Canali Size Guide

Does Canali Run Big or Small?

Canali runs small. Size up one. If you are normally a Large, order the XL. That is the working rule across the range and it is right far more often than not.

Canali is a tailoring house and it cuts like one. There is very little ease built into the garment, the shoulders sit close, and the body follows the line of the chest rather than hanging off it. A Canali 50 on the hanger looks like a Large; worn, it fits like a UK Medium to Large.

The exceptions are real but uncommon. Canali does produce regular and occasionally oversized pieces, and when it does, the product page says so in capitals. Read that line rather than assuming. If it says Slim Fit, size up. If it says Regular Fit, take your normal size. There is no need to work out which is which from the style name.

What Canali's Own Fit Names Mean: Modern, Tailored and Standard

Canali's own product literature uses its own vocabulary. You will see Modern Fit, Tailored Fitting, Standard Fit and Regular Fit written into the description of a piece. These are the house's names for how the garment is cut. They are not sizing instructions.

This catches people out, because a shirt described as Regular Fit by Canali still wants sizing up for a UK customer. The word is doing a different job. Canali is describing the cut against the rest of its own range; the fit indicator on our product page is telling you which size to take against what you already own.

The short version: an Italian regular is a UK slim. Most Italian tailoring houses cut closer than their British or American equivalents, and Canali is no exception. So a Canali Standard Fit knit is not the same thing as a standard fit from a British brand. Take the fit indicator at the top of the product page as the instruction, and read Canali's own name as a description of the shape.

The Union 22 Fit System

Every product page at Union 22 carries one of three fit indicators. It is an instruction about sizing, not a description of the style:

Canali Size Conversion: Polos, Knitwear, Jackets & Casual Shirts

Canali numbers its clothing on the Italian scale, where the size is roughly your half chest in centimetres. A 50 is a UK Large. Find your usual size below, then take the size above it on any piece marked Slim Fit.

Measure your chest under the arms across the fullest part, with the tape level and not pulled tight. Canali grades in even sizes only, so there is no 49 or 51 to fall between. Most of what we carry runs 48 to 56, and the size selector on each product shows exactly what we hold in that piece.

Why Canali Shirts Have Two Different Size Systems

This is the one that causes the most confusion on the brand, and it is worth two minutes.

Canali sizes its shirts in two entirely different ways depending on the shirt. Put two of them side by side and one will be listed as a 16 and the other as a Large. Both are correct. They are measuring different things.

How to tell which you are looking at: read the size options on the product page. A run of 15, 15.5, 16, 16.5 is a collar-sized shirt. A run of 48, 50, 52 or M, L, XL is a garment-sized one. The two never appear on the same product.

Canali Shirt Collar Size Conversion

For the collar-sized shirts, measure round your neck where the collar sits, with one finger's room, and read across:

The EU number is the collar in centimetres, which is why the steps look uneven against the inch column. A collar-sized shirt is still cut slim in the body, so if you are between collar sizes or you want room through the chest, take the larger one.

Canali Suit & Jacket Sizing

Suits and jackets use the same Italian scale as the rest of the clothing, but on the UK side the number is your chest in inches rather than a letter. A Canali 50 is a UK 40.

Canali jackets are cut fitted and single-breasted as standard, with a close shoulder. Size from the chest and shoulders, not the waist. A jacket that is right across the shoulders can have the waist taken in easily; one that is tight across the shoulders cannot be fixed.

If you are ordering a suit and you fall between two sizes, take the larger and have it altered. That is how tailoring is supposed to work, and we do it in store.

Canali Trousers: Waist Conversion & Length

Canali trousers use Italian waist sizing, which is your UK waist plus 16.

Expect the leg to be long. Most Canali trousers are cut a little longer than a UK customer will want, hemmed but generous, so that the length can be taken up to suit rather than arriving short. That is deliberate and it is how most Italian tailoring is made. Plan on having them shortened.

The more formal trousers go a step further and are left unfinished. On those the leg arrives uncut, with no hem at all, so it can be set to the wearer from scratch. You are not buying a fault, you are buying a trouser that has not been finished yet. It is the traditional way a formal trouser is sold at this level.

Most of what we carry now is the smart casual end of the range rather than the formal tailoring, so an unfinished pair is the exception rather than the thing to expect. If you are unsure which you are looking at, ask us before you order and we will tell you.

Either way, we do the work in store. Tell us when you order, or bring them in afterwards, and we will hem them to your length as a paid service. Ask and we will confirm the cost for the pair you are buying. Have the length set once you are certain of the waist rather than straight away, because a hemmed trouser is an altered garment.

Canali Footwear Sizing: Do Canali Shoes Run Big?

Yes. Drop a size. Canali footwear comes up large, so take the size below the one you normally wear. If you are a UK 9 in most shoes, order the UK 8.

This runs the opposite way to the clothing, which is the thing to watch. On a Canali jacket you go up; on Canali shoes you go down. Both are right.

Find your usual UK size in the table, then take the size below it. If you are already a half size between, or you wear a thicker sock, message us before ordering rather than after.

What To Do If You Are Between Canali Sizes

Go up. On this brand that is the answer almost every time. Canali cuts close, there is little ease to fall back on, and the larger size can be taken in where the smaller one cannot be let out.

On a jacket or suit, let the shoulders decide and alter the rest. On a dress shirt, take the larger collar. On trousers, take the waist that fits and have the length set, which you will most likely be doing anyway since the leg is cut long.

On footwear, go the other way and drop a size. It is the one Canali category where the instinct to take the larger size will leave you with a shoe that slips.

The one time to pause on a garment is a piece marked Regular Fit or Big Fit on its product page. Those are the exceptions, and on those the label overrides the general rule.

Still Not Sure? Ask Us.

About Canali at Union 22

Canali is one of the three longest-standing brands at Union 22. We carry the house at Union House, Liverpool, across the suits and tailoring, the Impeccabile and sport shirts, the polos and merino knitwear, the tailored trousers and the footwear.

Because we alter in store, a Canali suit or a long-cut trouser can be finished to you rather than left as something to sort out later. That matters on this brand, since the leg is cut generously by design and the formal trousers are not hemmed at all.