Shoe size chart and converter

Read the row, not the number. Every row above describes one physical foot length, and the four columns beside it are simply four ways of naming it. An EU 42 is a UK 8, a US men's 8.5 and a US women's 10, because all four are built for a 26.2 cm foot. If a retailer only publishes one system, find your foot length in the last column and read across.

Shoe sizes are one of the most confusing conversions in fashion because three different systems are all in common use and none of them line up neatly. The United States uses one scale for men and another for women that sit about a size and a half apart. The United Kingdom uses a single numeric scale close to the US men figure, and Europe uses the Paris point system, where each size is two thirds of a centimetre.

The one thing all of these have in common is foot length. Every size in the chart below is tied to a foot length in centimetres, so the surest way to get your size right in any country is to measure your foot and read across. If you know your size in one system already, the converter above will translate it instantly.

Reading the chart is easier once you know the three relationships it encodes. US women's numbers sit exactly 1.5 above US men's numbers for the same foot, so a men's 8 and a women's 9.5 are one shoe. US men's numbers sit half a size above UK numbers, which is why UK 7.5 and US men's 8 share a row. EU numbers climb faster than both, because a Paris point is two thirds of a centimetre while a barleycorn is a third of an inch, so the gap between the EU number and the UK number widens as feet get longer.

Children's sizing is a separate scale that restarts partway through. Little kids' numbers run from 0 up to about 13, then the youth range starts again at 1Y, which is why a kids 13 and a youth 1Y are only about a centimetre apart. The kids chart on this page keeps the whole progression in one place with the foot length beside it, and each size links to a page of its own.

Which number is on the box

Most shoes carry two or three numbers on the label inside the tongue, usually the US, UK and EU sizes, sometimes with a centimetre figure alongside. That centimetre figure is normally the length the shoe is built to fit rather than the internal length of the shoe itself, which is a little longer. Where a brand publishes an insole length instead, expect it to read about half a centimetre to a centimetre above the foot length in the chart above, since a shoe needs that room in front of the toes.

The UK to US relationship is the one place where published conversion charts genuinely disagree. Some put the US men's number half a size above the UK number, which is what this chart uses, and others put it a full size above. The two conventions never differ by more than half a size, and both agree on the foot length, so when a retailer's own chart contradicts this one, go by centimetres and you will be right either way.

Shoe size questions