Size Charts

SIZE & FIT GUIDE

CAPE KENNEDY CLOTHING

Our shirts run roomy on purpose. They are cut in the authentic vintage camp-collar style, with 6–9″ of room through the chest so they drape and breathe. Most customers find them fuller than a modern retail shirt of the same letter size.

Want the classic breezy look? Order your usual size.
Prefer a closer fit, or between two sizes? Order one size down.
Planning to machine-dry on heat? Size up — a hot dryer can shrink a cotton/rayon shirt by up to a full size (see Fabric & Care below).
Want to be sure? Measure a shirt you already own and match it to the Shirt Chest column below.

KEEP YOUR SIZE — COLD WASH & AIR DRY

Machine-drying on heat? Order ONE SIZE UP. One hot dryer cycle can shrink a cotton/rayon shirt by up to a full size. Wash cold and air dry, and the measurements below are what you keep — wash after wash.

Hawaiian Shirt — Regular (fits up to ~6′2″)

Size Fits Your Chest Shirt Chest Shirt Waist Length Sleeve
S 34–37 43 42 28 8.25
M 38–40 46 45 28.75 8.75
L 41–43 49 48 29.5 9.25
XL 44–47 53 52 30.5 10
2XL 48–51 57 56 31.5 10.75
3XL 52–55 61 60 32.25 11.5

Fits Your Chest is your own body measurement. Shirt Chest is the garment laid flat and doubled — use it to compare against a shirt you already wear.

Hawaiian Shirt — Tall

Tall adds length only. LT is exactly as wide as L, XLT as wide as XL, and so on — only the body and sleeves get longer. Choose Tall if you are roughly 6′2″–6′7″ or long through the torso. If you simply want more room, size up instead.

Size Fits Your Chest Shirt Chest Shirt Waist Length Sleeve
LT 41–43 49 48 31.5 11.75
XLT 44–47 53 52 32.5 12.5
2XLT 48–51 57 56 33.5 13.1
3XLT 52–55 61 60 34.5 13.9

Women's Hawaiian Shirt

The women's shirt is a shaped cut, not a smaller unisex. It sits closer through the chest than our unisex shirts and widens toward the hem so it drapes over the hip, with a back hem that hangs about 2″ lower than the front. Length below is measured at the front. Sleeves are a short 7″ on every size.

Size Shirt Chest Shirt Hem Length Sleeve
S 39 41 25.5 7
M 41 43 26 7
L 43 45 27.5 7
XL 45 47 28 7
2XL 47 49 28.5 7

Shirt Chest and Shirt Hem are the garment laid flat and doubled. We list the hem rather than a waist because the women's shirt is widest at the bottom — compare both numbers to a shirt you already wear.

Children's Hawaiian Shirt

Cut in the same relaxed style as the adult shirts, so they run generously too. If your child is between two ages and you want the shirt to fit this season, choose the smaller size.

Size Shirt Chest Shirt Waist Length Sleeve
5–6Y 25.5 26.5 22.25 5.25
7–8Y 28.5 29.5 23 5.75
9–10Y 32.5 33.5 24 6.5
11–12Y 36.5 37.5 25 7.25

How To Measure

Diagram showing where to measure a shirt: length, sleeve, chest and waist
  1. Chest — Lay the shirt flat and buttoned. Measure straight across from armhole to armhole, then double it. Compare to the Shirt Chest column.
  2. Waist — Measure straight across the narrowest point of the body, then double it. On the women's shirt, measure the hem — the bottom edge — instead, since that is its widest point.
  3. Length — From the high point of the shoulder, where the shoulder seam meets the collar, straight down to the bottom hem.
  4. Sleeve — From the shoulder seam down the outside of the arm to the sleeve opening.

A note on variance. These shirts are cut and sewn from woven cloth by people, not stamped out of metal. Cloth stretches, moves under the cutter, and settles once it is sewn and pressed. We hold our factory to the specifications above and check against them, but a normal variance of 1–3 cm (about ⅜″–1¼″) is inherent to garment manufacturing and is present in every clothing brand you own, whether or not they mention it. This applies to each measurement as published here, including the doubled Shirt Chest and Shirt Waist figures. A shirt measuring within that range is a correctly made shirt.

Choosing your size is your decision. We sell online and cannot see you or judge how you like a shirt to sit, so we do not recommend sizes. Email contact@capekennedyclothing.com and we will gladly send the exact measurements for any size — but the best method stays in your hands: lay flat a shirt you already own and wear, measure it as described above, and match it to the chart.

Socks

Sock size follows your SHOE size — not your shirt size. S–M and L–XL here are shoe-size ranges, not apparel sizes. Someone who wears a Large shirt very often wears a Small–Medium sock. Men's and women's shoe sizes convert differently, so read your own column — a women's 9 and a men's 9 are two different socks.

Sock Size Women's Shoe Size Men's Shoe Size
S – M 6 – 10 5 – 8.5
L – XL 10.5 – 14 9 – 13

Fabric & Care

Cape Kennedy Clothing care instructions: cold wash and air dry — heat shrinks the fabric, skip the dryer
Item Fabric Care
Hawaiian Shirts 50% Cotton / 50% Rayon Machine or hand wash cold, mild soap. No bleach. Dry with low or no heat. Cool iron if needed. Do not dry clean.
Select Runs (being phased out) 25% Linen / 75% Tencel Lighter and crisper, cut to the same measurements. New designs are 50% Cotton / 50% Rayon — the fabric for any shirt is listed on its product page. Machine or hand wash cold, mild soap. No bleach. Dry with low or no heat.
Women's Shirts Missiles of the Atlantic Test Range collection: 70% Cotton / 30% Viscose. Future releases: 50% Cotton / 50% Rayon. Machine or hand wash cold, mild soap. No bleach. Dry with low or no heat. Cool iron if needed. Do not dry clean.
Children's Shirts Missiles of the Atlantic Test Range collection: 70% Cotton / 30% Rayon. Future releases: 50% Cotton / 50% Rayon. Machine or hand wash cold, mild soap. No bleach. Dry with low or no heat. Cool iron if needed. Do not dry clean.
Socks 95% Cotton / 5% Spandex Machine wash warm. Tumble dry low. Do not bleach.

Keep your size: wash shirts cool and dry with low or no heat. These fabrics can shrink in a hot dryer — by up to a full size. Heat shrinkage is not a manufacturing fault and is not covered by our exchange policy; the same care instructions are printed on the garment tag.