How to Measure Pants' Fit

It's quite easy to figure out your waist size. It's an important figure in all respects! Same goes for the inseam. But, what about these tricky subjects of "rise" and "leg opening." Why are these so important and how to measure them?

The fact is that altering men's dress pants' waist or inseam is quite an easy and inexpensive undertaking. But, the rise and the leg opening are set in stone so to speak. They determine a pair of pants' fit and in most cases are very hard and expensive to alter. In short, it is the difference between "I love these pants!" and "What's this store returns and refunds policy?"

Here is how you tackle this. Grab your best fitting pair of dress pants and take all three measurements (see the guide below). Then, compare them with the measurements of the item you're interested in and see right away how it will fit. That's it! No more surprises! For more information on which fit to choose check out our blog post about the best fit for men's dress pants.

Leg opening 

Measure the width of a pant's leg near the bottom and multiply by 2. In the picture below, the width is 8 inches times 2 equals the leg opening of 16 inches.

Front rise

Measure at the front from the top of the waistband to the bottom of the crotch seam (the point where seams from the front, back and legs meet).

Back rise

Measure at the back from the top of the waistband to the bottom of the crotch seam (the point where seams from the front, back and legs meet).