Take two steps to better fitting footwear

It's an amazing fact, but one in three women in the US don't know their true shoe size. We all know our shoe or boot length, ie size 6, but there are two other important measurements to achieve a perfect fit. For shoes and boots you need your foot width, and for boots you also need your calf width. Follow these two simple steps to find out both, and discomfort caused by badly fitting footwear will become a thing of the past.

Step 1: Find your true shoe width

Firstly you will need a measuring tape. Then to measure the width of your foot stand on the tape measure and wrap it around the widest part of the foot, as shown in the diagram. If one foot is wider than the other, then you should take the widest measurement.

Your true size fitting

To take your true shoe fitting follow these simple steps:

• Using the fitting chart below, find your shoe size up the left hand column.
• Then follow the number to the right until you find your width fitting (or the nearest to it) in inches that you have just taken.
• Once you have your width measurement then follow the column down to the bottom where you will find your width fitting. For example (see chart below). If your shoe size is a 7, and your width measurement is 9” your true shoe size is 7E

Ladies foot width fitting chart

Step 2: Find your true calf width

Use the tape measure and measure the widest part of your calf, as shown in the diagram. Then go to fitting chart below, find your shoe size, then run along and find the calf measurement that most closely fits your own. Then look to the top of the table, and this will tell you which boot fitting you should take. For example if your shoe fitting is 4EEE and your calf measures 16 3/4", then you would order in a 4EEE with the extra wide calf width. Certain boots also have adjustable sections so that you can tailor the fit to suit your need.

Adjustable: These boots have laces/buckles that allow you to reduce or increase the width of the calf manually. They are adjustable up to ¼”.

Stretch: These boots will stretch to allow you up to 3/8“ more.

Please Note: Boots that are available in one calf size will come in the standard calf width.

Helpful Shoe Symbols

You may find on some of the shoes that you order, the parts of the shoe and their composition are denoted by pictograms. These symbols are explained as below:

Ladies Footwear Sizing Conversion