How Your Feet Are Measured for Bespoke Shoes, and Why in Person

Measurements for bespoke shoes are taken in person at the workshop. At home, in a shop or from a photo, the foot cannot be measured accurately enough to build a last and a fit from the data. The one exception is a client who already has proven lasts of their own: then the shoemaker can work from them and decide whether they need adjusting.

Who takes the measurements

Measurements are taken by the last maker, the same person who will then build the last, or by someone he has trained. In Sergey Grechushkin’s workshop the shoemaker takes them himself at the first visit. There is no automated capture, scanning or measuring from photos.

This is not tradition for its own sake. A last is the shape of the future shoe, not a copy of the foot, and getting from one to the other takes a person’s judgement: where to add volume, where to leave room, how to account for the foot behaving differently under load. If one person measures and another builds the last, some of those decisions get lost on the way.

Why you cannot measure yourself

This is the most common question, and the answer is technical rather than a matter of trust.

An outline of the foot on paper gives the length and a rough width. It has no girths, and girths decide whether a shoe pinches or slops about. It has no instep height, no heights of prominent areas, and no difference between the foot at rest and under load, which is significant: under body weight the arch drops and the forefoot spreads.

Then there is the technical side the shoemaker points out: when you trace your own foot, the pencil tilts, and even the length the outline seems to show is distorted. The heel-to-instep girth and the instep cannot be taken this way at all.

So home measurements will roughly help you choose ready-to-wear shoes, but a last cannot be built from them. That is why a first pair is never made without a visit to the workshop.

Which measurements are taken and what each decides

The table lists the main measurements, what each one decides in the shoe, and whether a home outline can give it. Of eight values, an outline gives two, both with an error.

Why both feet are measured separately

Almost everyone has a slight difference between the right and left foot. In footprint studies the area ratio falls roughly between 0.95 and 1.05, and the right foot is on average slightly wider and higher. While the difference is a few millimetres, a shoe forgives it.

Once it reaches half a size or more, one last can no longer serve both feet. That is not rare: in a New York study, 60% of people whose shoes did not match their feet had a difference of more than half a size between their own right and left foot.

So at the measuring a full set of values is taken from each foot independently. Nothing is copied from one foot to the other.

What the shoemaker sees in your old shoes

You are asked to bring old shoes for a reason: they hold information no measurement contains.

The wear on the heel tips, the sole and the toe shows where the foot rolls: outward with a high arch, inward with flat feet. It also shows whether the last those shoes were made on suited your foot.

Inside, the shoemaker looks for other signs: a crushed or worn heel lining means the heel moves; a stretched area over the instep or across the ball means there was not enough volume; an imprint on the insole that is much wider or narrower than the insole itself.

So a pair you have worn for a long time is more useful than a new one. And if you have shoes that were comfortable, bring those too: they show which shape suits you.

Why the foot is measured twice: at rest and under load

This explains the need for in-person measuring better than any other argument.

A foot under body weight is not the same as a foot at rest. The arch drops, the forefoot spreads, the length grows a little and so do the girths. How big the difference is varies from person to person, and it shows how mobile the foot is: a flexible foot sags noticeably, a rigid one hardly at all.

For the last both values matter. Girths are taken under load, because the shoes have to fit when you stand and walk in them. And the difference between the two states is used on its own: it tells the shoemaker whether arch support is needed and how much room to leave in the forefoot.

Home measurements cannot show this difference: you would need to measure twice, in two positions, knowing exactly where to take each girth.

Time of day matters too

Foot volume changes during the day, and for many people it is noticeably larger in the evening. The reasons are ordinary: long hours on your feet, warmth, and for some people a tendency to swelling.

In practice a pair built on “morning” measurements can feel tight by evening, especially over the instep and, for boots, in the shaft. So if your feet swell in the evening, say so at the measuring, and the measurements will allow for the larger state.

With persistent swelling or lymphoedema the approach changes further: the measuring is timed for when the volume is greater, and adjustability is built into the design, such as full-length lacing or several fastenings, so the pair can be loosened as well as tightened.

What gets in the way of accurate measuring

A few things are worth knowing in advance because they are in your hands.

The wrong socks. Sock thickness takes up volume inside. If you will wear the pair with thick socks but come to the measuring in thin ones, the fit will shift. Come in the socks you will actually wear.

Unusual load. A foot after hours of walking and a foot after a rest are different. Both extremes get in the way: measuring straight after a long hike and measuring after sitting all day.

No old shoes. Without them some of the information is lost, and the shoemaker has to rely on measurements alone.

An acute phase. If the foot is inflamed, badly swollen or freshly injured, the measurements describe a temporary state. It is better to postpone.

Unmentioned plans. If you will wear the pair with an orthotic insole and only say so after the last is made, there will be no room for it. Anything that goes inside the shoe is discussed before measuring.

How the measuring visit goes

First, a conversation about the problem: where ready-made shoes pinch or slip, how many hours a day you are on your feet, on what surfaces, and what the pair is for. Then a look at your feet and gait. Then your old shoes. Then the measurements themselves: girths, length and heights, at rest and under load. Then the style, the materials and the timing.

All this takes one visit, and it is not something to rush: a hurried measuring costs a remade last at the fitting stage.

Worth bringing: old shoes, including comfortable ones; orthotic insoles if you wear them; your doctor’s recommendations if you have any; socks of the thickness you plan to wear. Sock thickness is accounted for in the measurements, not guessed later.

What happens after the measuring

The last is made to your measurements; for a first pair this takes about six weeks. Then trial shoes are made on it and fitted, and the fit is checked while you walk, not just while you stand. If something is off, the last is corrected and new trial shoes are made. The real pair is started only once the trial shoes are confirmed comfortable, and takes from four weeks.

There are usually one or two fittings, three if needed. More are needed for harder cases: a severe deformity, a marked difference between the feet, or a prescribed insole to accommodate.

The finished last stays at the workshop, and a second pair skips the last-making stage, so it is quicker and usually needs just one fit check. But if a year or more has passed between orders, you are measured again, because feet change and the last is adjusted to the new data.

What measuring does not replace

Measuring is not a medical procedure. The shoemaker measures the foot and judges the fit but does not diagnose or decide whether any correction is needed.

So if there is pain, swelling, numbness, a worsening deformity, reduced sensation or a sore that will not heal, see a doctor first. The doctor sets the restrictions, and the shoemaker builds the last around them. If an insole or orthosis has been prescribed, bring it to the measuring so its volume is built in.

And if your last medical check was a year ago or more and your foot has changed, it is wise to update it before work begins.

Common misconceptions

“Just tell you my size.” A size describes length. Foot length and ball girth are not proportional, so a size cannot predict whether a pair will fit.

“I can send a photo of my foot.” A photo gives no girths and does not show what the foot does under body weight.

“I will measure myself with a tape.” Girths are taken at specific points with the foot in a specific position; moving the tape by a centimetre changes the result, and there is no way to check it yourself.

“Measure once for life.” Feet change. After a year the last is adjusted, and that is a normal part of the work, not a sign the first measurements were wrong.

“It takes five minutes.” Measuring takes time because, besides the numbers, it includes watching your gait, examining old shoes and talking about what the pair is for. Five minutes is enough for a length, not for a last.

— Foot measurements should be taken by the last maker, the person who will then make the last, or by someone that last maker has trained. Clients cannot measure themselves: the tracing tool will be tilted, or the heel-to-instep girth and the instep will be taken wrongly, and so on.