The answer to this depends on how you like your outerwear to fit you, what you typically wear with it and what you consider to be small. If you usually wear a jacket over bulkier clothing, you may find the Columbia jacket to be a bit snug. Most jacket sizes are based on a person wearing just regular clothing. You may also find that different styles of the same brand do tend to run on the smaller or larger size. If you look at the descriptions on columbia.com, you will notice a size guide as well as a notation of whether the item runs big, small, or true to size.