What is a size 16?How girls' and boys' size 16 compare across 24 kids' brands

A size 16 is designed with kids around 14–16 in mind, but age is only a rough guide. Because it is built around height and build, plenty of children wear a size 16 a year earlier or later than the label suggests. Checking your child's height against a specific brand's chart is far more reliable than going by age alone.

Most brands cut a girls' size 16 for about 62–63" and a boys' size 16 for about 62–64", but across brands the label covers 60–69" — that full span is the honest answer. Check your child's height against the brand you are buying.

Not always. Many brands publish one unisex size 16 that covers both, but 16 of the 24 brands here chart girls and boys separately — and where they do, the two can differ by an inch or more at the same number. The table above shows both, so you can compare the one that matches your child.

Neither, reliably — a size 16 is not standardized. Across these 24 brands it covers heights from 60 to 69", a spread of about 9 inches, so "big" or "small" only means anything next to a named brand.

No, and there is no industry standard that would make it so. Each brand sets its own size 16 height range, which is why the number cannot be carried from one brand to the next: the size that fits in one can be short or roomy in another under an identical label.

Some brands do — the same numbered size, taken in or let out through the waist and seat rather than cut to a different height. Little & Youth tracks those separately: see the slim, plus and husky guides for which brands publish them and how they compare.

After a size 16, most brands move to a size 18 or adult XS. Sizing can shift noticeably at that step, so it is worth checking the next size's height range rather than assuming it picks up exactly where size 16 left off.

When your child's height is near the top of a brand's published size 16 range, check that brand's a size 18 or adult XS before buying — the next size's range doesn't always pick up where size 16 ends. We can't predict how long a garment lasts, so we point you to the boundary, not a guess.

Among the brands here, Appaman cuts the longest size 16, fitting up to about 69 inches of height. That is about published height only — it says nothing about how long the garment itself lasts.