UK Shoe Size Chart: UK to US and EU Shoe Size Conversion in cm and Inches

A UK shoe size chart converts British sizes, counted in barleycorns of one third of an inch (8.47 mm), into US, EU and foot-length equivalents: UK 9 fits a foot of about 27.1 cm (10.7 in) and corresponds to US men’s 10, US women’s 11 and EU 42½. Below are the conversion chart, the formulas behind it, half and kids’ sizes, and the British width letters.

How UK shoe sizes work

The British scale is built on the barleycorn, an old English measure of one third of an inch. The medieval definition of the inch as three grains of barley, “dry and round”, passed into the shoemaking trade, and the step between whole sizes is still one such grain: 25.4 ÷ 3 = 8.47 mm.

A UK number describes the length of the last, the form the upper is lasted over. The children’s scale starts at 0 for a last four inches (101.6 mm) long and runs to 13½. The next half step is adult size 1, a last of 8⅔ inches, about 220 mm. From there the adult scale rises by the same third of an inch.

That gives two working formulas. Adult UK size equals three times the last length in inches, minus 25. Counted from the foot, it is three times the foot length in inches, minus 23. The difference of two barleycorns, about 17 mm, is the allowance of last over foot built into the formula.

For UK 8: a last of 11 inches (279.4 mm) and a foot of about 10⅓ inches (262.5 mm). For UK 10: a last of 11⅔ inches and a foot of exactly 11 inches, 279.4 mm.

UK shoe size chart with US, EU and foot length

The chart below is built from foot length using the formulas behind the ISO/TS 19407 conversion table. US sizes are given for both the men’s and the women’s scale, foot length in centimetres and inches.

All values are approximate. For a given maker UK 8 can mean either EU 41½ or EU 42: the British shoe research body SATRA gives women’s UK 8 as EU 42, while the formula gives 41½. Use the chart for a first estimate and check it against the maker’s chart with foot lengths before buying.

How to convert UK shoe size to cm and inches

For foot length from an adult UK size, add 23, divide by 3 and you have inches; multiply by 2.54 for centimetres. UK 7: (7 + 23) ÷ 3 = 10 inches, or 25.4 cm. UK 11: 34 ÷ 3 = 11.3 inches, about 28.8 cm.

For last length, add 25 instead and repeat. For UK 7 the last is 10⅔ inches, about 27.1 cm. This is useful when a seller gives insole length, since the insole is close to the length of the last bottom.

The reverse: divide foot length in millimetres by 25.4, multiply by 3 and subtract 23. A 265 mm foot is 10.43 inches, 31.3 − 23 = 8.3, which this chart rounds to UK 8½.

UK to US shoe size: men’s and women’s

The American scale uses the same barleycorn with a different zero. A US men’s size is one above the UK size: UK 9 is US men’s 10, as in the ISO/TS 19407 table.

The women’s scale is shifted further. US women’s size is two above the UK size: SATRA gives women’s UK 5 as US 7, and the chart agrees.

The common mistake: a woman who wears UK 5 picks “5” on an American chart and gets a pair almost 17 mm shorter.

US men’s and women’s numbers cannot be compared directly either. US women’s 9 is the same length as US men’s 8 and UK 7.

UK to EU shoe size conversion

One UK size is 8.47 mm, one EU size 6.67 mm. The British step is about 1.27 times longer, so each UK size covers about one and a quarter EU sizes, and there is no fixed difference between the scales.

On the chart UK 3 is EU 35, a difference of 32. UK 8 gives EU 41½, a difference of 33½. UK 12 gives EU 46½, a difference of 34½. The rule of adding 33 works only in the middle of the range and is a size out at the ends.

Because of the different steps, adjacent UK sizes sometimes skip an EU size. UK 5½ is EU 38 and UK 6 is EU 39, so EU 38½ falls inside one British half step.

Russian sizes count foot length too: by the Russian standard GOST 11373-88, UK 9, a 271 mm foot, is the everyday Russian size 42, and UK 7, a 254 mm foot, is Russian 39½. The Russian number is in the Russia column of the large chart at the top of the page.

UK half sizes

British makers almost always produce adult shoes in half sizes: 7, 7½, 8, 8½. A half size is one sixth of an inch, 4.23 mm of last length.

That is finer than a whole European size of 6.67 mm. If UK 8 is tight at the toes, half a size up adds about four millimetres of length and a little volume at the ball.

If your foot falls between two half sizes, the style and width decide. Laces and straps allow the smaller half size with the instep pulled in. Loafers and Chelsea boots, which stay on by fit alone, usually need the larger one.

UK kids’ shoe sizes

The British children’s scale starts at 0 for a four-inch last and ends at 13½. The numbers repeat the adult ones, so a kids’ UK 3 is far smaller than an adult UK 3.

The children’s formula: three times the foot length in inches, minus 10. The US children’s scale is three times the last length in inches, minus 11¾, a quarter size above the UK one, so the two numbers usually match or differ by a half. After UK 13½ the American scale moves to youth sizes 1Y, 2Y.

Reference points from the grid: a 130 mm foot is kids’ UK 5½, US 5½, EU 21½; a 160 mm foot is UK 9, US 9, EU 26; a 190 mm foot is UK 12½, US 12½, EU 30½; a 200 mm foot is UK 13½, US 1Y, EU 32.

After 13½ the scale continues with adult sizes: a 210 mm foot is adult UK 2, US 2Y. Teenagers’ shoes are therefore often marked in adult UK sizes, though made on teenage lasts. A child’s foot grows unevenly, so a chart only narrows the choice; a fitting in the evening, in the child’s own socks, settles it.

UK shoe width fittings: E, F, G, H

British makers often put a width letter next to the size: 8F, 9½G. The letter stands for the girth at the ball for that length. The British range runs from C to H; the further down the alphabet, the fuller the last.

The letters have no single meaning. Some makers treat E as the standard width, others F, so one maker’s 9E can be fuller than another’s 9F. Letters are worth comparing only within one maker.

A letter without a length says little: the last grows with the size, and G on UK 7 and on UK 11 means different girths. American width letters, from AAA to EEE, are a separate series, and E means a different width in each.

Choice of widths came late. According to SATRA, a wider range of widths became generally available only in the 1920s, and many styles are still made in one or two.

Why UK 8 fits differently between makers

The formula fixes the last length, but the maker chooses the allowance over the foot. For British and American shoes it is usually half to two thirds of an inch, 13 to 17 mm, and the gap between those extremes is almost half a size.

Style is the second cause. A long or pointed toe needs a decorative allowance the toes never use. The third is conversion: an English maker selling in Europe decides itself which EU number to print beside the UK one.

Different styles of one maker are made on different lasts, so oxfords and Chelsea boots in the same size can fit differently. If a maker’s chart puts UK 9 at a 265 mm foot, shorter than the 271 mm of the formula, your size there will be half a size larger than usual.

The common mistakes follow from this: confusing UK and US, adding a fixed number to get EU, mixing children’s and adult scales, and putting insole length into the foot formula, which gives a size two UK sizes too large. For insole length use the last formula: three times the length in inches, minus 25.

UK sizes for bespoke shoes: no number needed

A bespoke workshop does not use a UK number at all. The shoemaker measures both feet by hand: length, girths at the ball, instep and heel, toe height and arch shape. A last is built for each foot separately, and the number on it means nothing.

Men’s and women’s shoes are made for Russian sizes 33 to 52, feet from 21.0 to 33.7 cm (8.3 to 13.3 in). Feet of different sizes get two lasts, with no upper limit on the difference.

The lasts take about six weeks, then one to three fittings in trial shoes. A first pair takes about ten weeks and costs from 100,000 roubles; later pairs on the saved lasts take from four weeks without new measuring.

The measuring visit is in Moscow, near Taganskaya metro, by appointment between 10:00 and 20:00, and the first consultation is free.