UK AND EU SNEAKER SIZES

THE KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRITISH AND EUROPEAN SIZING AND HOW TO CONVERT BETWEEN THEM

THE UK AND EU SIZING SYSTEMS SHARE NO COMMON ORIGIN. THEY WERE DEVELOPED INDEPENDENTLY AND MEASURE DIFFERENT THINGS. UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE IS USEFUL BOTH WHEN BUYING ONLINE AND WHEN PURCHASING ACROSS BORDERS.

THE UK SYSTEM

BRITISH SIZING IS BASED ON THE BARLEYCORN, ONE THIRD OF AN INCH, APPROXIMATELY 8.46MM. SIZE 1 CORRESPONDS TO A LAST OF APPROXIMATELY 4.67 INCHES (12CM). EACH ADDITIONAL SIZE ADDS ONE BARLEYCORN. THE UK SYSTEM INCLUDES HALF SIZES, WHICH ADD HALF A BARLEYCORN (APPROXIMATELY 4.23MM). THIS MAKES THE UK SYSTEM RELATIVELY FINE GRAINED FOR FIT PURPOSES.

THE EU SYSTEM

EUROPEAN SIZING IS BASED ON THE PARIS POINT, TWO THIRDS OF A CENTIMETRE, APPROXIMATELY 6.67MM. THE SIZE NUMBER REPRESENTS THE INNER LENGTH OF THE LAST IN PARIS POINTS. BECAUSE THE EU INCREMENT (6.67MM) IS SMALLER THAN THE UK INCREMENT (8.46MM), WHOLE EU SIZES FALL BETWEEN WHOLE UK SIZES. THIS IS WHY DIRECT EQUIVALENCES ARE APPROXIMATE: A UK 9 IS ROUGHLY EU 43, BUT A UK 9.5 SITS BETWEEN EU 43 AND 44.

CONVERSION GUIDANCE

AS A GENERAL RULE, ADDING 33 TO A UK SIZE GIVES THE APPROXIMATE EU EQUIVALENT. UK 7 IS APPROXIMATELY EU 40. UK 8 IS APPROXIMATELY EU 41. UK 9 IS APPROXIMATELY EU 43. UK 10 IS APPROXIMATELY EU 44. UK 11 IS APPROXIMATELY EU 45. THESE ARE APPROXIMATIONS BECAUSE THE INCREMENT SIZES ARE DIFFERENT. INDIVIDUAL MAKERS MAY SIZE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENTLY DEPENDING ON THEIR LAST SPECIFICATION.

1812 SIZES IN UK. SPECIFIC SIZING GUIDANCE IS AVAILABLE FOR EACH SILHOUETTE. WHEN IN DOUBT, CONTACT US BEFORE PURCHASING. THE CORRECT FIT IS THE FOUNDATION OF EVERYTHING.