Do
Try bigger shoes.
Left alone, people just seem to pick shoes too small. It causes all kinds of problems. Foot nerds have been complaining about it forever.
It’s not everybody all the time. But if you haven’t thought about this before, try a size up next time you’re in a store or buying online with free returns.
Find shoes that bend where your feet do.
Take off your shoes and find the big foot knuckle at the root of your big toe. Press your toes into the ground and keep them there. Lift your heel, then feel the bony nub on the inside of your foot where your big toe bends up.
When you put a shoe on, that joint needs to line up with the widest part, where the shoe’s built to flex as you walk. Rub the side of the shoe with your finger and find where your bone is.
Accept no pain.
Except for maybe a little heel slip, you shouldn’t feel cramming, pinching, poking, or rubbing anywhere in your shoes. Pointy shoe toes are fine, as long as your curvy foot toes lay flat and comfortable behind the pointy parts of the shoes.
If you’re getting smooshed, try any wider widths they have, like “E”, “EE”, or “F”, wider than “standard” men’s “D”. Try a half size bigger if it still flexes with you.
Wear the same socks, late in the day.
Thicker socks make your feet slightly bigger. Your feet also swell a bit through the day.
Check fit around your feet.
If lacing up pulls the lace holes right together, or you can pinch shoe material together over the top of your foot, there’s too much room. Try a narrower width if there is one. Or try a half size down, but make sure it still flexes with you.
If a shoe’s so tight over the top of your foot that you can’t even roll the material with your fingers, it’s too tight. Try a wider size if there is one. Or try a half size up, but make sure it still flexes with you.
If you find a shoe that fits you well, see if the company publishes which “last”, or shoe mold, they build it on. Other shoes “on that last” might fit you, too.
Expect your feet to differ.
Almost nobody’s feet are mirror images. Most people vary a bit in length, width, and shape.
Wear the size that fits both your foot.
Let some shoes go.
Some cool shoes out there just won’t work for you. Even ones that come in a bunch of different lengths and widths. Sometimes it’s not worth making it work with thick socks, insoles, heel shims, tongue pads, or other tricks. Sometimes there’s no way to make it work at all.
Do Not
Assume your size will be the same.
One shoe sized “US 9” or “EU 40” may be longer or shorter, wider or narrower, higher or lower, or just a different shape than another one marked with the very same size. Brands differ, and so do shoes within brands. Even if they all claim “true to size”.
Shoe shapes aren’t that standardized. This will bug you until you realize you’ve never met anyone with “average” feet, yours are unique, too, and all this variation puts something out there to really fit you.
Stick your thumb in front of your toes.
This protects salespeople from parents whose kids outgrow their shoes too fast. You’re grown now.
Expect tight shoes to stretch.
Sturdy leather shoes will break you in. Disposable sneakers break down.
People who want to buy too small, suffer, and bust them out are great for bad business. They take unwanted sizes out of the back. They blow through sneakers faster.
Freak out if your heel slips a little.
Expect your heels might rise and fall just a little to start. Especially in traditional leather shoes and work boots. Double especially in Western and Wellington boots.
Sturdier soles push back against flexing when new. The shafts of Westerns and Wellingtons crease, slouch down, and help trap your heels.
Take the first advice that lets you click “Buy”.
Well meaning Internet people can only tell you what they currently think worked or didn’t work for them. They have no idea what your toes look like, how high your insteps or arches stand, or what all measurements for shoe molds are. I don’t either.
Real foot nerds, like brands that sell on fit, will want a lot more data than “what’s your size in Jordans?”. At a minimum, they’ll probably send you after a measuring gizmo, like a Brannock device. They’ll be honest about helping you toward a guess. And that guessing’s a far second-best to trying on.
Buy whatever the measuring stick says.
While some foot sizing systems like the Brannock device or Paris points are “standard” in the shoe world, they’re standard for measuring feet, not shoes. You should’t just order whatever number you read on their scales.
Sizing is not that standardized.