A 48 on an Italian label is supposed to be a plain medium. Then you pull a fleece hoodie over your head in that same nominal size, and it lands well past your hip bones, with the sleeves swallowing half your hand. That gap catches out plenty of first-time shoppers browsing Essentials, and it isn’t a fault in the garment. The cut is drafted oversized on purpose, so the number on the tag and the shape in the mirror are telling you two completely different things.
Italian ready-to-wear runs on the 44 to 52 ladder. Roughly: 44 is an XS, 46 an S, 48 an M, 50 an L, 52 an XL. Essentials ignores that system and ships S through XL, so the conversion itself takes about three seconds. What trips people up is everything that happens after the conversion.
Your 48 is a medium. It still won’t feel like one.
Take the M. That’s the short answer, and for most people wearing a 48 in shirts and light knitwear it’s also the correct one. The longer answer is that a medium in cotton fleece here has a shoulder seam dropping 4 to 6 cm down the upper arm, a body that runs wide rather than tapered, and a ribbed hem sitting low on the hip. None of that is a size problem. It’s the silhouette the pattern was built for.
So compare it to something slimmer in your wardrobe and the medium will read like a large. Compare it to what it actually is, which is a boxy fleece pullover, and it reads normal. Sizing up from that point is a style decision, not a fix for a garment that doesn’t fit.
| Italian size | Essentials size | How it tends to wear |
| 44 | S | Loose through the chest, cuffs reaching the knuckle |
| 46 | S | Comfortably roomy, hem just below the hip |
| 48 | M | Wide body, dropped shoulder, sleeves long by design |
| 50 | L | Heavier volume, good if you layer knitwear underneath |
| 52 | XL | The biggest cut on offer, and it shows |
What the oversized draft actually changes
Four things, mostly. The shoulder seam moves outward, so the sleeve head sits on your bicep and the armhole is deep. The chest and waist measurements are close to each other, which is why the hoodie hangs straight down instead of following your torso. Sleeve length is generous, and the ribbed cuff is meant to bunch slightly rather than sit flush at the wrist. And the fleece has real weight to it, so it holds a shape on its own instead of clinging.
Height is the variable nobody checks. Under about 175 cm a medium covers a good part of your seat, and people either love that or hate it. Over 185 cm the same medium looks like a normal-length hoodie and the sleeves stop feeling long at all.
Popover, full-zip and cropped are three separate questions
The category isn’t one hoodie in five colors. A popover fleece with a kangaroo pocket is the heaviest and the boxiest, and it’s the one where a medium feels biggest. The full-zip Classic Fleece opens up, so it behaves like outerwear and sits more naturally over a t-shirt or a thin crewneck. Cropped fleece is shorter through the body from the start, and going up a size widens it without really lengthening it, which is worth knowing before you order.
Nylon hoodies are a different animal again — drafted as a light shell, cut wide, so something can go underneath. Across the whole Felpa Essentials selection there are around 50 pieces sitting between €70 and €85, down from €230 to €246, in colors from matte black and dark gray through sage, beige and bordeaux. Same size letter, noticeably different fits.
Caught between two sizes
Decide it by what’s going underneath. Just a t-shirt, most of the time? Go smaller. Planning to wear it over a cotton crewneck through a Trentino February, where the snow is real, and the temperature sits near freezing? The dropped shoulder and deep armhole already leave room for that, so you probably still don’t need the extra size.
Honestly, I’d size down before I’d size up. A medium worn slightly snug on a bigger frame still reads as loose, because the pattern itself is loose. A large worn on a 48 frame starts to look borrowed, particularly through the shoulders, where too much fabric has nowhere to go, and the seam slides toward your elbow.
You only get 24 hours to change a size
This is where guessing gets expensive. You have one day — 24 hours from purchase — to swap a size, switch a color or correct the delivery address. Pull the order inside that same day and €15 stays behind as restocking. After that it moves. Refunds don’t exist here in any form; what you get instead is an exchange or store credit, and only in eligible cases. As for the 30-day window, it covers a parcel that held the wrong piece, or a garment that arrived defective. A fit you misjudged isn’t on that list.
Dispatch itself takes 1 to 3 working days, weekends excluded, and a tracking number reaches your inbox the moment the parcel leaves the warehouse. Standard delivery costs €15 and takes 8 to 12 business days; fast is €30 and lands in 6 to 10. Shipping turns free over €500, which two hoodies and a t-shirt won’t reach, so count the €15 in. Anything sent back has to be unworn, unwashed and tagged.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an Italian 48 always translate to a medium?
For hoodies here, yes. The letter maps cleanly; it’s the oversized cut that makes a medium feel like something else. Height and shoulder width decide whether you stay there.
Should I size up to get the oversized look?
You don’t need to. The volume is already in the pattern. Sizing up gives you more length and a shoulder seam that sits closer to the elbow, which reads sloppy rather than relaxed on most people.
Will the fleece shrink enough to change my size?
Cold water and no tumble dryer, and it stays where it started. Heat shortens cotton fleece and roughs up the brushed inside. Skip the dryer. Seriously.
Can I exchange a hoodie if I guessed wrong?
Only inside that 24-hour window, while a size change is still possible. Past it, a fit mistake isn’t covered, since returns exist for wrong or defective items. Measure a hoodie you own first.
Pick the letter your Italian size points to, then let the height and the style pull you one step in either direction. Do that much and the box that arrives from Trento holds what you pictured.
