usually does it: "Could you measure the shoulders, pit to pit, sleeve and length, laid flat and buttoned?"
Be wary of a coat that is only just big enough on paper. Under Rewear UK's Terms, a measurement within 2 cm of the figure on the listing counts as accurate, so leave yourself a little margin.
More on measuring yourself and other garments: how to measure clothes for buying (and selling) online.
Finding a coat that fits on Rewear UK
- The Measured tag. It shows on the bottom left of a listing photo when the seller has added the measurements needed for a fit check. Open the listing to see the shoulder, sleeve and length figures as well, if the seller gave them.
- Your own measurements. Save them once, and a measured listing compares them with the piece and sums it up, for example "Should fit you", "On the snug side for you" or "Roomy on you". For a coat it checks the chest only, so judge the shoulders, sleeves, length and room for a jumper yourself.
- In my size. One tap narrows pieces to the sizes you have saved on your profile. When enough pieces match, Home also shows an "In your size" row.
- Will it fit? Found a coat somewhere else? Our free Will it fit? checker compares its pit-to-pit chest with your bust or chest, with no account needed.
Shop women's jackets and coats, men's jackets and coats or kids' outerwear. Prices already include buyer protection (30p + 3% of the item price), and you have 14 days from delivery to report a coat that is not as described.
Selling a coat that never fitted you?
Measurements are optional, but a coat listed with its shoulder, chest, sleeve and length answers a buyer's first question before they ask it.
The short version
Shoulder seams at the edge of your shoulders, cuffs over your wrist bone, room to fasten it over a jumper, and a length that covers what you wear underneath. Get the shoulders right first, since they are the hardest thing to alter, check the sleeves with your arms reached forward, and ask the seller for any figure that is missing.