Size Charts & Width Guide

The barleycorn sizing system is over 700 years old — King Edward II established it in 1324 — and it is still the basis for US and UK shoe sizes today.

Until the early 19th century, most shoes had no left or right distinction. They were made on straight lasts and were interchangeable between feet.

The word 'sneaker' was coined because rubber soles allowed wearers to walk silently — to sneak — unlike the clacking leather soles of the era.

High heels were originally designed for men. Persian horse riders used them to secure their feet in stirrups during battle. King Louis XIV of France later popularized them as a status symbol.

Charles Brannock built his first prototype foot-measuring device from a child's Erector set toy at age 22. That design — patented in 1926 and 1927 — is still the global standard.

Most people have one foot slightly larger than the other. Shoe fitting professionals always recommend buying for the larger foot and adjusting the smaller side with an insole.

Feet can swell by half a size or more over the course of a day due to gravity and physical activity. Shoe fitting in the late afternoon gives you the most accurate measurement.

Between 60 and 70 percent of women experience permanently larger feet after pregnancy, as the hormone relaxin loosens ligaments throughout the body — including in the feet.

Feet continue to grow well into adulthood. Many people gain a full shoe size between their twenties and their seventies, as tendons and ligaments gradually lose elasticity and the foot flattens and spreads.

Mondopoint — the ISO international standard — is the only sizing system that encodes both foot length and foot width in its size designation, in a format like 260/95.

EU sizes measure the shoe's last (the internal mold), not the foot itself. The last is about 1.5 centimeters longer than the foot, which is why EU sizes can seem unexpectedly large.

Running shoes should typically be sized 0.5 to 1 full size larger than your casual shoes to accommodate foot swelling during runs and the forward slide of the foot inside the shoe.