Alpinestars Sizing Charts:
Some jackets and pants from Alpinestars are sold in European sizes (or they sometimes call it “Italy Size”). The conversion from your US size to the European size is not too hard. Basically, in a jacket, you can subtract 10 points from the Alpinestars European size to get the corresponding US chest size. For example, a person who wears a US 46 sport coat jacket would choose a 56 jacket sold in European sizes.
Alpinestars publishes a couple different conversion charts for their products. The following chart shows the MAX chest and MAX waist/belly inches for each European size jacket. Using the example above, the person who wears a 46 suit coat jacket would likely have an ACTUAL measurement just a bit less than 46 (otherwise it would be tight). According to this chart, the max chest for a 46 US/56 European jacket is 44 1/8”. So that is about what you’d expect.
Belly Size: This chart above is used to describe size for many product styles, and the different styles don’t all fit alike, but generally speaking, the “drop” from chest to waist in most jackets is about 8”. “Drop” means how much the jacket tapers from its chest size to its waist/belly size. Jackets for more casual use would have a less-than-average drop, say 6” and jackets for racing would have more taper, perhaps 10”. Using our example, the max belly for the average 46 US/56 European jacket is about 38”. For a casual style, it might be 40” and for a race cut, it would be about 36”. The chart above seems to best represent the race cut jacket (which would be the worst case scenario).
In any case, if you have a bit of a belly, it would be good to get a measurement and then add 6 to 10 inches (depending on the general style of the jacket) to get the MINIMUM US jacket size you could wear. Then add 10 points to get the European size.
The following is another chart used by Alpinestars which offers a simplified conversion for both men and women for the “Euro Size” to “USA Size” which is the same thing as what I described above. The chart also gives a conversion from chest size to “alpha” size and a conversion for pants from Euro size to USA size. It is best to NOT believe this chart, but rather refer to our sizing advice on each individual product page. Don’t get me started, but Alpinestars apparently lost their conversion chart when making pants because virtually all styles run MUCH smaller than advertised. We do our level best to describe the fit of pants, but it is no easy chore!
Last Modified: 03-25-12 by Paul