The vagaries of (shoe) sizing
July 9th, 2011 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
throughkseyesSo, another thing that my mother and I did yesterday at the outlets was, out of curiosity, getting our feet sized at the Clarks Bostonian store. I've never been able to figure out the width-sizing on the metal foot-shaped thingy that shoe stores carry, so a sales associate explained it. However, I now have definitive proof that the sizing does NOT work.
Why? Because my mother and I measured as the exact same size: 5 length, C/D width. We do indeed have the same length foot; however, we have NEVER worn the same shoe size. As in, if she buys a pair of shoes that fit, it's guaranteed that those shoes will not fit me. (I still throw them on when running out to the garage, but they flop around and are clearly too big.)
And furthermore, neither of us wears a size 5 wide (thankfully!). I wear 5M and am sometimes able to size up to 5.5M; in narrow-cut shoes, my toes get squished, but wide sizes are universally too big for my instep. My mom wears 6/6.5W or 7M; she does fit wide sizes but often just buys a size up for convenience. In sneakers she can fit a 6.5M easily.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you have to try on shoes. And everything else that goes on your body.
Why? Because my mother and I measured as the exact same size: 5 length, C/D width. We do indeed have the same length foot; however, we have NEVER worn the same shoe size. As in, if she buys a pair of shoes that fit, it's guaranteed that those shoes will not fit me. (I still throw them on when running out to the garage, but they flop around and are clearly too big.)
And furthermore, neither of us wears a size 5 wide (thankfully!). I wear 5M and am sometimes able to size up to 5.5M; in narrow-cut shoes, my toes get squished, but wide sizes are universally too big for my instep. My mom wears 6/6.5W or 7M; she does fit wide sizes but often just buys a size up for convenience. In sneakers she can fit a 6.5M easily.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you have to try on shoes. And everything else that goes on your body.