How to measure inseam: measure the jeans, not your legs

The usual advice puts you barefoot against a door frame, a hardcover book held level at the crotch, a tape run down to the ankle bone. That number describes your leg. No designer cuts to your leg, though, and each one cuts to its own chart.

Our size pages set six designers' own charts side by side, each with its source and the day it was read. Against them, a flat pair you like is the best guide you have, though not a guarantee.

Quick facts

• Method: button a pair that fits, lay it flat and take 5 measurements, doubling the waistband for the waist.
• The tag: Gallery Dept.'s La Flare 32 measures 34 inches at the waist. A.P.C.'s 32 measures 34.4 inches.
• Inseams: Amiri prints 34 inches for every men's size and 32 for every women's; A.P.C. gives 32.5 up to a 29 and 34 from a 30.
• No inseam: Ksubi prints none, and none of the 6 charts ties an inseam to a height.
• Sources: 6 designers' own charts on our size pages, all read again 15 October 2026.
• On within: 219 pieces of men's jeans and 54 of women's jeans, read 15 October 2026.

Measure the pair you already like

Start at the top. Measure the waistband straight across without stretching it, then double it for the garment waist. The front rise runs from the crotch seam up to the top of the front waistband.

Next comes the inseam, from the crotch seam to the hem along the inside leg, and then the leg opening, straight across the hem. (Our field guide to measuring jeans also takes the thigh, just below the crotch, and on a slim pair I would take it too.)

Hold each number against the designer's chart. The guide puts the catch in one line: "Body measurements and garment measurements are not interchangeable: jeans include ease, construction, stretch, and a particular rise."

Why a 32 is not 32 inches

The number on the tag is a name, not a measurement. Gallery Dept.'s La Flare in a 32 measures 34 inches at the waist, and A.P.C.'s chart gives its 32 a 34.4 inch waist.

Ksubi cuts its 32 for a 34 inch body waist, and Purple Brand's 32 is for a 33 to 35 inch waist. So a tape round you that reads 32 does not make you a 32.

Know which kind of chart you are reading. The Gallery Dept. size chart gives garment measurements, so your doubled waistband compares straight across. The Ksubi size chart and the Acne Studios size chart give body measurements, which want a tape round you for that one number.

The A.P.C. size chart, the Amiri size chart and the Purple Brand size chart do not say which they print. With those I trust the flat pair and keep one eye on the waist, where ease and stretch hide.

The long cuts against the short ones

The inseam is the designer's decision. Amiri makes it once per chart, 34 inches for men and 32 for women. On its about page, the label says its jean silhouettes "are cut for all occasions", and the chart gives every occasion the same length.

A.P.C. draws its line at a 30, with 32.5 inches up to a 29 and 34 from a 30. A 29 and a 30 differ by more than their waists.

Purple Brand gives a span for each size, up to 42 1/2 inches at the top, and says all its jeans are "finished individually by hand".

Acne Studios grades it size by size, pairing each waist with a body inside leg. A 26 gets 79 cm, about 31 inches, and a 36 to 37 gets 85 cm, about 33.5. Its denim began in 1997, when cofounder Jonny Johansson made 100 pairs of raw denim jeans with red stitching and gave them to friends and family.

Gallery Dept. falls in between, with a 33 inch inseam on the La Flare in every size from 28 to 40. Complex dates that jean to 2017, when skinny cuts had ruled men's jeans for most of a decade.

Ksubi prints no inseam at all. Its founders started the label in 1999 because they "were dissatisfied with the range of denim fits on the market", and length is still left to you.

A hem comes up, a rise stays put

Buy for the waist and the rise, and let the inseam run long. Our guide to what a tailor can alter calls shortening trousers from the cuff routine work. Let a hem back down, though, and the old crease can show, pressed and faded into the fabric, and on denim it rarely disappears.

The rise is close to fixed, because moving where the crotch sits means remaking the trouser. A waist lets out only as far as the seam allowance, about an inch on most garments. So the waist and rise are what I pay for, and the hem is the tailor's job.

A long hem can come up. A short one cannot come down cleanly.

Rigid against stretch, and the checks before you pay

Rigid or stretch changes the waist answer. In raw denim, A.P.C.'s advice is to size down from your usual because the jeans stretch out, and in stretch it is true to size.

A.P.C.'s denim is all sanforized, so a jean "shrinks a little, but not by two sizes" at the first wash. Gallery Dept.'s La Flare Carpenter page calls the jean true to size, with no stretch material. Ksubi's fit guide says new rigid denim should feel "firm, snug and stiff".

Before paying, check whether the chart is body or garment and whether the denim is rigid. Ask a secondhand seller whether the original hem remains, since a pair taken up before will not match the chart. Denim Tears lists its Cotton Wreath styles as final sale, with no return or exchange, so Denim Tears sizing is worth reading first.

On 15 October 2026, half of the 219 pieces on the men's jeans shelf cost CA$295 or less, and Amiri started at CA$450. A.P.C.'s Martin jean sat marked down at CA$235.

I would not hand over any of that on the word of a tag.

The same tape works on any label that prints a chart, and designer sizing by brand gathers more of them.

Common questions

How do I measure my inseam?

Lay a pair of jeans that fits you flat, buttoned, and measure from the crotch seam to the hem along the inside leg. Then hold that number against the designer's chart before you pay, alongside the waist and the rise.

Is the inseam to floor or ankle?

On a pair of jeans the inseam ends at the hem, not at the floor or the ankle. So measure a pair whose hem lands where you want yours. Gallery Dept.'s Indigo 5001 on our men's jeans shelf comes in waist by length sizes such as 31x34, where the second number is the length.

What height is a 32 inch inseam?

None of the six charts on our size pages ties an inseam to a height, so no height goes with a 32. Amiri's chart gives a 32 inch inseam to every women's size from XXS to XL, whoever wears it. Measure a pair that fits you and match the chart to that.

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