Measure your feet properly, once
Most people order the size printed inside their last pair of shoes. That number came from a different brand, a different last, and possibly a decade ago. Ten minutes with a sheet of paper settles it.
Why your old size is not evidence
Shoe sizing is not a measurement, it is a label. Two brands can put "size 8" on lasts that differ by half a centimetre, and both are within their rights. Adult feet also keep changing: the arch flattens slowly over decades, which pushes length up, and pregnancy or significant weight change can add a half size permanently.
The one number that does not drift is the length of your foot in millimetres. Measure it once, write it down, and every size chart afterwards becomes arithmetic instead of a guess.
The measurement
Do this in the late afternoon or evening. Feet swell over the day by a few millimetres, and a shoe that fits at 8am and hurts at 6pm has been fitted at the wrong time.
- Tape a sheet of paper to a hard floor, against a wall. Carpet lets the paper move.
- Stand on it with your heel touching the wall, wearing the socks you would wear with the shoes.
- Put your weight on that foot. A foot under load is longer and wider than a foot resting on a chair, and that is the foot the shoe has to hold.
- Have someone mark the paper at the tip of your longest toe, holding the pen upright. It is not always the big toe.
- Measure from the wall edge to the mark in millimetres.
- Repeat for the other foot. Almost everyone is asymmetric. Order for the longer one.
Turn millimetres into a US size
Enter the longer foot below and the chart will do the conversion. The result is the smallest size whose length still clears your foot, which is what you want: leather and mesh give a little, but no shoe grows.
Women's sizes
| Women's 5 | up to 216 mm (21.6 cm) |
|---|---|
| Women's 5.5 | up to 222 mm (22.2 cm) |
| Women's 6 | up to 225 mm (22.5 cm) |
| Women's 6.5 | up to 230 mm (23.0 cm) |
| Women's 7 | up to 235 mm (23.5 cm) |
| Women's 7.5 | up to 238 mm (23.8 cm) |
| Women's 8 | up to 241 mm (24.1 cm) |
| Women's 8.5 | up to 246 mm (24.6 cm) |
| Women's 9 | up to 251 mm (25.1 cm) |
| Women's 9.5 | up to 254 mm (25.4 cm) |
| Women's 10 | up to 259 mm (25.9 cm) |
| Women's 10.5 | up to 262 mm (26.2 cm) |
| Women's 11 | up to 267 mm (26.7 cm) |
Men's sizes
| Men's 6 | up to 235 mm (23.5 cm) |
|---|---|
| Men's 6.5 | up to 241 mm (24.1 cm) |
| Men's 7 | up to 244 mm (24.4 cm) |
| Men's 7.5 | up to 248 mm (24.8 cm) |
| Men's 8 | up to 254 mm (25.4 cm) |
| Men's 8.5 | up to 257 mm (25.7 cm) |
| Men's 9 | up to 260 mm (26.0 cm) |
| Men's 9.5 | up to 264 mm (26.4 cm) |
| Men's 10 | up to 268 mm (26.8 cm) |
| Men's 10.5 | up to 273 mm (27.3 cm) |
| Men's 11 | up to 278 mm (27.8 cm) |
| Men's 11.5 | up to 283 mm (28.3 cm) |
| Men's 12 | up to 286 mm (28.6 cm) |
| Men's 13 | up to 294 mm (29.4 cm) |
Kids' sizes
| Kids' 10 | up to 171 mm (17.1 cm) |
|---|---|
| Kids' 10.5 | up to 175 mm (17.5 cm) |
| Kids' 11 | up to 181 mm (18.1 cm) |
| Kids' 11.5 | up to 184 mm (18.4 cm) |
| Kids' 12 | up to 191 mm (19.1 cm) |
| Kids' 12.5 | up to 194 mm (19.4 cm) |
| Kids' 13 | up to 197 mm (19.7 cm) |
| Kids' 13.5 | up to 203 mm (20.3 cm) |
| Kids' 1 | up to 206 mm (20.6 cm) |
| Kids' 1.5 | up to 210 mm (21.0 cm) |
| Kids' 2 | up to 216 mm (21.6 cm) |
| Kids' 2.5 | up to 219 mm (21.9 cm) |
| Kids' 3 | up to 222 mm (22.2 cm) |
| Kids' 3.5 | up to 229 mm (22.9 cm) |
| Kids' 4 | up to 232 mm (23.2 cm) |
| Kids' 4.5 | up to 235 mm (23.5 cm) |
| Kids' 5 | up to 241 mm (24.1 cm) |
| Kids' 5.5 | up to 244 mm (24.4 cm) |
| Kids' 6 | up to 248 mm (24.8 cm) |
| Kids' 7 | up to 254 mm (25.4 cm) |
Reading the labels in this catalogue
BRONAX uses three different size conventions and they are easy to confuse on a listing page.
- Slides and flip-flops are sold as unisex ranges: "7.5-8.5 W / 6-7 M" means women's 7.5 to 8.5, men's 6 to 7. One pair covers two adjacent sizes because foam has that much give.
- Women's sneakers carry a W suffix on the size. The W is a width, not a men's marker. A 9W is a women's 9 on the wide last.
- Men's road runners are listed as plain numbers with no width letter. The wide fit is built into the last itself rather than added as an option, so there is no narrow version to distinguish it from.
- Kids sizes run 10, 11, 12, 13, then 1, 2, 3. The 1 is bigger than the 13. This trips up nearly everyone the first time, and there is a guide on it below.
When to take the next size up
Three situations, and only three. If you land exactly between two sizes on the chart, take the larger one and let the sock do the rest. If you wear an orthotic, remember it sits on top of the footbed and steals depth rather than length, so pull the stock insole out before you decide the shoe is too small.
The third is the garden clog, where the manufacturer says outright that it runs small. That is their statement about their own last, not our interpretation of a review pile, and it is worth following.
What a correct fit feels like
You should be able to press a thumb-width of space in front of the longest toe with the shoe on and laced. Your heel should not lift when you walk, and the widest part of your foot should sit at the widest part of the shoe rather than ahead of it.
Numbness, a hot spot on the side of the little toe, or toes that curl to find room are all width problems, and going up a length size only papers over them. That is the whole argument for a wide last, which the next guide covers.