Shoe Sizing

  The days of having a shoe size are gone!

Aside from some small boutique brands and a few priding themselves on manufacture in traditional quality footwear heartlands, such as Germany, most of the shoes Australian’s wear are manufactured in Asia or South East Asia.

This offshoring of footwear manufacture has created an interesting and relatively new challenge for Australians…

We no longer have a set shoe size.

We might be size 7 in one shoe, size 8 in another or even a different size in the same brand.

This is for a very simple reason.

For those unaware of the way overseas factories work its pretty simple and does explain a lot

The factory owns all the equipment and tools required to build the part of the shoe (or all of the shoe) they have been contracted to make.

So for instance, the main component to make a shoe, the Last, is owned by the factory, not the shoe company.

If the company decides they need to change factories, for better quality, faster output, or economic reasons for instance, the materials and equipment, including the last, usually stay behind at the factory and the footwear company needs to start all over again.

This is where it gets interesting, because most of us would assume that the company would nail this change.

It wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Yet as Podiatrists we see different.

All the chopping and changing has resulted in a mass of different sizes labelled the same between the different brands. Its utterly confusing.

One brands size 6 is another’s size 8.

The picture featured on this page has 3 different runners, three different brands, two of the brands owned by the same company, and yet 3 different sizes! A 10, a 10.5 and an 11. All worn by the same person. Me!

We even see occasionally the same brand, same model, same size, purchased 6-12 months apart from the same store, having a gross difference in size.

Personally I’ve even seen a pair of same brand, same model, same size shoes that were a full inch different in length and forefoot width!

The company changing their last is the only possible explanation.

So what does this mean for us? All we want is our shoes to fit right?

It’s pretty simple… Forget your shoe size. Or at least only use it as a guide.

Treat every shoe fitting as a separate event and purchase the pair that fits, not the one that is labelled the size number you think you are.

If purchasing online, try to stick to brands that have good return policies or measure your foot and ask for a sizing chart.

By doing this you’ll avoid the common mistake of buying poorly fitting shoes and wasting your money.

We hear all the time ‘but I’ve been a size 7 my whole life.’

Well unfortunately… Not anymore!

Written by Stephen Iannazzo. Stephen is a Geelong Foot Clinic Podiatrist with 12 years experience treating a full and complete scope of Podiatry Practice. If you would like to subscribe to more of his information enter your details below (We Don’t SPAM)