Measuring the width of your foot is an important step for comfort and protecting your foot health. A shoe that is too narrow can cause painful friction, blisters, and long-term issues like bunions or hammertoes, while a shoe that is too wide offers inadequate support and can lead to instability. Since feet can change size due to age, weight, and activity, relying on an old shoe size is unreliable. Taking the time to measure your foot width at home ensures that you buy footwear that properly accommodates your unique foot structure, especially when shopping online.
Essential Preparation and Tools
Before beginning the measuring process, gather a few simple household items. You will need a standard piece of paper, a pencil or pen for tracing, and a ruler or tape measure capable of recording measurements. The best time to measure your feet is in the late afternoon or evening because feet naturally swell throughout the day, reaching their maximum size. Always measure while wearing the type of sock you intend to pair with the new shoes, as this accounts for the sock’s thickness.
Measure both feet, as slight differences in size are common, and always base your final shoe selection on the larger foot. Place the paper on a hard, flat surface, and stand with your full weight distributed evenly over the foot being measured. This weight-bearing stance is crucial because the foot naturally flattens and widens when standing, providing the maximum width measurement. Ensuring your heel is positioned snugly against a wall or straight edge at the back of the paper will also help stabilize the foot.
Precise Steps for Measuring Foot Width
To begin the tracing process, hold your pencil or pen straight up at a 90-degree angle to the paper and trace the complete outline of your foot. Keeping the writing instrument perpendicular to the floor prevents under-tracing, which would result in a falsely narrow outline. Once the complete outline is captured, locate the widest points of the foot, typically found across the ball of the foot. These points correspond to the metatarsophalangeal joints, located just behind the toes on the inner and outer sides of the foot.
With these two widest points clearly identified, use a straight edge to draw a horizontal line connecting them across the tracing. The length of this line represents the raw width measurement of your foot. Measure the length of this line using a ruler, recording the number in both inches and centimeters. Measuring the overall length from the heel to the longest toe is also important, as shoe width is a proportional measurement relative to the foot’s length.
Interpreting Your Foot Width Measurement
The raw width measurement you recorded must be translated into a standard shoe width designation, typically represented by a letter code. This system is often standardized based on industry norms, where each letter represents a progressive difference in width. For women’s sizing, the letter B is generally considered the medium or standard width, while for men’s sizing, the letter D represents the average medium width. Moving through the alphabet, letters like A, AA, or AAA signify increasingly narrower widths, whereas E, EE, or EEE indicate progressively wider options.
A woman’s size D is considered a wide fit, but a man’s size D is a standard fit, illustrating the gender-specific nature of the codes. The difference between successive widths, like between a C and a D, is generally a fraction of an inch. Since there is no universal standard across all manufacturers, compare your raw inch measurement against the specific sizing chart provided by the shoe brand you intend to purchase from. This cross-reference ensures the letter code you select will correspond correctly to the internal dimensions of that particular shoe model.