What does a size 6 actually measure? My back to school size guide

Last year I ordered a jumper in size 6 for a child who wears a size 6. On the first morning of term, the sleeve covered half of his hand. I rolled the cuff twice, said it looked lovely, and kept a small private embarrassment: a stylist who cannot pick a size.

Except I had picked the right size. The label was the thing that meant nothing.

I sell ten European children's labels and I keep them all on the same shelf, which gives me the right to say something nobody writes down: a size 6 is not a size 6. It is 116 cm at MOLO, 120 cm at Goldie & Ace and 122 cm at Bobo Choses. Six centimetres of difference on the same label, which is half a size. So here is the kids clothes size guide by age that I wish I had read before ordering, with the real numbers, and how I use them to get a child dressed for a school year.

Why European labels are sized in centimetres

If you have shopped mostly British or American brands, this is the part that changes everything. European children's labels do not really size by age. They size by height in centimetres, and the age printed on the tag is a rough translation that each brand does differently.

That is good news, because height is a fact and age is an opinion. Once you know your child's height, you stop guessing forever. Measure it with her back against a wall, no shoes, heels touching the skirting board, a book flat on her head, and a pencil mark. If you work in inches, multiply by 2.54: a child of 3 ft 10 in is 117 cm, and now every European brand becomes readable.

A size 6 is not a size 6: the real numbers

These are not estimates. They are the brands' official grids, cross checked against the labels on the pieces sitting in my stockroom.

What the label says	MOLO	Goldie & Ace	Bobo Choses
3 years	98 cm	100 cm	98 cm (labelled 2-3Y)
4 years	104 cm	108 cm	110 cm (labelled 4-5Y)
6 years	116 cm	120 cm	122 cm (labelled 6-7Y)
8 years	128 cm	130 cm	134 cm (labelled 8-9Y)

On the size 6 line, chest and waist differ too: Goldie & Ace gives 64 cm chest and 58 cm waist, Bobo Choses 62 and 57. MOLO does not publish those two measurements, so I am not going to make them up.

Why the gap exists. MOLO is Danish and thinks in centimetres, six at a time. Goldie & Ace is Australian and climbs faster from age four. Bobo Choses is Spanish and works in two year bands, which lands it at the top of the range every time. None of them is wrong. They simply are not speaking the same language.

And when you are between two sizes, take the bigger one. A long sleeve rides up in three weeks. A child does not shrink back.

How each of my brands runs

• MOLO runs true to size in width, but the pieces are long. On a slight child the hem will trail a little, which honestly buys you an extra season. The one exception is jumpsuits, where I would size down.

• Bobo Choses runs true to size with a generous cut: square tops, wide legs, full skirts. Take the size that matches her height and go.

• Goldie & Ace runs true to size as well, but on an Australian grid that sits taller than the European one from age four. Its size 4 is 108 cm against MOLO's 104 cm. If your child is at the very top of a European 4, the Goldie & Ace 4 still fits.

How many outfits does a child need for school?

The short answer: five complete outfits to get through a week, and fifteen to twenty pieces to cover the season. Five, because one wash a week is a rhythm you can actually keep, and a sixth outfit adds nothing. Fifteen to twenty across the season, because you have to count paint, lunch, naps and the pair of trousers that did not dry.

What interests me more is cost per wear. Trousers at 55 euros worn twice a week all year cost under one euro a day. Trousers at 15 euros whose knee gives out in November cost two and a half euros a day, plus the trip to replace them. The price on the tag says nothing. The division says everything.

What I did not buy this year

I am supposed to be selling you clothes, so let me start with what I turned down, because that is where a selection actually shows.

Trousers with a button and a fly for the youngest years. A nursery teacher has twenty six children and seven minutes before playtime. A button means a child waiting, and sometimes an accident. I let three genuinely beautiful styles go for that reason alone.

Head to toe white in September. Not on aesthetic grounds. On Sunday night laundry grounds.

Miniature adult clothing. The tiny blazer, the tiny trench, the tiny stiff collared shirt. A four year old dressed for a meeting does not amuse me, and more to the point he cannot run in it.

Anything that itches after the first wash. My test is not glamorous: I rub the inside of the collar against the inside of my wrist. If it scratches me, it will scratch a child who will not be able to explain why he suddenly refuses that jumper.

The first day outfit: girls

Something I would put together with my eyes shut, from what is genuinely on the shelf today.

• The Patchwork Stripe Heidi pinafore dress by Goldie & Ace, 69 euros. A pinafore goes over everything, so it works in September over a t shirt and in November over a roll neck. It is the hardest working piece in a school wardrobe. Two left.

• The Bobo Choses red leggings, 35 euros. Elastic waist, no button, she dresses herself.

• The Bobo Choses striped cardigan, 85 euros. Because the playground is always colder than the classroom, and a cardigan comes off without going back over the head.

Basket total: 189 euros, which is RENTREE25, so 141.75 euros paid.

The first day outfit: boys

• The Flynn jeans in mid blue denim by Brunobruno Nation, 70 euros. Mid blue, never raw: raw denim transfers onto chairs and hands.

• The MOLO Disc Energy sweatshirt, 39 euros. A sweatshirt is the real uniform of primary school, so it may as well be well cut.

• The Bobo Choses Modern Striped t shirt, 40 euros. A stripe goes with absolutely everything, which settles four mornings out of five.

Basket total: 149 euros, which is RENTREE15. I will be straight with you, since you are the one paying: this basket misses the next tier by one euro. One more pair of socks and you are on RENTREE25.

Starting nursery or preschool

This is the only part of the article where I am not talking as a stylist at all.

At this age, a good garment is one the child takes off and puts back on on her own, before anyone has time to come and help. That means an elastic waist, no buttons, no laces, nothing fastening at the back, sleeves that push up to the elbow for handwashing, and a fabric that goes in the machine at 30 degrees without negotiation. It also means her name written where the teacher will look for it, on the neck label and inside the waistband, not in marker across the front.

And it means accepting that the clothes will come home dirty. A nursery outfit that comes home clean is an outfit the child did not dare play in.

What I would choose for that first week: the Sticky Lemon coral striped joggers at 65 euros, the Bobo Choses colour block sweatshirt at 55 euros, and the Goldie & Ace oversized sweat tee at 39 euros. Nothing to button, nothing to explain.

Back to school clothes that last all year

Three things keep a child's garment standing from September to June: the weight of the knit, the shoulder seams and the knee. A dense knit will not pill on the third wash. A reinforced armhole survives a backpack pulled off with one arm. And a reinforced knee decides the life of a pair of trousers, because children's trousers never die at the waist.

There is also something most shops cannot write: I do not restock. Of the pieces with a counted stock, forty six are the last one left in their size. That is not urgency I invented to hurry you along. It is simply how a small shop works when it chooses by hand instead of letting a warehouse reorder on its own.

The Back to School Offer, plainly

From 20 August to 14 September 2026. The code goes in at checkout and applies to the whole basket.

Basket	Code	Discount
from 80 euros	RENTREE15	15 %
from 150 euros	RENTREE25	25 %
from 250 euros	RENTREE30	30 %

The discount depends on the value of the basket, never on the number of items: two good pieces beat six small ones, and the code will not push you the other way. One code per order, and codes do not stack. All prices include VAT.

Free shipping within France from 120 euros paid, parcel under 5 kg. Everywhere else the real carrier rate shows at checkout, with no surprise afterwards. Parcels leave from Paris.

If you need it for a French start of term, order by 25 August. Term starts here on Tuesday 1 September 2026. If your school year starts on another date, count backwards from your own and write to me if you want me to check the timing.

Your questions

My child is between two sizes. Which one? The bigger one. A hem can be turned up, growth cannot be undone.

How many outfits does a child need for school? Five complete outfits, and fifteen to twenty pieces across the season, accidents included.

Do sizes run the same from one brand to another? No, and that is the whole point of this article. On a size 6 label: 116 cm at MOLO, 120 at Goldie & Ace, 122 at Bobo Choses.

I want to buy for my grandson and I do not know his size. Ask his parents for his height in centimetres, never his age, then use the table. If you would rather keep the surprise, write to me and I will help you choose. Exchanges are possible.

I do not think in centimetres. Can you help? Yes, and it takes one message. Send me the height in feet and inches, or the UK or US size he wears, and I will tell you what to order.

What if the size is wrong? You write to me and we sort it out. I answer myself. There is no department to contact and no form to fill in three times.

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No stationery lists, no backpacks, no advice you have already read somewhere else. Just the real centimetres, what I turned down, and what I kept.

If you are hesitating between two sizes, write to me. I will walk to the shelf and measure the actual piece for you.

Déia Omena · Toboggan Kids · shipped from Paris