Sanitary Pad Sizes Explained: Length & Absorbency Chart

Sanitary pad sizes follow a fairly standard logic across the industry — length in millimeters, matched to an absorbency level and a use occasion — yet size is the single spec that new buyers most often get wrong on a purchase order. Order 240mm when your market expects 280mm and the product feels short and cheap; order night pads for a daytime market and you pay for absorbency nobody needs. This guide lays out the complete length and absorbency chart, explains how to read GSM and core specs on a supplier quotation, and covers which sizes actually sell in which markets.

The complete sanitary pad size chart

Lengths below are the full end-to-end measurement of the pad body (wings, where present, add width rather than length). Absorbency figures are laboratory total-capacity ranges — what the core can hold under test conditions, not what a wearer produces — and are the standard way factories grade a core.

Three practical notes on reading this chart:

• Length buys coverage, not just capacity. A 350mm night pad protects because it extends front and back while the wearer lies down — the extra core material matters, but the shape and rear width matter just as much.
• The same length can be built to different absorbencies. A 240mm pad can carry a light core for a budget line or a dense core for a premium line. Length and absorbency are two separate lines on a spec sheet — always specify both.
• Thickness is a third, independent axis. Ultra-thin pads achieve high absorbency with more SAP (superabsorbent polymer) and less fluff pulp; thick "maxi" pads use more fluff. Same length, same capacity, very different product in the hand. Our overview of types of sanitary pads covers these constructions in detail.

Pad absorbency levels: how grading works

Most catalogs group products into absorbency tiers rather than quoting milliliters to consumers. As a buyer, it helps to know both languages:

• Light — liners and slim day pads; low-capacity cores for spotting and light days.
• Regular / Normal — the standard day pad; the highest-volume tier in most markets.
• Super / Heavy — long day pads with denser cores for heavy-flow days.
• Night / Overnight — maximum length and capacity, wider back, designed for lying down.

Retail droplet icons (2, 3, 4, 5 drops) map loosely onto these tiers, but there is no universal standard behind the droplets — one brand's four drops is another's three. When you order from a factory, ignore droplets and specify the measurable things: length, core composition, and tested absorption capacity.

How to read GSM and core specs on a supplier quotation

This is where B2B orders most often go wrong. A quotation for the "same" 240mm pad from two factories can describe two very different products, and the difference hides in a handful of technical lines:

• Topsheet material and GSM. GSM (grams per square meter) is the weight of a layer of material. A typical hygiene topsheet — perforated film or nonwoven — runs in the range of roughly 18–25 GSM. Higher GSM generally means a more substantial, softer-feeling sheet; it also costs more.
• Core composition: fluff pulp + SAP. The absorbent core is graded by how many grams of fluff pulp and SAP it carries. SAP does the heavy lifting on capacity; fluff distributes fluid and gives body. A quote that lists only "high absorbency" without gram weights is telling you nothing you can compare.
• ADL (acquisition distribution layer). The layer between topsheet and core that pulls fluid downward and spreads it along the pad. Budget constructions sometimes omit it; its presence is a quick marker of quality tier.
• Backsheet and adhesive. Breathable PE film GSM and the adhesive pattern affect leak protection and how well the pad stays in place.

A checklist for the size-and-spec section of your purchase order:

1. Length in millimeters — never "regular" or "large" alone; those words mean different things to different factories.
2. With or without wings — and wing dimensions if your market has a preference.
3. Thickness type — ultra-thin or maxi/thick, stated explicitly.
4. Topsheet material and GSM — cotton-soft nonwoven, perforated film, or organic cotton.
5. Core spec in grams — fluff pulp weight and SAP weight per pad, plus tested absorption capacity.
6. Absorbency tier label — so cartons and pouches match what is inside.
7. Pieces per pouch and pouches per carton — pack format is part of the size decision, since markets that sell single pads through kiosks need different packing than supermarket markets.

Ask every shortlisted supplier to quote against this same list. If two quotes differ in price, these lines will usually tell you why. For the broader evaluation framework beyond sizing, see our guide on how to choose sanitary pads for your market.

How size names map across markets

The millimeter chart is universal; the names printed on packs are not. The same physical pads carry different labels depending on where they sell:

• Regular / Large / Extra Large. Much of Africa and the Middle East labels by these tiers, where Regular usually means 240mm, Large 280–290mm, and Extra Large the night lengths.
• XL and XXL. The Indian market — where the product is called a sanitary napkin — leans on XL (roughly the 280–290mm band) and XXL (320mm+) as its main labels, and buyers there often specify by these letters rather than millimeters.
• Day / Night / Overnight. Many Southeast Asian and Latin American packs label by occasion instead of size, with the length printed in small type.
• Maternity / postpartum. The 380–410 mm band may sell under maternity labels through pharmacies and hospitals rather than as an "extra-long night pad." Maternity is a use case rather than a separate production category, so specify the actual length and absorbency required; our public range covers formats up to 410 mm.

The safe habit: put the millimeter figure on every document — purchase order, carton marking, and artwork brief — and treat names as translation. "Large" is a label; 280mm is a spec.

Common size mistakes on purchase orders

Factories see the same handful of errors again and again from new buyers:

1. Ordering by name, not millimeters — "Large" from your last supplier may be 280mm; from the next one, 290mm. The two do not fit the same pouch artwork.
2. Assuming length implies absorbency — then receiving 280mm pads with a light core because the core spec line was left blank.
3. Copying a competitor's length but not their thickness — an ultra-thin 240mm and a maxi 240mm sit in different price tiers and different shelf positions.
4. Forgetting that artwork is size-specific — pouch dimensions, pad-count icons, and droplet ratings all change when the size does, and reprinting packaging is the expensive way to learn this.
5. Splitting a small first order across five sizes — which fragments volume, raises per-unit cost, and complicates the reorder decision. Start with the two or three sizes your market demonstrably buys.

Which sizes sell in which markets

There is no global bestseller — size preference is one of the most local things about this product category:

• African markets lean on 240mm and 280mm. Across much of West and East Africa, the regular day pad (240mm) and long day pad (280mm) carry the bulk of volume, with affordability driving pack sizes. Terminology shifts too: buyers in Nigeria say sanitary pads, Kenyan trade uses sanitary towels, and Indian and Philippine markets say sanitary napkins — worth knowing before you print packaging.
• Night sizes are the growth story. Demand for 320mm+ overnight pads has been rising across emerging markets as consumers trade up from using two day pads overnight. Distributors who add a night SKU early often find it becomes their premium margin line.
• Mature markets fragment by niche. In markets with developed retail, the range runs the full chart — liners through 410mm — and ultra-thin constructions dominate the day segment.
• Postpartum and maternity pads (the 380–410mm end and longer on request) are a smaller but steady institutional and pharmacy channel in many countries.

The practical takeaway: before fixing your SKU list, look at what the top two brands on local shelves actually stock. Their size mix is the market telling you what it buys.

Matching sizes to your first order

If you are building a starter range, a proven structure is one liner, one day size, one night size — three SKUs that cover the whole usage cycle without fragmenting your order volume across too many lines. Our catalog runs six stock lengths — 150mm, 180mm, 240mm, 290mm, 360mm and 410mm — and every one of them is available in both ultra-thin and cottony maxi constructions, and the same sizes can move from stock product into your own brand through our OEM/ODM program as volumes grow.

Browse the size range on our sanitary pads product page to match specifications to your market, or request product samples to put the exact lengths and absorbencies side by side before you order.