Two measurements decide this, and the size of your shower is not one of them. Measure the gap the curtain has to close across. Then measure from the rail down to the floor. Those two numbers put you on one of two widths sold here, about 140 to 142 cm or 183 cm, and one of three drops, 183 cm, 213 cm or 244 cm, with a single range adding a fourth.
If you are buying in the next five minutes: a 183 cm wide curtain with a 183 cm drop suits a bathtub or a wide cubicle opening, and a narrow cubicle in a small flat is usually happier on the narrow width, which costs less and covers a small opening better.
Where the 72 x 72 inch answer comes from
Look this up in English and one figure keeps coming back: 72 x 72 inches, which is 183 x 183 cm. It is a real size and it is on the shelf here too. What it is not is a general answer, because that number starts life as a bathtub measurement. The curtain is cut to hang the length of a tub with a little spare at each end, which is why it ends up square.
A lot of Indian bathrooms have no tub to size against. Take a common one: a glass partition about 120 cm across in the corner of a two-bedroom flat, a rail screwed into the side wall at whatever height the plumber liked, and a floor sloping to a drain in the middle. There is no tub length in that room to work back from. Our shower curtain liner guide covers what the layout changes about wet floors and second layers. What is left for sizing is the opening you have to close and the rail you have to hang from, and both take a minute with a tape.
The shower curtain sizes sold in India, measured
The shower curtain range runs to 51 listings, of which 43 are single curtains and eight are curtain and mat sets. The single curtains between them use seven size options. Every figure below comes from the size options on the product pages, the size-chart image in each listing's photographs, and the measurements quoted in the description text. Set out by drop and width, the whole grid reads in one go.
| Size on the selector | Drop | Width | Price, single curtain |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 x 4.5 feet | 183 cm | 140 to 142 cm | ₹599 to ₹809 |
| 7 x 4.5 feet | 213 cm | 140 to 142 cm | ₹709 to ₹869 |
| 8 x 4.5 feet | 244 cm | 140 to 142 cm | ₹799 to ₹989 |
| 6 x 6 feet | 183 cm | 183 cm | ₹919 to ₹989 |
| 7 x 6 feet | 213 cm | 183 cm | ₹999 |
| 8 x 6 feet | 244 cm | 183 cm | ₹999 to ₹1,209 |
| 6 x 6.5 feet | 200 cm | 183 cm | ₹949 |
The last row is the odd one out. The label looks like a wider curtain at the short drop, and it is not. The product code on that size reads 183 x 200 cm, and the size chart inside the same listing groups it with the 183 x 213 cm curtain, so it is 183 cm across like the rest of the wide family and 200 cm down. It turns up only on the striped range and its other colourways, at ₹949.
How to read "6 x 4.5 feet" on the label
On a single curtain the first number is the drop and the second is the width. So 7 x 4.5 feet is 213 cm from the rail down and about 140 cm across. Window curtains are usually written the other way round, width before drop, and that is where people lose an order. The one size that does not follow the rule is 6 x 6.5 feet, covered in the table above.
The curtain and bathmat combo sets flip it back. Those are labelled straight in centimetres with the width first, so 140 x 183 cm is 140 cm across and 183 cm down. Same catalogue, two conventions. When a listing gives you centimetres, the smaller figure is the width.
One more thing about the feet, because it costs a few centimetres if you miss it. The drops convert cleanly. 6 ft is 183 cm, 7 ft is 213 cm and 8 ft is 244 cm, each of them right to within half a centimetre. The widths do not behave. The narrow one is listed as 4.5 ft, and 4.5 ft is 137 cm, but nothing in that family is 137 cm across.
The listings give the real figure two ways. The size chart in the product photographs draws it as 140 cm and converts that to 4.6 ft. The description text on the same page calls the curtain 56 inches across and quotes the longer sizes as 142 x 213 cm and 142 x 244 cm. So the narrow width is about 140 to 142 cm depending on which part of the listing you read. Two centimetres will not change which curtain you buy. The three to five between the foot label and the real width might, so work from the centimetre or inch figure rather than converting 4.5 ft yourself.
Working out the drop from your rail
Measure from the top of your rail to the floor, then take off what the rings use up. Most of the listings include 10 plastic C rings, and the hook graphic on the product page puts them at 2 inches tall, so the top edge of the curtain ends up roughly 5 cm below the rail. Subtract that, then take the drop at or just under what is left.
Worked through with a rail 200 cm above the floor. Allow 5 cm for the rings and you have 195 cm of usable drop. The 183 cm curtain finishes about 12 cm clear of the tiles. The 213 cm one is 18 cm too long and will sit in whatever is on the floor. The 244 cm one would leave nearly half a metre of cloth on the floor.
Move the rail and the answer moves with it. A rail at 230 cm wants the 213 cm drop. A ceiling-mounted rail at 260 cm wants 244 cm. The size chart on the product pages says much the same in words, calling 183 cm the size for tubs and standard rods, 213 cm the one for higher ceilings, and 244 cm the one for tall showers and ceiling mounts.
Keeping the hem clear of the floor is not about neatness. A hem left folded on a wet floor stays damp long after the rest of the room has dried, and in a bathroom with no window that is where the mould starts, which our guide to shower curtain mould works through properly. In a floor-drain bathroom, slightly short is the safer mistake.
The plain grey polyester curtain is the easiest one to see this on. It comes in all three drops off the same narrow width, at ₹599, ₹709 and ₹799, so the rail measurement is the only thing that moves the price.
Getting the width right
A curtain never covers its own flat width once it is hanging. The rings gather it and the folds eat the cloth, so 183 cm of fabric closes rather less than 183 cm of opening. The flat width has to be more than the gap, not equal to it. Stretch one to fit and you lose the slack that lets you pull it snug against the wall at the ends, which is the slack that keeps water off the floor.
That is why there are two width families rather than a standard and an upgrade. The narrow one, around 140 cm, is for a narrow cubicle opening or a corner shower. The 183 cm one is for a tub or a wide opening. Going wider is not a free upgrade, either. Hang 183 cm across the 120 cm cubicle above and the surplus bunches at the ends, catches on the door, and leaves more wet cloth to dry out. The light grey ZZ curtain is the plain one in the wide family, at ₹989 for the 183 cm drop and ₹999 for 213 cm. If you want a print in the narrow width, the blackbirds design runs ₹809 to ₹989 depending on the drop.
Ring spacing rarely comes up and it is worth a look. Ten rings across a 183 cm curtain puts about 20 cm between them. The same ten across the narrow width puts them about 16 cm apart, so the narrow curtain hangs in tighter, deeper folds from the same amount of cloth. The striped range and the combo sets state 12 rings rather than 10, which closes the spacing further. On paper it is a small difference. On the rail it is the gap between a curtain that drapes and one that sags.
If the mats are being replaced at the same time
The curtain and bathmat combos are the same curtain sizes with a two-piece mat set added, labelled in centimetres. Across the eight combo listings that comes to 140 x 183 cm at ₹1,399, 140 x 213 cm at ₹1,459, 183 x 183 cm at ₹1,499 and 183 x 213 cm at ₹1,559, with the light grey one linked here carrying the two wide sizes. They stop at the 213 cm drop. So a ceiling-height rail that needs 244 cm has to buy the curtain on its own and take mats from the bathmat range separately, and mat sizing is a separate question with its own numbers in our bath mat size guide.
Common questions
What is the standard shower curtain size?
There is no standard anyone has to follow. The figure that repeats most often in English-language guides is 72 x 72 inches, or 183 x 183 cm, and it is worked out around a bathtub. The sizes actually on sale in India are about 140 cm and 183 cm wide, with drops of 183 cm, 213 cm and 244 cm.
How do I measure for a shower curtain?
Measure the opening the curtain has to cross, then measure from the top of your rail down to the floor. Take about 5 cm off the second figure for the rings and choose the drop at or just under what is left. For the width, pick a flat measurement comfortably greater than the opening so the curtain can still hang in folds.
Does a shower curtain need to touch the floor?
No, and it is better if it does not. A hem that rests on wet tiles has nowhere to dry out, and a curtain that never dries out is the one that goes black at the bottom. Aim to finish about 10 cm above the floor.
What is the difference between a shower curtain's width and its length?
Width is the measurement across the rail and length is the drop from the rail towards the floor. On a single curtain here the label gives the length first on every size but one, so 8 x 6 feet is a 244 cm drop and 183 cm across. On the combo sets, which are labelled in centimetres, the width comes first.
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