And you thought SHOPPING for shoes was difficult?

I wear a size fourteen shoe (in most brands), but my foot from heel to toe is obviously longer than 14 inches. So how exactly do brands come up with the standard size for a 14 shoe? Well (not so surprisingly) it’s different in a lot of different places!

            There is an international standard known as the “Mondopoint” system of sizing and marketing, based on foot width and length in millimeters. For example a shoe size of 280/110 means that a person has a length of 280 millimeters and width of 110. But alas, while it makes perfect sense the only people in the world to adopt this system are ski boot makers and NATO military.

In the U.K their system makes sense…to nobody except cobblers in in the 16^th century. Their shoes are measured in units called barleycorn (which is exactly 1/3 of an inch), and not measured by the length of shoes but the “last,” which is the wooden device shaped like a foot that is used when making and repairing shoes. Sizes are also commonly measured in “hands.” A hand is equivalent to 4 inches, 12 barleycorns, or 10.16 centimeters. The calculation for a child’s shoe size is = 3X last length in inches -12, and adults is = 3X last length in inches – 25.

In the U.S there is seemingly no specific method used when making sizes. Everyone who buys shoes knows this. Nike’s always run big, while feet seem to fit into smaller sizes with classy shoes. While sizes are basically similar, there is no defined method across the board.

You’re probably thinking to yourself “I stick my foot in that metal contraption with the sliding thingy in the store and it says I’m definitely a size 10!” Well that contraption is called a Brannock device, and when Brannock invented it in 1925, he used a formula that estimates a foot is 2/3 of an inch shorter than the last, which makes a size 1 in Men’s 7 2/3 inches, and it goes up from there. Women’s are one size higher, but the same method.

On the European continent they use Pars Points to measure the last, but each point is 2/3 of a centimeter. Asians use a system based in centimeters and in increments of 5 mm. Then they assign a level of girth to the size, A-G, then indexed in a table. There are different tables for men’s women’s and children’s. So there you have it. The conundrum of shoe sized, oversimplified in my blog. Here’s a fun visual aid comparing shoe sizes for men.