How to Measure Your Foot for Shoes

Timing matters more than most people expect. Feet are at their smallest first thing in the morning and gradually expand through the day as you stand, walk and warm up. By late afternoon or evening they can be noticeably larger, so a measurement taken then reflects the size your feet spend most of their active hours at. Measure both feet rather than assuming they match — it is normal for one to be a few millimetres longer than the other — and always size to the larger of the two. A shoe that fits the bigger foot can be snugged up with lacing or an insole, whereas one sized to the smaller foot will pinch on the other side.

Your feet are not fixed for life, either. Ligaments loosen with age, weight changes alter the spread of the foot, and pregnancy can permanently increase length and width. For these reasons it is worth re-measuring roughly once a year, and certainly before any major shoe purchase or after a significant change in body weight or activity level. Relying on the size you wore five years ago is one of the most common reasons a confidently ordered pair arrives feeling a full size out.

Once you have a number in centimetres, the conversion itself is simple: foot length in centimetres is the universal anchor that every sizing system is built around. Find your measurement in the foot-length column of the charts above (or type it into the converter) and read across to the system the retailer uses. This is also why Japanese sizes look so familiar — a JP size is simply your foot length in centimetres, while Korean sizes express the same figure in millimetres. The same logic explains the gap between US men's and women's sizing, where a US women's size sits roughly 1.5 sizes above the US men's number for the same foot.

Do not size to your bare foot length, though. Add a wearing allowance of roughly 1 to 1.5 cm — about a thumb's width — beyond your longest toe so your foot has room to move forward as you walk or run. If your measurement lands neatly on a chart row, that is your size. If it falls between two rows, size up rather than down: a slightly roomy shoe can be adjusted, but a short one cannot. Remember that these figures are approximate — lasts vary between brands and even between models from the same brand — so always sanity-check against the manufacturer's own chart before ordering.

Length gets all the attention, but width is just as important for a comfortable fit and is the reason two people who wear the same length can find the same shoe feels completely different. To measure it, wrap a soft tape measure around the widest part of the foot — across the ball, where the base of your big toe and little toe sit — keeping the tape snug but not tight. Note the circumference in centimetres alongside your length. As with length, measure both feet in the evening and work from the larger figure.

A foot that is wider than average will feel cramped in a standard-width shoe even when the length is spot on, leading to rubbing, bunions and numb toes; a narrow foot in a wide shoe slides around and blisters. Many brands publish their shoes in width grades for exactly this reason, so knowing your width lets you pick the right grade instead of compensating by going up a length you do not need. For the full method and how the common width grades line up across systems, see our dedicated width guide before you settle on a size.