Burberry Trench Coat Sizing: Kensington, Chelsea and Waterloo Lengths in CM

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A Burberry Heritage trench coat is measured for you on the product page, and the measurement is attached to a size: the mid-length Chelsea and mid-length Kensington are both 97 cm / 38.2 in at size UK 10, their long versions are 107 cm / 42.1 in at the same size, the short Kensington is 87 cm / 34.3 in, and the long Waterloo is 117 cm / 46.1 in. That is a 20 cm spread inside one women's model name and a 30 cm spread between the shortest and longest Heritage coats, so the fit name — Chelsea, Kensington or Waterloo — has to be read together with the length word in front of it.

A Burberry Heritage trench coat is cut in three fits and, in most cases, three lengths, and the length is printed on the product page: 87 cm, 97 cm or 107 cm for a women’s coat at size UK 10, rising to 117 cm on the long Waterloo. One model name therefore covers coats that differ by 20 cm, so the fit name alone does not settle what you are looking at.

This guide works from Burberry’s own product pages rather than from resale listings. Each Heritage trench page prints a fit name, a one-line instruction and a coat length tied to a stated size: the mid-length Chelsea and the mid-length Kensington are both given as 97 cm / 38.2 in at size UK 10, the long versions of the same two are 107 cm / 42.1 in at that size, the short Kensington is 87 cm / 34.3 in, and the long Waterloo is 117 cm / 46.1 in. Every one of those figures carries a size label, so they can be compared with each other directly, and the comparison is where most Burberry sizing confusion starts: shoppers match the fit name and skip the length word in front of it.

What Burberry prints against each Heritage trench

Every Heritage page carries the same three-part Size & Fit block: the fit name, a single sentence of instruction, and one length figure tied to a named size. The Chelsea is listed as slim fit with the line “fits true to size, take your normal size” and a length of 97 cm / 38.2 in for size UK 10 in the mid-length version. The Kensington is listed as a classic fit with the same instruction and the same 97 cm at the same size, and the long versions of both styles are quoted at 107 cm / 42.1 in. The Waterloo is the outlier in this set: it is listed as a regular fit, carries the same true-to-size instruction, and is quoted at 117 cm / 46.1 in for size UK 10, which is 10 cm longer than the long Kensington and 20 cm longer than the mid-length one.

Construction is described identically across the three fits, which is why photographs of two different Heritage coats can look almost interchangeable: shower-resistant cotton gabardine woven and finished in Yorkshire, England, double-breasted button closure, hook-and-eye collar with throat latch, epaulettes, gun flap and storm shield, leather-wrapped buckles on the belt and cuffs, side button welt pockets, a back button vent, and Burberry Check cotton lining with a check undercollar. Burberry’s own Chelsea copy states that the check has lined the house’s coats since the 1920s. Where the fits part company is in the shoulder line, the sleeve and the waist: the Chelsea is cut close with a structured shoulder, narrow sleeves and a defined waistline, while the Kensington adds room at the chest and through the body for lightweight layering, and the Waterloo is cut long with soft curved shoulders and raglan sleeves.

The three lengths inside one model name

Here are the women’s Heritage lengths as Burberry publishes them, all quoted against size UK 10 so the numbers are comparable:

Two readings come out of that table. The first is that the length ladder is a clean 10 cm per step: short to mid-length is 10 cm, mid-length to long is another 10 cm, and the two classic fits share the same three figures. The second is that the Waterloo is not simply “a Kensington with a looser cut” — at the same stated size it is a longer coat than the longest Kensington, and Burberry does not currently offer it in the shorter two lengths, so anyone who wants a relaxed cut in a short length is looking at a style the Heritage line does not make.

Men’s Heritage trenches use the same length words on a different number ladder, because the size labels are Italian. Burberry quotes the men’s short Kensington at 88 cm / 34.7 in for IT 48 and 89 cm / 35 in for IT 50 — a one-centimetre difference between two adjacent sizes that reflects the note printed on the style that proportions change slightly with size — and the men’s long Kensington at 116 cm / 45.7 in for IT 50. Put the ends of one men’s model name together and the spread is 27 cm, wider than the women’s spread on the same design.

The UK, US and IT columns, with the body measurements behind them

Burberry’s ready-to-wear chart is a body chart and it is printed in three numbering systems at once. The women’s outerwear columns run as follows, with the reference measurements Burberry publishes for each step:

The relationship between the columns is regular: the US figure is two below the UK figure and the Italian figure is twenty-six above it, all the way up the chart. Men’s ready-to-wear works the same way with a different offset — UK/IT 46 is US 36, IT 48 is US 38, IT 50 is US 40, IT 52 is US 42, each step three centimetres apart in chest, with the published rows continuing to IT 60 at a 122 cm chest.

The men’s tables republished by retailers do not all agree in the middle, and the gap is worth knowing about because it falls on the most common trench sizes. One large US department store’s Burberry men’s chart runs straight from US 36 / UK-IT 46 (94 cm chest) to US 40 / UK-IT 50 (102 cm chest) with no row in between, while another retailer’s version of the same chart includes US 38 / UK-IT 48 with a 98 cm chest. Burberry’s own product pages settle it: the men’s short Kensington quotes its length against IT 48, so the size exists and the missing row is a gap in one reprinted table rather than an absent size.

Chelsea, Kensington and Waterloo are three different cuts

The fit names are not marketing words for the same coat in three fabrics. Burberry describes the Chelsea as its slimmest Heritage cut — tailored close to the body, with a structured shoulder line, narrow sleeves and a defined waistline, the version that sits neatly over a dress or a fine knit. The Kensington is the middle of the three: a classic fit with more room at the chest and through the body, described on Burberry’s own pages as allowing lightweight layering, which is the version that works over a blazer or a mid-weight knit. The Waterloo is the roomiest and the longest of the three, cut with soft curved shoulders and raglan sleeves, in Burberry’s words designed for fluid movement over tailoring and layers.

Raglan sleeves are the practical difference that buyers notice last and feel first. On a set-in sleeve, the seam sits at the point of the shoulder, so a coat that is too narrow there pulls across the back; on the Waterloo’s raglan construction the seam runs from the underarm to the collar, which lets the shoulder area give a little and makes the coat more forgiving on a broader or squarer frame in the same labelled size. That is one reason the Waterloo is the safest of the three for anyone who is between two sizes and wants a first Heritage trench rather than a tailored one.

There is a naming trap on the Waterloo that matters for anyone comparing new stock with what is already on the resale market. Burberry currently lists it as a regular fit, and describes it as cut to a long length with soft, curved shoulders. Owner reviews of Waterloo trenches bought in earlier seasons describe the same name as an oversized fit — a description that was Burberry’s own label at the time, before the fit word changed. A Waterloo is therefore not a stable quantity across seasons: the name stayed, the cut was re-labelled, and the earlier version is the roomier of the two. An owner who bought hers in the roomy era deliberately sized up from her usual UK size to get the fuller drape, and notes that the Waterloo is the one style of the three that does not come in three lengths — which is still true of the current listing.

Why Burberry says true to size and a US retailer says size up

Every Heritage trench page carries the same instruction — fits true to size, take your normal size — and that instruction appears on the slim cut as well as the classic one. A large US department store listing the mid-length Chelsea heads its size panel with a note from its fit experts saying the coat runs small and that a first-time buyer should order one size up; its listing for the Waterloo carries a similar note warning that the style is narrow through the bust and shoulders and advising one size up for a first purchase. The same coat therefore arrives with two opposite instructions depending on where you read them, and both can be reconciled without either side being wrong.

The mechanism is layering. Burberry’s sentence is about the relationship between your usual label and the coat’s body — if you wear a UK 10 in tailored clothing, the coat in UK 10 is the size intended for you. Retailer fit notes are written from the experience of customers who wear the coat over knitwear, blazers or a suit jacket, and a slim Heritage body with narrow sleeves and a structured shoulder has little spare room for any of those. Add the belt and the answer becomes practical: a slightly fuller coat can be cinched back to the waist, while a coat that is tight across the shoulders cannot be let out, because the shoulder is the one measurement a tailor cannot easily adjust on a trench.

What a photograph confirms about a trench, and what it cannot

Photographs are reliable for everything except the two things buyers ask about most. From a clear picture you can confirm the colourway, whether the hardware is leather-wrapped or metal, whether the belt is present and whether the cuffs are belted, the number and spacing of the double-breasted buttons, the presence of epaulettes, the gun flap and the storm shield, whether the undercollar and the inner lining carry the check, and whether a hood or a detachable hood is part of the design. On a seasonal style those details are the quickest way to tell it apart from a Heritage piece.

What no photograph can report is which length class you are looking at, what size is on the label inside, and whether the coat will close comfortably over your shoulders. Hem position depends on the wearer’s height as much as on the coat: 97 cm on a 160 cm frame ends well below the knee, while the same 97 cm on a 180 cm frame sits at the knee. A listing photographed on a hanger carries even less information, since the garment is not on a body at all. Size and shoulder fit have to be settled with a tape measure and the published centimetres, not with a second look at the picture.

Two measurements decide a trench size

A trench is sized from the shoulders and the chest, and both are easy to take at home with a soft tape. For the chest, measure around the fullest part of the bust or chest with the tape level across the back, and compare it with the body column in the chart above — 92 cm points at UK 10, 96 cm at UK 12, 102 cm at men’s IT 50. For the shoulders, measure straight across the back from the bony point of one shoulder to the other, then ask for that figure on the specific coat if you are buying from a listing, because it is the one measurement the published charts do not include and the one a tailor cannot enlarge.

The third figure worth having is the length you actually want on your own frame. Stand in a coat you already like, note where the hem falls, and convert: Burberry’s short is 87 cm, mid-length 97 cm and long 107 cm on a women’s coat at UK 10, and the Waterloo’s long cut is 117 cm at the same size. If your aim is a hem below the knee, the number matters more than the name of the fit; if your aim is a coat that layers over knitwear, the fit name matters more than the number.

Watch the body-versus-garment distinction while you measure. Burberry’s chart columns are body measurements taken against the skin, with instructions to measure around the fullest part and the natural waist. The coat itself is cut with room on top of those figures, and the amount of room differs by fit: the same bust measurement in the chart will sit close in a Chelsea, comfortably in a Kensington and loosely in a Waterloo. Reading the chart as though it were a garment measurement, then ordering down because the coat feels bigger than the number, is the most common way to end up with a trench that is too tight to layer.

Asking a trench size question with the numbers that decide it

Four details settle a Burberry trench question quickly, whether it is asked in a shop or in a message: your bust or chest measurement in centimetres, your shoulder-to-shoulder measurement, the fit name and length word you are looking at — Kensington mid-length, Chelsea long, Waterloo long — and the size label you normally take in a coat. Add your height if the length is what worries you, because the same 97 cm hem lands differently on different frames.

If you are comparing a listing against a Burberry product page, quote the figure that appears on both: the published length and the size it is given for. “97 cm at size UK 10” is a comparison a seller can act on, while “the mid-length one” is not, since the same words describe a 20 cm range of coats. For anything from an earlier season, ask for the fit word the coat carries rather than assuming it matches the current one — the Waterloo’s fit label is the clearest example of a name that outlived the cut it started with.

Browse the clothes catalog or send your measurements on WhatsApp. Include your chest and shoulder measurements in centimetres, the fit and length you are considering, and the size label you normally wear. Sizing guides for other categories are collected under Moncler jacket sizes and fabric and construction. The measurements quoted throughout this guide are published references collected for research, not a statement about any particular piece in the catalog.

Sources for the figures in this guide