What Is Sizing Like at Kin?

Kin runs relaxed, and just slightly big. John Lewis’ in-house label – going since 2013 – is built on that clean, Scandi-influenced, boxy silhouette, so most garments are cut to sit easy rather than sharp. In practice, take your normal size if you want the intended modern, unfussy look, and size down one if you prefer something neater and more fitted. The outerwear is where it runs biggest, so that’s the category to watch.

I’ll be honest – Kin caught me out the first time. I ordered one of their overshirts in my usual medium for a shoot, expecting a standard British cut, and it turned up with a good inch of extra room through the chest and a dropped shoulder that swamped my frame on camera. Lovely fabric, wrong read. The next one I took in a small and it looked exactly as intended. Lesson learned, and one I’ve passed on to every client since: with Kin, the relaxed cut is the whole point – you just have to decide how much of it you actually want.

So, Does Kin Run Big or Small?

It runs a touch big across the board, but not evenly. The cut is deliberately soft and modern, so the amount of extra room depends heavily on the garment. Here’s how it breaks down category by category:

Outerwear & overshirts – the roomiest of the lot. Coats, chore jackets and overshirts are cut generous and boxy. If you like a clean, tucked-in-nowhere drape, stick to your size; if you want it closer, size down.
Shirts – relaxed through the body with a slightly longer hem. Fine on your normal size for a casual look, but size down if you plan to tuck and tailor.
T-shirts & knitwear – the most forgiving. These sit close to true, with just a hint of extra ease. Your usual size is safe.
Trousers – wide-leg and relaxed-tapered styles dominate, so they read bigger than a slim high-street chino even at the same waist. True on the waist, generous on the leg.
Tailoring & suits – Kin’s newer suiting uses softer silk-wool blends and an unstructured shoulder, so it wears more like a relaxed jacket than a rigid two-piece. Take your normal jacket size and expect an easy, throw-on fit.

How to Style Kin (and What’s Actually Worth Buying)

Kin sits in a genuinely useful spot – more considered than the fast-fashion high street, more affordable than the designer labels it quietly borrows from. The trick is to lean into the minimalism rather than fight it. A few things I’d steer you towards:

Build around tonal, muted staples – stone, ecru, navy, olive, charcoal. Kin’s palette is designed to layer with itself, and that’s where it looks most expensive.
The overshirt is the hero piece. Worn open over a plain tee with relaxed trousers and clean trainers, it’s the easiest smart-casual win in the range.
Let the wide-leg trouser do the talking – keep the top half fitted so the proportion stays intentional rather than baggy-on-baggy.
For the softer unstructured suit, ditch the tie. Wear it with a fine-gauge knit or a tee and trainers – that relaxed tailoring is bang on trend right now and Kin does it at a fraction of the designer price.

The one styling rule I’d hold you to: because everything is cut relaxed, pick one oversized piece per outfit and keep the rest trim. Two loose layers and the whole thing tips from “quietly modern” to “borrowed from a bigger mate.”

Brands to Wear Alongside Kin

If Kin’s clean, Scandi-minimal look is your thing, here’s where else I’d shop – three tiers, each picked to sit naturally in the same wardrobe.

High street

COS – the obvious step across. Arguably the sharpest minimalist tailoring and knitwear on the high street, with the same boxy, architectural cut Kin is chasing. Runs relaxed, so the same size-down logic applies.
Arket – sibling to COS but warmer and more Scandi-outdoorsy. Brilliant for the mid-weight overshirts, heavy tees and wool-blend trousers that anchor this kind of wardrobe.
Uniqlo – unbeatable for the plain foundations underneath: fine-gauge merino, clean crew tees and their U-line relaxed trousers. True to size and does the heavy lifting cheaply.

Independent & boutique

Norse Projects – a Copenhagen label that basically wrote the modern Scandi-minimal playbook. If you love Kin’s ethos but want a step up in fabric and finish, start here.
Folk – a London independent built on textural, quietly interesting staples and a slightly artier take on minimalism. Their trousers and overshirts are a natural upgrade from Kin’s.
Universal Works – Nottingham-made, workwear-leaning and endlessly wearable. The relaxed chore jackets and pleated trousers slot straight into a Kin-style rotation.

Designer & luxury

A.P.C. – the French master of understated, buy-it-for-life staples and raw denim. This is the grown-up version of everything Kin does well.
Margaret Howell – quintessentially British, quietly luxurious, fabric-obsessed. If you want the same restrained aesthetic in the finest cottons and wools going, this is the destination.
Acne Studios – the Scandi designer name with a sharper, more fashion-forward edge. Perfect when you want the minimalism with a bit more attitude in the cut.

Never Guess Your Kin Size Again

Here’s the thing about a brand that runs relaxed and varies by category – a generic size chart won’t tell you whether your body wants the medium or the small. That’s exactly the guesswork we built Tellar to remove. It’s the UK’s leading free sizing tool: measure once and your body is matched instantly to your precise size across 1,500-plus brands – Kin, COS, Arket, Reiss, Everlane and the rest – so you never squint at a size guide again.

Measure once using your chest, waist or an existing brand size you already trust – here’s the quick how-to-measure guide for men.
Use the Store Size Lookup tool to get your exact size in any brand – check your Kin size here.
Shop with confidence – no guesswork, fewer returns, better-fitting kit.
Always free, nothing to download – it works straight in your browser.

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Stop gambling on relaxed fits. Match your measurements to 1,500+ brands with Tellar’s free Store Size Lookup – honest, unbiased and built to get it right first time.

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Beyond the sizing tool, the Tellar Fashion Hub is a growing library of free, independent posts from our stylists – honest, unbiased and never sponsored. A few worth a read next:

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