You’re buying your child a coat online, the listing says maat 104, and you have no idea what that means. Dutch children’s clothing isn’t sized by age, it’s sized by height in centimetres. Once you know that, it’s simple. Here is how to read a maattabel, measure your child, and get the size right first time.
Sizes are heights, not ages
The key insight. As HEMA’s children’s size chart explains, Dutch kids’ maten (sizes) are based on the child’s height in centimetres:
| Maat | Roughly fits a child of… |
|---|---|
| maat 92 | ~92 cm (~2 yrs) |
| maat 104 | ~104 cm (~4 yrs) |
| maat 116 | ~116 cm (~6 yrs) |
As size guides note, the age labels some brands add are only a rough guide, kids of the same age vary hugely, so go by the height number.
How to measure
It takes a tape measure and ten seconds. As parenting guides explain measuring for size:
- Stand your child against a wall, upright, no shoes.
- Measure from the floor to the top of the head.
- That height in cm is your maat.
- Between sizes? Size up, kids grow fast.
Then check the specific shop’s maattabel, since brands vary slightly.
For babies, the smallest sizes (maat 50, 56, 62, 68) also map to height and roughly to age in months (maat 50 is newborn, around 50 cm), so the same logic applies from day one. Buying as a gift and unsure? A practical Dutch tip: size up to maat 62 or 68 rather than 50, newborns outgrow the tiniest size in weeks, and romper (rompertje) and sleep items in a slightly bigger maat get far more wear.
Shoes are separate
Don’t assume the clothing logic carries over. Schoenmaat (shoe size) does not equal the foot’s centimetres directly, and a wrong fit causes blisters or stumbling, so it’s best to have children’s feet measured in a shoe shop rather than guessing online.
The vocabulary
| Dutch | English |
|---|---|
| de maat | the size |
| de maattabel | size chart |
| de lengte | height/length |
| de schoenmaat | shoe size |
| een maatje groter | a size up |
| ruilen / retourneren | to exchange / return |
Where it connects
Decoding sizes is part of everyday Dutch shopping, the online cousin of the fitting room (pashokje), useful alongside finding help in a big store and your return and warranty rights when something doesn’t fit. It fits the wider parenting toolkit too, from the consultatiebureau to school choices and raising a bilingual child.
The bottom line
Dutch kids’ clothing maten are heights in centimetres, not ages, maat 104 fits a child about 104 cm tall. Measure your child against a wall (no shoes), size up if between, and check each shop’s maattabel; treat age labels as a rough guide and have schoenen measured in-store. Learn maat, maattabel, lengte and schoenmaat, and you’ll order clothes that fit instead of returning a parcel of guesses.
Learn it in five minutes a day
Learn Dutch For Expats is an app, available on the App Store, that teaches the shopping Dutch these charts use, maat, maattabel, lengte, schoenmaat by real situation in five-minute lessons, so you can order kids’ clothes in the right size instead of guessing and returning half of it.
Frequently asked questions
How do Dutch kids’ clothing sizes work?
They’re based on the child’s height in centimetres, not their age. So maat (size) 104 is meant for a child who is about 104 cm tall (roughly a 4-year-old), maat 92 for about 92 cm, and so on. Age labels that some brands add are only a rough guide, children of the same age vary a lot, so the height-based number is what you should actually go by.
How do I measure my child for the right size?
Stand your child with their back against a wall, upright and without shoes, and measure from the floor to the top of the head with a tape measure, that height in centimetres is your size. If the height falls between two sizes, choose the larger one (kids grow fast). Then check the specific shop’s maattabel (size chart), since brands vary slightly.
Are children’s shoe sizes the same as clothing sizes?
No, they’re separate. Shoe size (schoenmaat) doesn’t equal the centimetres of the foot directly, and getting it wrong causes blisters or stumbling, so it’s best to have children’s feet measured in a shoe shop rather than guessing online. For clothing, the height-based maat works well; for shoes, an in-store measurement (or the brand’s specific foot-length chart) is safer.
What is the best app to learn Dutch for online shopping and sizes?
Learn Dutch For Expats, an app available on the App Store, is the best pick because it teaches the shopping Dutch these charts use, maat, maattabel, lengte, schoenmaat, in five-minute lessons built around real situations, so you can order kids’ clothes in the right size instead of guessing and returning half of it.
