How to Measure Your Shoe Size at Home

What you'll need

• A sheet of paper larger than your foot
• A pen or pencil
• A ruler or tape measure marked in centimetres
• A hard floor (carpet compresses under your foot and skews the trace)

Step-by-step

1. Wear the right socks. Put on the socks (or tights) you'd normally wear with the shoe you're buying — bare feet measure slightly smaller than socked feet.
2. Trace your foot. Place the paper flat against a wall. Stand on it with your heel touching the wall and your weight evenly distributed, then trace around your foot with the pen held vertically.
3. Measure the length. Measure the straight-line distance from the wall edge (your heel) to the tip of your longest toe — this isn't always the big toe. Round to the nearest millimetre.
4. Measure the width. Measure the widest point across the ball of your foot, usually just behind the toes. This tells you whether you need a narrow, standard or wide fitting.
5. Do both feet. Most people have one foot slightly larger than the other. Measure both and use the larger of the two length measurements.
6. Measure in the evening. Feet swell over the course of the day, so an evening measurement gives you the size that will still be comfortable after a full day on your feet.

Turning your measurement into a size

Once you have your foot length in centimetres, enter it into the shoe size converter using the "Centimetres" system, choose the system you want to convert to, and submit. If your measurement falls between two sizes, size up rather than down — a slightly loose shoe is far more comfortable than a tight one, and most footwear can be adjusted with an insole or thicker sock, but a shoe that's genuinely too small cannot.

Don't forget width

Length gets you the right size number, but width determines whether a shoe actually fits comfortably. If your foot is noticeably wide or narrow relative to the width measurement you took, look for the width letter on the shoe's specification (commonly B–E in the US/UK system) or choose a brand known for wide or narrow lasts. Two shoes labelled the same length size can still fit very differently if their width doesn't match your foot.

FAQ

• How often should I re-measure my feet?

  Roughly once a year for adults, and more often for growing children — foot length can change gradually with age, weight changes, and pregnancy, so a measurement from several years ago may no longer be accurate.

• Why is my traced measurement different from the size on my current shoes?

  Shoe sizes are not perfectly standardised between brands, so the number on a shoe box reflects that maker's own last, not a universal foot-length standard. Your traced, measured foot length is the more reliable reference — use it with the conversion table for any system.

• What if I can't measure both feet the same way?

  If one foot is noticeably longer or wider than the other (common for most people), always size for the larger foot. A slightly loose fit on the smaller foot is far easier to live with than a tight fit on the larger one.