Shoe Width Explained: What It Means and How to Find Yours

Size describes length; width, or fitting, describes girth. The two are not proportional, so a pair that is exactly your length can be tight, and a pair that fits in length can be empty inside. Here is how widths are marked in different systems, which do not agree, and how girth is measured at the workshop.

Width is the measurement a size says nothing about

A size describes length. Width describes the girth at the widest part of the foot for that length. They are two independent measurements, and knowing one tells you nothing about the other.

That explains a situation that seems paradoxical: the pair is exactly your length, your toes do not reach the end, yet the foot feels cramped. Or the reverse: the length fits, but the shoe is empty inside and the heel slips.

The key fact is that foot length and girth at the widest part are not proportional. One person in a size 42 may have the girth of a 44, another the girth of a 40. A size chart does not describe this at all.

In bespoke, girth becomes the leading measurement and length follows from it: the last is built to the girths taken, not to a number.

How width is marked in different systems

There is no single system, which is its own source of confusion when buying shoes.

North America: the Brannock standard uses the letters AAA, AA, A, B, C, D, E, EE, EEE, with adjacent widths 3/16 of an inch, about 5 mm, apart.

Britain uses its own scale, C, D, E, F, G, H, and here the disagreements begin: makers interpret it differently, some treating E as the average width and others F.

Japan adds a girth letter to the Mondopoint length: A, B, C, D, E, EE, EEE, EEEE, F, G, with separate tables for men, women and children, because the distribution of girths differs.

Mondopoint itself uses no letters at all: the width is written in millimetres. 280/110 means a foot 280 mm long and 110 mm wide.

The practical conclusion: a width letter means little unless you know the system. An E on the British scale and an E on the American one are different, and two British makers’ “average” may not match.

Width marking systems compared

The table sets the four systems side by side. Only Mondopoint is unambiguous, because millimetres mean the same everywhere.

How many widths are really needed

This is where the numbers explain why the problem is common rather than individual.

An analysis of 1.2 million 3D foot scans from North America, Europe and Asia found that fitting about 90% of people would take at least three widths per size.

Makers usually offer one width per size. So the only width available suits a minority, and nine people in ten get a compromise.

Survey data complete the picture: between 63% and 72% of people wear shoes that do not match their feet in length or width, and poor fit has been linked with foot pain, corns, calluses and forefoot deformities.

Men seem to fare worse. In a study of 399 people aged 60 to 90, 69% of men and 48% of women wore shoes longer than their feet, and those in the wrong size had wider, higher feet with a larger girth. In other words, people were buying length to get width.

Wide feet, a high instep or a bunion: how to tell width is the problem

A simple check to do before your visit. It does not replace measuring but shows what to talk about.

Look at the insole. Take it out of the pair you wear. If your imprint spills over its edges across the ball, the width is not enough. If the imprint is much shorter than the insole and the pair is still tight, you are already wearing extra length and are short of girth.

Look at the lacing. If the quarters almost touch and cannot be tightened further, there is not enough volume over the instep. If they gape wide and the pair still presses at the sides, the problem is across the ball.

Look at the upper. A stretched, lumpy area over the ball means the leather has been making up for missing girth for years. This is the most reliable sign.

Notice when it is worse. If a pair that is comfortable in the morning pinches by evening, that is the normal daily change in volume, and it is allowed for. If it presses just as much in the morning, the girth is short from the start.

Width, girth and instep are not the same thing

These three are often confused, and each needs a different solution.

Width is the horizontal measurement of the foot at its widest point, across the ball. You can see it on a footprint.

Girth, which is what fitting really describes, is a closed line round the foot at the same place. Two feet of the same width can have different girths if one is higher: a taller foot has more girth for the same width.

The instep is the height of the foot where it bends, nearer the shin. A pair can be wide enough and still press from above if the instep is high.

Why it matters: widening a last and raising it over the instep are two different operations. Stretching at a repair shop adds a few millimetres of width, and only where there is no lining or stiffener; it cannot raise the instep at all, because the construction of the quarters gets in the way, not the leather.

What does not work instead of the right width

The workarounds are worth an honest look; some help within narrow limits.

A bigger size. The width grows, but the flex point moves forward of the foot’s bend, the heel starts to slip in the counter and the foot slides forward. The shoemaker calls this the most common pattern: because of weight, a high instep or foot shape, people buy a size or a size and a half larger so the instep does not press and the toes are free.

Stretching. It works, but only for width and only by a few millimetres.

Styles marketed for wide feet. Often this is just a rounder toe on the same last: the toes have more room, but the girth across the ball is unchanged.

Insoles and half-insoles. They reduce the volume inside rather than add to it, so when a shoe is tight they make things worse. Heel grips help only with a slipping heel.

Bespoke makes sense where these limits have been reached: a pair that “almost fits” for years but never does.

Narrow feet, narrow heels: the opposite problem

Width is usually discussed in terms of pinching, but too much room is the same problem, and it is solved differently.

How it shows: the pair presses nowhere, but the foot moves inside. The heel lifts as you step, the foot slides forward and the toes hit the end even though there is enough length. The laces are pulled to the limit and still do not give a fit.

Why it is bad: movement inside the shoe causes rubbing. With narrow feet blisters come from friction rather than pressure. And the upper creases in random places rather than along the flex line, so the leather wears out faster there.

What bespoke does: reduces the girth across the ball and builds the heel counter exactly to the heel girth, because the heel is usually where the problem lies. For a marked difference, a style with plenty of adjustment, such as laces rather than a strap, is chosen.

Slip-ons deserve a separate note: loafers, court shoes and mules on a narrow foot need the most precise last, because they stay on by fit alone and nothing makes up for an error.

Width changes through the day and the year

Girth is not constant, and that affects both measuring and the choice of style.

Through the day: by evening the foot is a little larger, from load and the natural shift of fluid. Measurements taken in the morning understate the volume, so measuring is done in the afternoon.

Through the seasons: in summer feet swell more readily; in winter the thickness of the sock adds up. These are two different adjustments that do not cancel out: a winter pair allows for socks, a summer pair for evening volume.

Through the years: as the shoemaker says, feet change from year to year, so for a repeat order after a year you are measured again and the last is adjusted.

So if your feet swell noticeably by evening, mention it at the measuring. For such feet, styles with a wide range of adjustment are chosen, and the allowance is built into the last.

What to bring to the measuring

For a conversation about girth, three things are the most informative.

The pair you wear most: stretched areas of the upper show where volume was short for years, and a crushed heel lining shows where there was too much.

The pair that fitted best, if you have one: it shows which last is closest to your foot and makes a good starting point.

Socks of the thickness you will wear, and your orthotics if you use them: insoles increase the volume needed, and room for them is built in when the last is made.

How girth is measured at the workshop

No width letters are used here; the work is done in numbers.

At the first visit the shoemaker looks at your feet and gait, examines the shoes you brought and measures both feet by hand, recording the girths across the ball, around the heel and over the instep, plus the length and the shape of the arch. The measurements are taken by the person who will build the last, because some of the information is lost when it passes through someone else.

You cannot take these measurements yourself. The shoemaker explains why: the client will always either tilt the tool used to trace the foot or take the heel-to-instep girth and the instep wrongly.

Then about six weeks for the lasts, right and left separately, with the volume of the toes, the instep and any bunions built in. Then trial shoes, in which you walk and shift your weight: under load the forefoot spreads further, and what sat well at rest can start to squeeze as you step. One or two fittings, three if needed.

Prices start from 100,000 roubles a pair. A pair on a finished last takes from four weeks, a first pair about ten. Every later pair on the saved last takes from four weeks and needs no new measuring.