Are You Ready for Amazon's New Apparel Size Standards?

Not too long ago, Amazon took a major step in improving its customer experience by enforcing new shoe sizing requirements. Now, the company is introducing similar changes to all apparel listings on its U.S. marketplace. 

Whether you sell t-shirts or shapewear, casual or formal wear, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with Amazon’s new sizing standards to avoid any chance of your products getting delisted in the future, or to successfully list new apparel items from here on out.

These updates began rolling out at the beginning of Q4 and will continue to roll out throughout the upcoming months. Starting Q1 2020, they’ll be enforced more strictly—though even now, Amazon warns that any inaccurate or incorrectly formatted listings may get hidden on product pages.  

Remind me, why are these changes being made?

Just like we saw with the new shoe size attributes, Amazon is committed to cleaning up the sizing dropdowns on its listings, as well as the filter menus on search pages that are intended to aid product discovery. 

But until recently, you could use any type of sizing system or combination of text to describe the fit of your apparel products. This has led to a hodgepodge of different sizing logic that, for buyers, has confused the shopping experience and, for sellers, has increased the number of returns of ill-fitting clothes.

The new update is meant to address these two pain points by standardizing accepted sizes and requiring more details from apparel sellers. Ultimately, buyers should be able to trust Amazon more for their apparel needs—leading to more traffic and potential customers for your business. As a reseller, you’ll also have more high quality ASINs to choose from. 

New Amazon Apparel Size Attributes and Accepted Values 

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Amazon is requiring all new and existing U.S. apparel listings to include the following details by 2021:

• Target gender: male, female, unisex 
• Age range description: the target audience for your clothing (“little kid” for ages 6-8, “big kid” for ages 10-12, etc.)
• Apparel size class: the sizing format you use, like numerical (size 4) vs. alpha (small)
• Apparel size value: the actual size of your product 
  

Certain product types will require additional information:

• Apparel size body type: slim, regular, plus, big husky—the default value for this is “regular” 
• Apparel size height: petite, short, regular, tall, extra tall, long, extra long—the default value for this is “regular”

Mandatory Attributes by Product Type

There are a few product-specific options to keep in mind as you update your catalog. For shirts, as an example, Amazon accepts other values than what’s shown in the chart above. Take a look at the list below to see if there are any other product-specific requirements that you need to be aware of. 

Multiple Clothing Types

(Sweaters, dresses, coats, tunics, socks, underpants, sweatshirts and pajamas)

These clothing types require a target gender, age range description and size. Note that you can easily update these fields in bulk using Zentail’s QuickEdit or import/export tools. Zentail’s SMART Types system can also shave off extra steps by checking that all of your values are formatted correctly for Amazon.

Shirt

Shirts require a target gender, age range description, size class and size value. “Size class” can be numeric, alpha or based on an age range. Alternatively, you can provide a Neck Size, or a Neck Size + Sleeve Length. If you choose this option, you’ll need to make sure that your inputs in Seller Central include a unit of measure, like inches or centimeters written out as symbols, as well as the word “Neck” and/or “Sleeve.” Examples of valid sizes are 12” Neck, 18"-19” Neck Short or 12" Neck 38" Sleeve.  

(By contrast, in Zentail, you only need to set the unit of measure as IN or CM. Our platform will automatically format your sizes for Amazon, so you don’t have to stress over the formatting yourself. By adding a value for Neck Size and/or Sleeve Length in Zentail, our platform will also infer the right size class, cutting down the amount of manual work and ensuring greater accuracy.)

Bottoms 

(Pants, shorts and overalls) 

Bottoms must have a target gender, age range description, size class and size value associated with them. Instead of using a numeric, alpha or age group, you can set the “size class” as Waist Size, or Waist Size + Inseam Length in Seller Central. Make sure to include the unit of measure written out as symbols, and the letters “W” or “L” to represent waist and inseam, respectively. The proper format should look something like this: 48W x 24L. 

Note: Skirts can similarly be listed with a Waist Size option. Zentail can also significantly simplify this process by auto-inferring and formatting attributes, as described earlier. 

Shapewear

(Swimwear, bra, corset and undergarment slip)

These items should have a target gender, age range description, size class and size value. For “size class,” you can choose to use Cup Band. This will require you to provide sizes for the Shapewear cup size (like B, C, D) and band size (like 28, 30, 32). For either of these fields, you can provide a range like 32A-32B or 28-32J/JJ, where a slash represents the range of band size values. 

Note: Zentail can significantly simplify this process by auto-inferring and formatting attributes, as described earlier. 

Need Help Getting Your Listings Compliant?  

Updates like these can be a huge undertaking for your business, requiring hours upon hours of manual data entry for each impacted ASIN. Not to mention, Amazon’s requirements can be flat-out confusing to understand. 

Fortunately, if you manage your catalog in Zentail, you’ll only need to fill out a few fields about each ASIN and assign a SMART Type. Our AI-technology will then infer the rest of the attributes for you. For instance, if you enter a size range like “0-2” in Zentail, SMART Types will automatically translate the size value (0), size to value (2), size class (numeric) and size system (US) without you having to lift a finger.   

Our goal is to save you precious time in your day-to-day management of Amazon, while keeping your catalog compliant and optimized for quality placement.

Read Also: Amazon SEO: 3 Tested Strategies for Doubling Your Organic Traffic

In the same vein, Zentail’s QuickEdit or import/export tools make it easy to edit existing ASINs in bulk. Edit information directly in Zentail or download a spreadsheet of your SKUs with the all the required fields, then import the data back into the platform. 

It’s worth mentioning that once you’ve made these changes to your Amazon catalog, you can easily update your listings on Walmart Marketplace, eBay and any other channel managed through Zentail. 

If you’d like to see our tools in action, contact us. Learn how Zentail can help you stay compliant with this and other major changes on Amazon, while adding more free time to your day.