What is a size 8?How girls' and boys' size 8 compare across 38 kids' brands

A size 8 is designed with 8-year-olds in mind, but age is only a rough guide. Because it is built around height and build, plenty of children wear a size 8 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 8 for about 51–53" and a boys' size 8 for about 50–52", but across brands the label covers 47–55" — 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 8 that covers both, but 22 of the 38 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 8 is not standardized. Across these 38 brands it covers heights from 47 to 55", a spread of about 8 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 8 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.

After a size 8, most brands move to a size 10 (most brands skip 9). 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 8 left off.

When your child's height is near the top of a brand's published size 8 range, check that brand's a size 10 (most brands skip 9) before buying — the next size's range doesn't always pick up where size 8 ends. We can't predict how long a garment lasts, so we point you to the boundary, not a guess.

Among the brands here, Converse Kids cuts the longest size 8, fitting up to about 55 inches of height. That is about published height only — it says nothing about how long the garment itself lasts.