In kids clothing, is '3 years' the same as '2-3 years' or '3-4 years'?

[SparkleShot]

I thought '3 years' would mean 'fits while you'd call them 3 years old' (ie 3-4 years). Unfortunately, from the size of the leggings I bought ahead of time & just pulled out of storage, I'm probably wrong!

I'm shopping on sainsburys which has different sizing methods for different items and a size chart for only one of them.

Age 3 is usually equivalent of age 2-3 years

2-3 years.

all brands different better to go off size guides where they give measurements for each size

I don’t know the answer but I would have used the same logic as you and assumed 3 meant the year they’re 3 so age 3-4.

Usually 2-3 years

Usually means 'up to' the year. Made this mistake when gifted some very nice baby clothes from America. The 6 months clothes were already tight when I tried them at 6 months!

Think it differs from place to place helpfully. Next, for example, seems more like the year ahead. Bought a "4 year" Hoodie for my averagely- sized about-to-be-5-year-old and it fits now with a little room left over. 5 years was too big.

Thanks!
Thankfully it's only a 3 pack of black leggings I'll be putting straight in the nursery/spare clothes drawer. I'll make sure to pick age 4, not 3 now.

It annoys me how inconsistent children's clothes sizes are though, I've found next massive compared to others, especially boys/unisex. It's difficult to get a 2/3 year old to stand still long enough to hold clothes up next to them, nevermind try things on!

It’s 2-3

They can be massively inconsistent - I’ve just bought a jumper and hoodie from the same brand, both in 5-6, the jumper fits fine, the hoodie could fit three of my son in it! But as a rule of thumb, I’d say single years are “up to” - so 3 years = 2-3.

Completely depends on your kid and the brand. But I’m the sort of mum with an all-consuming obsession with ‘getting the wear out of it’ so I’d pick the biggest size possible (even though my nearly three year old is on the smaller side and still fits into some 18-24 months clothes). I find expensive stuff bigger usually for some reason eg Marks and Spencer’s, Next and White Company all tend towards big ime.

In my experience "3 years" is the same as "2-3 years", unfortunately. It is very confusing!

There is a lot of variation really, I use the same brands but even that does not stop things from bring tiny or massive. I don't buy ahead any item that will only git in a certain season etc as I used to see things in sales and squirrel them away, but too often I take them out and they do not fit.

They all make them up on the spot IME. Pain in the arse. Sainsburys usually huge, next can be tiny or huge.

Well every day is a school day.

When there's only one number, it's the top end of the range, when there's a range it's equivalent to the top number.

E.g. UK sizes, 2-3 is the same as size 3 / age 3 / 3T, and means it fits from approx age 2y-3y, whereas EU sizes, 110-116 is the same size as 116. (And means it fits from approx 110cm-116cm)

People get this wrong ALL the time, and you're right, it's because intuitively, you'd think it ought to be the other way around. But this is the standardised way of doing it so it can't realistically be changed without introducing a load more confusion.

When you use Vinted on the continent, you often see people listing something that is size 110 as 110-116 (5-6y), when it's actually equivalent to 104-110 (4-5y). Drives me nuts! Because when I actually want to buy stuff in age 4-5/size 110 for my 4yo, people list their age 3-4 stuff under the 4-5 label, and when it arrives, it's too small. I only buy from people who photograph the size label now.