How to measure your feet at home before you order shoes online

The size in your head is probably out of date

Most people order shoes in the size they have always worn. That number was usually set years ago in a store, with a salesperson and a metal measuring device, and feet do not stay still after that. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons suggests having your feet measured every year, because feet can change as you get older.

The other problem is that a size is not a fixed length. The Academy points out that sizes vary from brand to brand and from one style to the next, so a size 8 in a running shoe and a size 8 in a canvas sneaker can fit differently. A measurement taken at home gives you something steadier to compare against than the number printed inside your last pair.

Measure in the evening

Feet swell over the course of the day. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the increase can be as much as eight percent, and it recommends buying shoes toward the end of the day. Harvard Health Publishing gives the same advice: wait until the afternoon, when your feet have expanded with use.

A pair that feels right at nine in the morning can press on your toes by dinnertime. Measuring in the evening means you are fitting the largest version of your foot.

What you need, and how to stand

Tape a sheet of printer paper to the floor with one short edge pushed flat against a wall. You will also need a pencil and a ruler or tape measure, and someone to help if you have one.

Put on the socks you plan to wear with the shoes. The Academy and Harvard Health both make this point, and it matters more than it seems: a thin summer sock and a thick winter sock take up different amounts of room inside a shoe.

Stand on the paper with your heel touching the wall and your full weight on that foot. The Academy recommends measuring standing up, because body weight spreads the foot out. Sitting down gives a shorter, narrower outline than the foot you walk on.

Marking and measuring

Keep the pencil upright, at a right angle to the paper, rather than tucking it under the edge of your foot. A pencil held at a slant draws the outline too close and makes the foot look smaller than it is.

Mark the tip of your longest toe. That is not always the big toe. For some people the second toe reaches further, and the Academy says to measure to the longest toe. Step off the paper and measure in a straight line from the wall to the mark.

Then do the other foot. One foot is often slightly longer than the other, and both the Academy and Harvard Health say to choose shoes for the larger one. It is easy to add a thicker sock or lace a shoe a little tighter on the smaller foot. It is impossible to make a short shoe longer.

How much room to leave

A shoe should be longer than your foot. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends about half an inch between your longest toe and the tip of the shoe. Harvard Health Publishing allows a little less, anywhere from a quarter inch up to that same half.

That space is not wasted. When you walk, your foot moves forward in the shoe with every step, and your toes need room to spread. With too little space, toes hit the front of the shoe on every stride and on every downhill. With too much, the heel lifts out of the back and the shoe slaps on the ground.

A quick check once your shoes arrive: stand up with your weight on both feet and press your thumb down on the toe of the shoe. About the width of a thumb between the end of your longest toe and the front of the shoe is roughly the half inch you want.

Choosing between two sizes

If your measurement falls between two sizes, start with the brand's own note on fit. For our classic canvas low top and classic high top, ZGR says US sizing, true to size. For our men's high top, ZGR says to check the inner length and allow for the width of your foot before choosing.

When the pair arrives, walk around indoors on a clean floor for several minutes. Harvard Health advises against expecting shoes to break in or stretch to fit, and it recommends trusting your own comfort level over the size printed on the box. If your toes touch the front or the sides pinch, the size is wrong, whatever the label says.

Keep in mind that the size you wear in one kind of shoe is only a starting point for another. The Academy is clear that fit, not the number, should decide.

Canvas sneakers and winter boots

Our women's styles come in US women's sizes from 5 to 11, many of them in half sizes, and our men's styles in US men's sizes from 7 to 13. The measuring method is the same for both, but canvas sneakers and winter boots ask different things of it.

Canvas does not stretch to fix a pair that is too short. It softens across the top of the foot with wear, but the length of the sole stays where it is. If a canvas sneaker is short on the first day, it will stay short.

For snow boots, measure again wearing the thick socks you will wear in January, not the socks you had on in September. Our boots have a faux fur lining, which takes up some of the room inside, so the extra layer of sock matters even more there.

This is general fitting information, not medical advice. If you have foot pain, diabetes, or a condition that affects your feet, ask a podiatrist or your doctor which shoes suit you.