Which sizes does the German market actually need?
Two sizes carry almost all of it, a third is strong in German-speaking markets and nearly dead everywhere else, and every border you cross moves the list. Ordering outside your market's two main sizes is the most common first-order mistake we see.
Updated 2026-09-10
Two sizes carry the German cot market
60 × 120 and 70 × 140 are the two cot mattresses German retail sells, and between them they cover most of what moves. If you are placing a first order into Germany and you have to choose one, it is 60 × 120. The same two sizes carry Austria, the Netherlands and France.
40 × 90 is the German-speaking exception
That is the side-sleeper and crib size — the bedside cot that attaches to the parents' bed. It sells in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and it is close to dead everywhere else, so it is worth stocking for those three markets and worth skipping if you are selling into the Netherlands or France.
Adult sizes, and where the length changes
Germany runs 90 × 200, 140 × 200, 160 × 200, 180 × 200 and 200 × 200. France runs the same widths at 190 length — 90 × 190 and 140 × 190 — which is the single most common mix-up between the two markets. The Netherlands adds 200 × 220, Sweden starts at 80 × 200, Spain shops by width alone and asks for 105 × 190, and a UK double is 135 × 190.
Mattress depth decides whether it stays on
We cut cot sheets for a mattress up to 12 cm deep and adult sheets for 30 cm, with covered elastic all the way round rather than only at the corners. Corner-only elastic is cheaper and it is the single most common reason a sheet comes off in the night; a deeper mattress than we have cut for does the same thing.
What this means for a first order
Two sizes and two stock colours, 350 pieces, is the shape of a sensible first order — it is enough to learn what sells without tying up cash in stock that has not proved itself. The configurator shows only the sizes your chosen market actually asks for, so a size that is wrong for where you sell is not offered in the first place.
Orientation from a factory that ships into the EU every week, not legal advice. The rules below are named so you can look them up, and your own advisor should confirm anything you are about to print on a label.