Buying Shoes Online Without Getting the Size Wrong (A Sizing Guide)
Returns are the hidden cost of buying shoes online. Thirty percent of shoes bought online get returned, and wrong size is the reason 65% of the time. Here is how to get it right the first time.
A US men's 10 in Nike is not the same as a US men's 10 in Adidas. A US women's 8 from Zara is not the same as a US women's 8 from New Balance. And a European 42 can mean anything from a US 8.5 to a US 10 depending on the brand and country of origin. Shoe sizing is broken, and no amount of industry standardization has fixed it because every manufacturer uses slightly different lasts (the foot-shaped mold that determines the shoe's internal shape).
The One Measurement That Actually Works
Forget the number on the box. Measure your foot in centimeters and match it to the brand's specific size chart. Stand on a piece of paper with your heel against a wall. Mark the tip of your longest toe (which is not always the big toe — about 20% of people have a longer second toe). Measure from the wall to the mark. Do both feet — most people have one foot slightly larger than the other, and you should size for the larger foot.
Add 1 to 1.5 centimeters to this measurement for athletic and casual shoes (your foot needs room to swell during activity and slide forward during walking). For dress shoes, add 0.5 to 1 centimeter. For hiking boots, add 1.5 to 2 centimeters because downhill walking jams your toes forward and thick socks take up space.
Brand-Specific Quirks
Nike runs about half a size small across most models. Order half a size up from your normal Nike size when switching to another brand, or half a size down from other brands when buying Nike. Adidas runs true to size but narrow — wide-footed people often need to go up a full size. New Balance runs wide and true to length. Converse Chuck Taylors run a full size large — a size 9 Chuck fits like a 10 in most other brands. European brands (Zara, H&M) are inconsistent even within their own product lines and should always be matched by centimeter measurement rather than size number.
Convert between any sizing system with our shoe size converter — it converts between US, UK, EU, and centimeters with a full reference table for your size range.