Most people who say a piece “doesn’t sit right” have not bought the wrong size. They have bought the right size in the wrong proportion. Oversized streetwear only works when the volume is deliberate and balanced somewhere else on the body.
This is how we think about sizing across our own range, and the logic carries over to most UK streetwear labels cutting in a similar way.
Oversized is a cut, not a size up
A garment designed with a relaxed or oversized fit already has the extra volume built into the pattern — a dropped shoulder, a wider body, a shorter length to stop it swamping you. Buying that piece two sizes up does not make it more oversized. It makes the shoulder seam fall past your bicep and the hem drop below your hip, which reads as ill-fitting rather than intentional.
The rule we give people: true to size for a relaxed fit, one size up for a genuinely oversized drape, and stop there.
Heavyweight longsleeves and tees
Heavyweight cotton jersey behaves differently to a thin tee. It holds structure instead of clinging, so a relaxed cut looks deliberate at your normal size. It also softens with wear without losing shape.
- Want it clean and wearable: take your usual size.
- Want the boxy, wide-shouldered look: one size up.
- Check the shoulder seam. It should sit at or just past the edge of your shoulder. Halfway down your arm is too far.
For reference on our striped longsleeves, a 6’2” male model wears a Medium and a 5’4” female model wears a Medium for a relaxed drape — which tells you how much room is already in the cut.
Tracksets and matching sets
A set is the easiest way to get proportion wrong, because you are sizing two garments at once. The pairing that works is relaxed on top, tapered through the leg. Volume in the shoulders and chest, control at the ankle.
If you size up the top for extra room, do not automatically size up the joggers. A relaxed top over relaxed bottoms removes every line from your silhouette. Keep the joggers true to size so the taper still does its job.
Cropped and boxy outerwear
Cropped jackets are cut short on purpose so they sit at or just above the waistband. That is what keeps the leg looking long. Size up and you lose the crop — the hem drops, the boxiness turns into bulk, and the whole reason for the cut disappears.
Take cropped outerwear true to size, and check you can still layer a heavyweight longsleeve underneath without the shoulders pulling.
Straight-leg trousers and jeans
Relaxed straight-leg trousers should skim the leg, not hang off it. Go by your waist measurement rather than your usual jeans label, since a relaxed cut already adds room through the thigh and knee.
Coated and waxed denim is worth a note here: the wax finish stiffens the fabric slightly, so a waxed pair will feel firmer than untreated denim in the same size for the first few wears. It relaxes. Do not size up to compensate.
Unisex sizing, briefly
Most of what we make is unisex, cut on a single block. In practice that means the fit reads more relaxed on a smaller frame and more standard on a larger one. If you want a closer fit on a unisex piece, size down one — but only on tops. On outerwear the shoulder will bind.
A quick checklist before you order
- Where does the shoulder seam land?
- Is there volume somewhere and control somewhere else, or volume everywhere?
- Does the hem sit above the widest part of your hip?
- Can you layer under it without pulling?
If the answer to all four is yes, the size is right.
Still unsure? Email clothingmartyr@gmail.com with your height and usual size and we will tell you which to take.