This chart is based on library & web research, as well
as some thought about the internal logic of the systems.
The English system is thirds of an inch, starting roughly
at four or eight inches for children or adults. Four and eight
inches used to be called one hand or two hands, with four inches
being width of a hand and an inch the length between the end
of your thumb and the middle crease. A hand or hand-width was
the common measure for horses, so it was convenient to use it
for shoes as well.
Thirds of an inch used to be called barleycorns, after the
corns you can make porrage out of.
At this point the system becomes more hi-tec, because cobblers
would use a bit of stick, more or less designed for the purpose
of measuring shoes rather than feet. A shoe should be about one
size larger then the foot it surrounds, so the measuring stick
would be marked with a child's size one one hand and a third
of an inch, rather than the round number of one hand or four
inches exactly.
This "starting roughly" was altered at some point
by colonists in the USA - of which more below.
The system measures foot length and is unisex, but womens'
shoes tend to be narrower at the heel than mens'. A man wearing
women's shoes would be well advised to try a few pairs on first
(transvestite mail-order is a difficult business as court shoes
are traditionally worn tight) and likewise a woman wearing a
boy's shoe might find it more comfortable with a couple of pads
glued-in to the sides. For some loose-fitting styles, unisex
designs are possible and work well.
I don't understand the internal logic of the american system,
but it may be related to the different foot widths that people
of different nationalities have: north europeans have particularly
wide feet for a given length; south europeans and asians have
narrower feet. It may also be that the first mass-production
of shoes co-incided with a great increase in gender differences;
that it was inconcievable to the suppliers that a man would wear
a womens' shoe or vica versa. Whatever the cause, people in the
USA ended-up with two length measurements - one for women, one
for men, and neither the same as the unisex starting point in
the UK.
If anyone would like to help me clarify the different systems
better - particularly by adding logic to the size systems to
make them memorable, please
get in touch.
European countries use a metric system. Because the centimetre
is larger than the difference you would want between two sizes
of shoe, the system is to use two thirds of a centremetre. This
is sometimes called a Paris Point.
People have been frustrated by shoe sizes for many years.
In the Soviet Union there was an attempt to introduce ordinary
centimetres instead of Paris Points, but, as centimetres are
too big to come to round numbers on shoe sizes, shoes tend to
have both size systems stamped on them. In Japan the idea has
caught-on better: people simply give their foot length in centimetres.
In Australia, standards organisations attempted the same thing,
recommending millimetre lengths described as "Mondopoint"
meaning world point, and in the UK the British Standards Institution
has followed. These measurements tend only to be used for more
technical shoes. There are several reasons for difficulties:
Most of the first translation tables on the internet are
written by Americans. North America is unique in having different
size systems for men and women, but, because women's feet are
particularly narrow at the heel, it's often true that a woman
takes a slightly smaller unisex shoe unless she wants to add
some pads. Tables are published taking this into account, and
Americans assume that there are two separate length systems in
the UK. Likewise, because South European shoes are made for narrower
feet than North European, Americans tend to assume that there
are different length systems.
Reference documents are hard to find, and, when presented,
tend to be a summery without mention of the internal logic that
would make them memorable and prevent translation errors. For
example the British Standards Institution now agrees with the
European Standard of simply using the foot length in millimetres,
which is called the Mondopoint system. Neither the British nor
Australian standards institutions now have a definitive document
describing the shoe sizes the people usually use, while the British
Footwear Association avoids the subject. In the USA there is
some difference between the trade association - formerly the
Footwear Industries
of America (FIA) and the "common" scale which is
about half a size different. Australians nominally use the Commonwealth
or English system, but tend to add two sizes for womens' shoes.
Size charts differ in their comparison of US mens, womens
and UK sizes: all quote US sizes as larger than UK ones - one
size for boys and one and a half or two for girls.
There is a logic to this strangeness: US women buying British
shoes might not mind the one sixth of an inch difference in length
that is a half size. UK factories might very much mind the cost
of moulds and stock that are involved in making more sizes.
If anyone spots any mistakes on this table or has any ideas
to simplify, please
let me know. A discussion of how shoe shop's tables vary
is here,
and a collection
of other measuring systems is here.
Jacket Sizes:
international jacket sizes
UK male'
30"
32"
34"
36"
38"
40"
42"
44"
46"
UK female..
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
inches (chest)
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
(waist)
24
66
28
30
32
.
.
.
(hips)
34
36
38
40
42
.
.
.
cm (chest)
82-86
86-90
90-94
100-04
105-09
110-14
115-29
130-34
135-139
(waist)
61
66
71
76
81
.
.
.
(hips)
86.5
91.5
96.5
101.5
106.5
.
.
.
Europe
(chest)
38
40
42
44
46
48
50
.
USA female
(chest)
10
12
14
16
40
42
44
.
Japan female
(chest)
9
11
13
15
17
19
21
.
international coat and jersey sizes
UK/US
coats
jerseys
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
Euro
44
46
48
50
52
54
56
Japan
S
M
L
LL
Women's Sizes
adult dresses
suits
coats
American
8
10
12
14
16
18
British
30
32
34
36
38
40
Continental
36
38
40
42
44
46
adult blouses
& sweaters
American
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
British
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
Continental
40
42
44
46
48
50
52
girls & youth
dresses & coats
American
2
4
6
8
10
13
15
British &
Continental
1
2
5
7
9
10
12
stockings
American &
British
8
8½
9
9½
10
10½
11
Continental
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
Men's Sizes
Suits, Sweaters
and Overcoats
American & British
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
Continental
44
46
48
50
52
54
56
Shirts
American & British
14
14½
15
15½
16
16½
17
Continental
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
Socks
American & British
9½
10
10½
11
11½
12
12½
Continental
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
foot gages:
Algao Ltd, Liverpool,
UK, stockists for the Heider anglo-European length gage @ £11
+ p&p by credit card over the phone. 0151 448 1228 fax
0151 448 1008. Search their site for "Foot Measure -
Yellow (Plastic) (Reference #PA1902) " which is about thirteen
pounds plus postage.
Clarks, Somerset, UK
make gages for their franchised shops, or produce a good table
on the net. It may not quite agree with this one, so have a look
if you are interested. Clarks were responsible for a lot of the
market research in the 60s and 70s that lead to received wisdom
about the width of the British foot.
Bata,
an international shoe manufacturing company, has a good table
and .pdf
diagramme
DB Shoes
have a diagramme on their site including measurements from the
mould or last
Malthouse Hunter
- specialists in children's guages with width measurement. Based
in UK but make EU & US guages too
Satra, UK - £22
for a mens, womens, or childrens wooden gage for length and width
Brannock, USA - steel
length and width scale stockist
(USA) Brannock publish a pdf scale at one-third size on their
site.
Woodrow Engineering
Wisconsin, USA - used to sell a ruler for measuring the insides
of shoes, but the website doesn't show it at present.
UKD (formerly Marlows)
large trade-only wholesaler who will tell you their local stockist
for shoes and their "Junior Foot-gage, selling for something
up to £80. It is white-coated aluminium, continental and
UK sized 1-10 or 16-45 and has some kind of rough estimate guide
for width
shoe size javascript converter - european
to american & english; english to european and american,
american to european and english
This JavaScript calculator is on the web without the author's
name, so I can't thank him...
Enter a shoe size value into any box.
The remaining boxes will automatically be updated when
you press tab or click the mouse with the cursor in another box
Animal welfare - slaughterhouses are a cut-throat business
in more ways than one, because the blood has to be drained from
the carcas while the heart is still beating. All but Halal sloughterhouses
would claim that the animal is stunned while this is done, but
in a competative third world industry animal pain is inevitable.
There is a list of welfare problems in every part of the industry
and are best solved by simply not eating meat
Health - there is a widening range of breathable, comfortable
footwear and low-fat, healthy cooking available. Maybe the question
should be put the other way: why is it still quite fashionable
to wear leather shoes & eat meat? Was it something to do
with social status a few generations ago?
Ecology - farmland is wasted
if it is used for animal feed.
Shoe sizes:
shoe sizes - european shoe size - american shoe sizes - international
shoe sizes - British shoe sizes conversion tables for American,
Australian, British, Canadian, European, Japanese, Mexican, New
Zealand, Inches, Centimetres, Mondopoint shoe sizes [link: why
do people buy vegan shoes?]
international shoe sizes: you may prefer to use the javascript
calculator below
This chart is based on library & web research, as well
as some thought about the internal logic of the systems.
The English system is thirds of an inch, starting roughly
at four or eight inches for children or adults. Four and eight
inches used to be called one hand or two hands, with four inches
being width of a hand and an inch the length between the end
of your thumb and the middle crease. A hand or hand-width was
the common measure for horses, so it was convenient to use it
for shoes as well.
Thirds of an inch used to be called barleycorns, after the
corns you can make porrage out of.
At this point the system becomes more hi-tec, because cobblers
would use a bit of stick, more or less designed for the purpose
of measuring shoes rather than feet. A shoe should be about one
size larger then the foot it surrounds, so the measuring stick
would be marked with a child's size one one hand and a third
of an inch, rather than the round number of one hand or four
inches exactly.
This "starting roughly" was altered at some point
by colonists in the USA - of which more below.
The system measures foot length and is unisex, but womens'
shoes tend to be narrower at the heel than mens'. A man wearing
women's shoes would be well advised to try a few pairs on first
(transvestite mail-order is a difficult business as court shoes
are traditionally worn tight) and likewise a woman wearing a
boy's shoe might find it more comfortable with a couple of pads
glued-in to the sides. For some loose-fitting styles, unisex
designs are possible and work well.
I don't understand the internal logic of the american system,
but it may be related to the different foot widths that people
of different nationalities have: north europeans have particularly
wide feet for a given length; south europeans and asians have
narrower feet. It may also be that the first mass-production
of shoes co-incided with a great increase in gender differences;
that it was inconcievable to the suppliers that a man would wear
a womens' shoe or vica versa. Whatever the cause, people in the
USA ended-up with two length measurements - one for women, one
for men, and neither the same as the unisex starting point in
the UK.
If anyone would like to help me clarify the different systems
better - particularly by adding logic to the size systems to
make them memorable, please
get in touch.
European countries use a metric system. Because the centimetre
is larger than the difference you would want between two sizes
of shoe, the system is to use two thirds of a centremetre. This
is sometimes called a Paris Point.
People have been frustrated by shoe sizes for many years.
In the Soviet Union there was an attempt to introduce ordinary
centimetres instead of Paris Points, but, as centimetres are
too big to come to round numbers on shoe sizes, shoes tend to
have both size systems stamped on them. In Japan the idea has
caught-on better: people simply give their foot length in centimetres.
In Australia, standards organisations attempted the same thing,
recommending millimetre lengths described as "Mondopoint"
meaning world point, and in the UK the British Standards Institution
has followed. These measurements tend only to be used for more
technical shoes. There are several reasons for difficulties:
Most of the first translation tables on the internet are
written by Americans. North America is unique in having different
size systems for men and women, but, because women's feet are
particularly narrow at the heel, it's often true that a woman
takes a slightly smaller unisex shoe unless she wants to add
some pads. Tables are published taking this into account, and
Americans assume that there are two separate length systems in
the UK. Likewise, because South European shoes are made for narrower
feet than North European, Americans tend to assume that there
are different length systems.
Reference documents are hard to find, and, when presented,
tend to be a summery without mention of the internal logic that
would make them memorable and prevent translation errors. For
example the British Standards Institution now agrees with the
European Standard of simply using the foot length in millimetres,
which is called the Mondopoint system. Neither the British nor
Australian standards institutions now have a definitive document
describing the shoe sizes the people usually use, while the British
Footwear Association avoids the subject. In the USA there is
some difference between the trade association - formerly the
Footwear Industries
of America (FIA) and the "common" scale which is
about half a size different. Australians nominally use the Commonwealth
or English system, but tend to add two sizes for womens' shoes.
Size charts differ in their comparison of US mens, womens
and UK sizes: all quote US sizes as larger than UK ones - one
size for boys and one and a half or two for girls.
There is a logic to this strangeness: US women buying British
shoes might not mind the one sixth of an inch difference in length
that is a half size. UK factories might very much mind the cost
of moulds and stock that are involved in making more sizes.
If anyone spots any mistakes on this table or has any ideas
to simplify, please
let me know. A discussion of how shoe shop's tables vary
is here,
and a collection
of other measuring systems is here.
Jacket Sizes:
international jacket sizes
UK male'
30"
32"
34"
36"
38"
40"
42"
44"
46"
UK female..
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
inches (chest)
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
(waist)
24
66
28
30
32
.
.
.
(hips)
34
36
38
40
42
.
.
.
cm (chest)
82-86
86-90
90-94
100-04
105-09
110-14
115-29
130-34
135-139
(waist)
61
66
71
76
81
.
.
.
(hips)
86.5
91.5
96.5
101.5
106.5
.
.
.
Europe
(chest)
38
40
42
44
46
48
50
.
USA female
(chest)
10
12
14
16
40
42
44
.
Japan female
(chest)
9
11
13
15
17
19
21
.
international coat and jersey sizes
UK/US
coats
jerseys
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
Euro
44
46
48
50
52
54
56
Japan
S
M
L
LL
Women's Sizes
adult dresses
suits
coats
American
8
10
12
14
16
18
British
30
32
34
36
38
40
Continental
36
38
40
42
44
46
adult blouses
& sweaters
American
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
British
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
Continental
40
42
44
46
48
50
52
girls & youth
dresses & coats
American
2
4
6
8
10
13
15
British &
Continental
1
2
5
7
9
10
12
stockings
American &
British
8
8½
9
9½
10
10½
11
Continental
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
Men's Sizes
Suits, Sweaters
and Overcoats
American & British
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
Continental
44
46
48
50
52
54
56
Shirts
American & British
14
14½
15
15½
16
16½
17
Continental
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
Socks
American & British
9½
10
10½
11
11½
12
12½
Continental
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
foot gages:
Algao Ltd, Liverpool,
UK, stockists for the Heider anglo-European length gage @ £11
+ p&p by credit card over the phone. 0151 448 1228 fax
0151 448 1008. Search their site for "Foot Measure -
Yellow (Plastic) (Reference #PA1902) " which is about thirteen
pounds plus postage.
Clarks, Somerset, UK
make gages for their franchised shops, or produce a good table
on the net. It may not quite agree with this one, so have a look
if you are interested. Clarks were responsible for a lot of the
market research in the 60s and 70s that lead to received wisdom
about the width of the British foot.
Bata,
an international shoe manufacturing company, has a good table
and .pdf
diagramme
DB Shoes
have a diagramme on their site including measurements from the
mould or last
Malthouse Hunter
- specialists in children's guages with width measurement. Based
in UK but make EU & US guages too
Satra, UK - £22
for a mens, womens, or childrens wooden gage for length and width
Brannock, USA - steel
length and width scale stockist
(USA) Brannock publish a pdf scale at one-third size on their
site.
Woodrow Engineering
Wisconsin, USA - used to sell a ruler for measuring the insides
of shoes, but the website doesn't show it at present.
UKD (formerly Marlows)
large trade-only wholesaler who will tell you their local stockist
for shoes and their "Junior Foot-gage, selling for something
up to £80. It is white-coated aluminium, continental and
UK sized 1-10 or 16-45 and has some kind of rough estimate guide
for width
shoe size javascript converter - european
to american & english; english to european and american,
american to european and english
This JavaScript calculator is on the web without the author's
name, so I can't thank him...
Enter a shoe size value into any box.
The remaining boxes will automatically be updated when
you press tab or click the mouse with the cursor in another box
Animal welfare - slaughterhouses are a cut-throat business
in more ways than one, because the blood has to be drained from
the carcas while the heart is still beating. All but Halal sloughterhouses
would claim that the animal is stunned while this is done, but
in a competative third world industry animal pain is inevitable.
There is a list of welfare problems in every part of the industry
and are best solved by simply not eating meat
Health - there is a widening range of breathable, comfortable
footwear and low-fat, healthy cooking available. Maybe the question
should be put the other way: why is it still quite fashionable
to wear leather shoes & eat meat? Was it something to do
with social status a few generations ago?
Ecology - farmland is wasted
if it is used for animal feed.