How to measure your foot for shoe size

Every shoe size system, whether US, UK, EU or China, is a label for a range of foot lengths. So the most reliable way to find your size in any of them is to skip the old size on your current shoes and measure the foot itself. It takes five minutes and three things you already have: a sheet of paper, a pen or pencil, and a ruler or tape measure.

What you need

• A sheet of paper longer than your foot (A4 or US Letter works for most adult feet; tape two sheets together if not).
• A pen or pencil held straight up, not angled.
• A ruler or a rigid tape measure with millimetre markings.
• A hard, flat floor. Carpet lets the paper sink and shifts the marks.
• The socks you plan to wear with the shoes.

Step by step

1. Put the paper against a wall. Lay it flat on the floor with one short edge touching the skirting board.
2. Stand on it with your heel against the wall. Stand up straight with your full weight on the foot you are measuring. Sitting down gives a shorter reading, because a foot spreads and lengthens slightly under load.
3. Mark the tip of your longest toe. For many people this is the big toe, but for some it is the second toe. Hold the pen vertical and make a short line just in front of the longest one. Having someone else make the mark is easier and more accurate than bending down yourself.
4. Measure from the edge of the paper to the mark. The wall was your heel line, so the edge of the paper is the back of your heel. Measure straight, parallel to the long side of the paper, in millimetres or centimetres.
5. Repeat for the other foot. Most people have one foot slightly longer than the other. Use the longer measurement.

That number is your foot length. Enter it into the shoe size converter using the “Foot length (cm)” option, and it shows the matching US men’s, US women’s, UK, EU and China sizes at once.

The mistakes that cost a whole size

The gap between neighbouring shoe sizes is only a few millimetres, so small errors matter more than they seem.

• Measuring in the morning. Feet swell slightly through the day, especially after walking or in warm weather. Measure in the late afternoon or evening so the shoes still fit when your feet are at their largest.
• An angled pen. Tilting the pen under your toe or out in front of it moves the mark by a few millimetres either way. Keep it upright and touching the toe.
• Sitting instead of standing. An unloaded foot measures shorter than one carrying your weight.
• Measuring only one foot. If you only measure the smaller foot, the shoe for the larger one will pinch.
• Rounding down. If your measurement falls between two marks, round up rather than down. A shoe that is a touch long can be adjusted with laces or an insole; one that is short cannot.
• Barefoot for winter boots. Thick socks take up real space inside a shoe. Measure in the socks you will actually wear.

Why your measured size can still feel wrong

A correct length is the starting point, not the whole fit. Two things the measurement cannot capture:

• Width. Two feet of the same length can be very different in width, and width is handled by a separate scale that varies between manufacturers. If shoes in your measured length feel tight across the ball of the foot, that is usually a width problem, not a length one.
• Brand and style. Different makers build shoes on different lasts (the foot-shaped forms shoes are made around), so the same labelled size can fit differently from one brand or model to the next. Where a brand publishes its own size chart in centimetres, compare your foot length against that chart as a final check.

Once you have your foot length in centimetres, the shoe size converter turns it into every major size system in one step, and you can use the same number again next time instead of guessing from an old pair of shoes.