How to measure shoe width at home

How to measure shoe width at home

You need a sheet of paper larger than your foot, a pencil, a ruler or tape measure, and the socks you usually wear with the shoes you are buying. Measure late in the day: the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons notes that feet can swell during the day, by up to about 8 percent, and a morning measurement can mislead you into a shoe that feels tight by evening. You also need to stand, because body weight spreads the foot to its full width.

1. 01

   Stand on the paper

   Put the paper on a hard floor, against a wall if you also want your length. Stand with your weight shared evenly between both feet, as Brannock's instructions ask, so the foot spreads as it does when you walk. A seated measurement comes out narrower than your foot really is when you walk.

2. 02

   Trace the outline

   Hold the pencil upright, straight up and down, and trace close around the foot. A slanted pencil adds width. If balancing is hard, ask someone else to trace for you while you stand still.

3. 03

   Find the widest part

   Mark the widest point on each side of the tracing. It is almost always across the ball of the foot, the joints behind the big toe and little toe, not at the toes themselves.

4. 04

   Measure straight across

   Measure the straight line between the two marks, to the nearest eighth of an inch or the nearest millimeter. Subtract a small allowance, about an eighth of an inch (3 mm), if your pencil line sat noticeably away from the skin.

5. 05

   Repeat on the other foot

   Most people have one foot slightly larger than the other. The Brannock Device Company advises measuring both and fitting the larger one.

Measure with a tape measure, and why girth also matters

A flexible tape wrapped around the ball of the foot gives a different number: the girth, or circumference, not the width. Shoemakers build lasts around girth as well as width, so it is useful if a brand publishes it, but do not compare a girth with a width chart. To measure girth, stand, wrap the tape around the widest part of the foot over your usual sock, snug but not tight, and read where the tape meets itself.

Two feet can have the same width across the ball and very different volume. A high instep or a thick, fleshy foot needs more room than the flat width suggests, while a low, thin foot can swim in a wide shoe. The Brannock company puts this into its fitting advice: when a foot falls between widths, choose the wider width for a thick foot and the narrower one for a thin foot. The same thinking helps when you measure yourself for clothes: the tape records one line, and your body adds the rest.

Read the shoe width letters for men and women

North American shoes use letters for width, running from very narrow letters such as AAA through B, C and D to wide letters written as E, EE (also 2E), EEE (3E) and so on. The standard or medium width is different for men and women. For men, D is standard; the wide fitting is labeled E or, more often, 2E, and extra wide is usually 3E or 4E, with B or C as narrow. For women, B is standard, D is the usual wide fitting and 2E or more is extra wide, with 2A as narrow. Shoes marked only with a number are almost always the standard width, and an M after the size means medium.

The steps between letters are small. Wikipedia's summary of the Brannock scale gives about 3/16 of an inch (about 5 mm) between widths, while retail charts that group letters into columns often step about an eighth of an inch (3 mm) from standard to wide. Either way, one step wider is noticeable and three steps is a very different shoe. Width letters are also not a legal standard. The Brannock company points out that manufacturers use narrow, wide and extra wide at their own discretion, so treat any chart as a starting point for that brand only.

Use a shoe width chart with your length

Widths grow with length, so find your length first, then read across the chart for that size. As a rough example from one retailer's chart, a men's US 10 in D is about 4 1/8 inches (10.5 cm) wide, 2E about 4 1/4 inches (10.8 cm) and 4E about 4 7/16 inches (11.3 cm). A women's US 8 in B is about 3 9/16 inches (9.0 cm) and in D about 3 11/16 inches (9.4 cm). Other charts differ by an eighth of an inch or so, which is exactly why the brand's own chart matters most.

That also answers a common question: is 4.5 inches a wide foot? For a man in a US 10, it sits just past the 4E column on that chart, so yes, clearly wide. For a man in a US 13, it is close to standard or only slightly wide. For most women's sizes, 4.5 inches is well beyond the extra wide columns, and a men's or unisex shoe in a wide fitting may fit better. If you are unsure of your length, our shoe size conversion guide shows how to measure it and convert between systems.

Is my foot width D or EE? Check it in the shoe

A measurement narrows the choice; the shoe confirms it. Stand in the shoe and look down. The widest part of your foot should sit at the widest part of the shoe, with the upper smooth and not bulging over the sole. If you feel the edge of the insole under the outside of your foot, or a pinch at either joint, go wider. If the upper wrinkles deeply across the top and your foot slides sideways, go narrower. Our guide to how shoes should fit covers length, heel and instep in detail.

Resist sizing up in length to get width. A longer shoe puts the flex point in the wrong place and lets the heel slip, while the ball of the foot often still feels tight. A wider fitting in your true length, or a brand known for a roomier toe box, solves the real problem. If a shoe is only slightly snug in leather, a cobbler can often ease it; our guide to stretching shoes explains what can and cannot be stretched.

Measure again every year or two

Feet are not fixed. The AAOS notes that feet can grow as we age and recommends having them measured every year. Ligaments relax over time and the arch can flatten, which spreads the foot longer and wider; pregnancy, weight change and conditions such as bunions do the same. If shoes in your usual size have started to feel tight across the ball, measure before assuming a brand has changed its sizing.

Children's feet change fastest of all, and adults who wear one type of shoe all day, such as work boots or running shoes, benefit from measuring with the socks they wear in them. Keep a note of both feet, both measurements and the date. It makes online ordering far more predictable, especially with brands that print their own width charts.