Guides · sizing and fit

How to measure for compression (and when to re-measure)

Your five-minute measuring session. A soft tape measure, a chair and a handful of steps: compression hosiery is sized on the measurements of your leg, not on guesswork between small, medium and large. Tell us what you are buying and the session trims itself to exactly the measurements you need.

A woman sitting on the edge of a conservatory chair in soft morning light, wrapping a tape measure around her bare lower leg

Which are you buying?

Compression socks2 measuring steps Below-knee stockings2 measuring steps Thigh stockings3 measuring steps Compression tights3 measuring steps

You do not have to choose. The full session is below, and picking a style simply trims it to the steps your chart will ask for.

Your session: ankle and calf

Socks finish just below the knee, so the chart wants two numbers. Some charts also ask for the floor-to-knee length, so that step stays in.

AnkleCalfLength, if the chart asks

Your session: ankle and calf

Below-knee stockings finish just below the knee, so the chart wants two numbers. Some charts also ask for the floor-to-knee length, so that step stays in.

AnkleCalfLength, if the chart asks

Your session: ankle, calf and thigh

Thigh stockings add the thigh, measured up where the stocking top will sit. Some charts also ask for a length, so that step stays in.

AnkleCalfThighLength, if the chart asks

Your session: ankle, calf and thigh

Tights add the thigh, and some tights charts also ask for your height, which needs no tape technique at all.

AnkleCalfThighHeight, on some charts

Get ready

Morning is bestMeasure before the day's swelling builds. Missed it? Sit with your legs up for fifteen minutes first.

Bare legThe tape sits against the skin, not on top of trousers or tights.

Soft tape measureThe sewing-kit kind. A piece of string and a ruler do the same job.

Always check the size guide before ordering. Correct fit is important for comfort and effective compression.

If compression has been prescribed by a clinician, follow their advice on compression level, style and fit. A prescribed garment may also be measured and fitted for you by a clinician rather than at home, and that fitting takes priority over anything in this guide.

Three habits cover every step: keep the tape snug but not tight, flat with no twists, and level all the way round.

Start: the ankle ↓

Illustration of hands wrapping a tape measure around the narrowest part of a bare lower leg, just above the ankle bone

Measure the ankle

Sit down and put your bare foot flat on the floor.
Find the narrowest point of your lower leg, just above the ankle bone.
Wrap the tape around it, flat and level. Snug, not tight.
Write the number down.

The step most people get wrong. The tape belongs in the slim hollow just above the ankle bone, never across it. Across the bone measures the widest part of the joint, and the chart wants the narrowest part of the leg. Most sizes are built around this number.

Next: the calf ↓

Measure the calf

Stay seated, foot still flat on the floor, knee bent at a right angle.
Find the widest, fullest part of your calf.
Wrap the tape around it, flat and level.
Pull it snug and note the number.

Keep going ↓

Illustration of a seated person's hands wrapping a tape measure around the widest part of a bare calf, with the tape flat and level

Illustration of a standing person's hands wrapping a tape measure around the widest part of the thigh, up where a stocking top would sit

Only for thigh-highs and tights

Measure the thigh

Stand up.
Find the widest part of your thigh, up near where the stocking top will sit.
Wrap the tape around it, flat and level, snug not tight.
Write the number down.

Keep going ↓

Only if your chart asks for it

Measure the length

Sit with your knee bent at a right angle and your foot flat on the floor.
Hold the end of the tape on the floor beside your heel.
Run it straight up to the crease below your knee, keeping it vertical rather than following the curve of your calf.
For a thigh length, stand up and measure the same straight line from the floor up to where the stocking top will sit.

Floor or heel? Some charts measure length from the floor and some from the heel. With your foot flat on the floor they come to the same line, so measure from the floor and your number works with either chart.

Finish: read the chart ↓

Illustration of a seated person holding a tape measure straight and vertical from the floor beside the heel up to just below the knee

Done. Now read the size chart.

Your numbers are only half the job. The other half is the size chart, and the chart that counts is the one on the product page of the garment you are buying. Every brand sizes its own garments. Where a brand prints its own measuring instructions on its chart, follow those exactly: they are what the garment was designed against.

Charts differ more than you might expect. Some label the measuring points with letters, and the same letter can mean a different point on another brand's chart, so go by the words: the ankle point is always the narrowest part above the bone, the calf point is always the widest part of the calf. Sizing systems vary too. Most medical compression is sized on leg circumferences, some everyday support socks use shoe-size bands (even there, the ankle and calf measurements usually decide between sizes), and a few lighter styles are sized on height and weight. The chart on the product page always says which system it uses, so the measurements you just took cover all of them.

The one rule that never changes: match every measurement, not just the biggest one. A size only fits when each of your numbers sits inside its band.

A worked example. Real charts vary, which is why the product page's own chart is the authority.

If you land between two sizes

Re-check before you re-size. Most between-sizes results are measurement wobble rather than an awkward leg: a tape that was not level, a twist, or an end-of-day leg. Measure again in the morning, tape flat and level, and the question often answers itself.
Let the chart speak. Some brands print their own between-sizes advice on the chart itself. If the chart in front of you does, follow it exactly. It knows the garment better than any general rule can.
Genuinely between sizes? It depends on what the garment is for. On everyday support styles, comfort can lead, and that usually means the larger of the two sizes. On firmer compression, or wherever compression has been prescribed, do not guess: your clinician's fitting advice comes first, or call our UK-based team on 0115 932 0144 and we will help you decide. Whatever you do, never size up just to make a garment easier to put on. A garment that goes on easily but does nothing is not a bargain.

Measure both legs if you can. Legs are rarely a perfect pair, and if yours differ you can size each leg on its own numbers, or ask us what to do with the difference.

Check your numbers against a chart

Open any product in your category and its size chart is on the product page, with that brand's own measuring instructions where they exist.

Browse compression socks → Open any sock and check its size chart against your two numbers.

Browse below-knee stockings → Open any stocking and check its size chart against your two numbers.

Browse thigh stockings → Open any stocking and check its size chart against your three numbers.

Browse compression tights → Open any pair and check the size chart against your numbers.

Compression socksAnkle and calf Below-knee stockingsAnkle and calf Thigh stockingsAnkle, calf and thigh Compression tightsAnkle, calf and thigh

Open any product and check its size chart against your measurements.

When to measure again

Your numbers change quietly. Measure again after a noticeable weight change, in pregnancy or after giving birth, when swelling has settled or newly appeared, when a prescription changes, and at every renewal. A replacement garment gets a fresh measurement, not a reorder of last time's size.

If compression has been prescribed by a clinician, follow their advice on compression level, style and fit, and ask whether they want to re-measure you themselves.

If your numbers fit nothing

Sometimes a set of perfectly good measurements refuses to sit inside any brand's chart. Some legs simply are not standard, and that is exactly what a made-to-measure garment is for: knitted to your leg's own numbers rather than the nearest band, and a routine order for us as compression specialists.

Not sure what your numbers mean? Call our UK-based team on 0115 932 0144. Talking a customer through a size chart is one of the most useful things we do all day.

This guide covers how to take the measurements compression hosiery is sized on. It is not medical advice, and it does not recommend a compression level: levels and classes are chosen with the size chart, your needs and, where relevant, your clinician's advice. For prescribed compression, always follow your clinician's guidance.

Made-to-measure service. When standard charts genuinely will not fit, we arrange garments knitted to your leg's own numbers. A routine order for our team, not an exotic one.

About made-to-measure