What is shoe number? Determining the size of shoes that fit on our feet is difficult yet easy. If you buy the shoes and come to the store immediately, it’s good, we can try them. The thing is, if we buy it online it’ll be another story. We need to know the size of our feet so that the shoes we buy are not smaller or bigger.
The thing is, shoe sizes usually also differ from brand to brand. I use Adidas Ultraboost shoe size 38, but if Nike AirMax 38 1⁄2, while Onitsuka 38 again. Strange, right? Does that mean my legs can shrink and extend as they please? No way, please.
Let’s Begin
So here’s the thing, girls, please do not be confused because shoe sizes usually differ a bit from one brand to another. It’s good that we don’t focus on numbers like 37, 38, 39, and so on. But stick on your legs’ length in centimeters.
So, how do we measure the length of our legs? It’s easy. Please take a ruler. The important thing is the scale in centimeters. Once you get the ruler, measure the length of your feet by placing the number 0 on the ruler at the end of your heel and pulling the ruler straight up to the very end of your toes.
Well, the number you see under your toes is the length of your feet in centimeters. For example, it is 24 centimeters long, remember the number because it is the length that will be the benchmark for the shoe number that is right for us.
Whatever the brand and whatever the unit of measure system, we can “survive” if we know the length of our feet in centimeters.
In this world, there are several shoe size systems ranging from EU (Europe), UK (UK), US (America), JPN (Japan), and Mondopoint sizes (commonly used by Koreans). However, among the size systems that are most often used in the world are the size systems of the EU, UK, US, and JPN.
The EU system
We start with the EU. The EU size system is also known as the Paris Stick (PS) which has a reference base of 1 PS = 2/3 cm or 0.666 cm with a maximum limit of 50 PS = 33,333 cm. The EU size system uses numbers ranging from 14 to 50.
If you want to convert in cm, you have to calculate it like this. For example for number 37, then 37 x 0.666 cm = 24.7 cm. That is, shoe number 37 has a length of 24,7 cm.
Other numbers are also the same, for example, number 38, then 38 x 0.666 = 25 cm, then shoes with the number 38 have a length of 25 cm, and so on. To facilitate numbering in the EU size system, shoes for children start at 14-35, while adult shoes start at 36-50.
US system
The US size system is the shoe size system in The United States, but it is also widely used in Europe. Some well-known sneakers brand like Nike, Adidas, and PUMA usually include US sizes in their shoes.
The US size system uses inch units of measure in its numbering and is considered the most complete. Because this system also has a middle size.
The US numbering system for shoes starts from the number 0-13 for children’s shoes, where the number 0 = 3 11/2 inches with 1/3 inch intervals in each number.
While for adult sizes the numbering starts from 1-12, where number 1 = 8 7/2 inches with the 1/3 inch intervals of each number. While for the middle number, the US system has 1/6 inch intervals.
So for example, our foot is 24 cm, converted to inches is 9.5 inches. If 1 = 8 7/2 inches with 1/3 interval then 9.4 becomes a 5.5 US size.
While if our feet are 25 cm converted in inches to 9.9 inches then our US size is 7 and so on. Are you getting dizzy here yet? If you’re not a mathematician it seems like you’re going to miss it, anyway.
But relax, as long as we know the size of our feet, all shoe brands will write the size of cm and write the conversion into the US, UK, and EU systems in the insole of their shoes. That’s why at the beginning I said that knowing the length of our feet in cm is the key to finding the right shoe size.
UK System
Similar to the US, the UK (United Kingdom) also uses inch units of measure. The numbering of shoes for children starts from the number 0-13, where the number 0 = 4 inches with 1/3 inch intervals in each number.
And for the adult size, the numbering starts from numbers 1-12, where number 1= 8 2/3 inches with 1/3 inch intervals with the midsole size having 2/6 inch intervals.
For example, if our feet are 24 centimeters or 9.5 inches, it would be in UK units of 4.5. Meanwhile, if our foot length is 25 cm or 9.9 inches, then the UK shoe number will be 6.5.
JPN System
For me and probably for most people, the JPN (Japan) size system is the easiest and simplest. Because it uses a size of cm, so we just measure the length of our feet in centimeters then we can immediately buy the size of the shoes.
In the Japanese numbering system, the size of women’s shoes is usually numbered 21 and that of men is numbered 21.5. There are 0.5-1 dm intervals per size in the Japanese sizing system, .
In conclusion, the most comfortable in choosing shoes is indeed to try them directly. But, if buying online, my advice is to ignore the UK, US, and EU numbering systems. Just focus on looking at the size of centimeters, it’s simpler and easier.
Again, the size of centimeters also has a tolerance. Look at the centimeters closest to the length of your legs, but take the one on top of it. For example, your feet are 24.5 cm long but the size in the shoe is EU 37 is 24.7 cm long and 24.1 cm EU 36, so you should choose shoes that are EU 37 or 24.7 cm.
