You’re probably familiar with length as a measurement for picking the right shoe size, but what about the rest of it? Yes, the rest of it. If you want a good fit in your new shoes, the length is only the start.
I’m going to go ahead and say right up front, though, that this is an *incredibly* complex topic and I hope to help demystify why, at the least, you may have fit problems and show how to diagnose them. And I hope that knowledge helps you make informed decisions about shoes. Not every shoe will or does work for every wearer because our feet are so different.
Take a look! These are all different people with different shapes, lengths, widths, and volumes who graciously shared their images. Let’s normalize bare feet, y’all!
Alright, on to the nitty gritty of feet.
Sections
Length
This is something you’re probably very used to using for shoe size, and it’s still valid now. The first thing you should do is measure how long your foot is, but you don’t want a shoe that’s exactly the length of your foot, either, even though that may be exactly what you’ve done for years in mainstream shoes. Research has shown that 12 mm is the optimal length and in kids, 17 mm would be the maximum extra distance inside closed-toed shoes.
There are 3 ways to determine the length of your foot, and they vary in ease of use and accuracy. It’s also critical (and this plays in more for custom or hand-made shoes) that you look for how the seller is determining fit. Many use a specific approach, often the wall method.
Length measurements are what you will most often see on size charts, but even then things can vary whether the company is giving you the length of the insole, the length of the last used, or their own estimation for how much length you have inside the shoe. Generally, you can just roll with what you see and assume it’s the usable inside length of the shoe, but there are variations and it doesn’t hurt to ask of you’re in doubt.
How to measure your feet
Apologies for a bit of blurriness. Homeschool-work-at-home-mom-blogger life is chaotic. To do list for future updates includes better pics. 🤞
One REALLY important thing to keep in mind when you do this is whyyyy you are tracing and for what shoes. If you are tracing for sandals or flats where you will wear nothing, then by all means, measure your bare foot. If you are tracing for shoes where you will wear medium socks, then trace your foot that way. If you’re looking at double socking in some winter boots, then trace that way.
Yes, that means you may end up with a bunch of tracings/measurements over time. Sounds useful to me!
Method 1: Wall Method
This method is the most common and likely to give you the most accurate results as it eliminates the extra mms you gain from the width of whatever implement you’re using to trace your foot.
- Place your foot lightly against a firm, flat surface with a paper under your foot and lined up with the same surface
- Place a book lightly against the most distant point of your foot
- Remove your foot
- Mark the position of the book
- Measure the distance from the mark to the edge of the page
- Do this for both width and length, and if you only do 1 foot make sure it is your larger foot
Look here for a quick video of this method from Katja/Bosenogice
Method 2: Tracing Method
This is a popular method because the visual is nice, but it’s probably the least accurate method.
- Place your foot on a clean piece of paper with your weight on it for maximum spread
- Preferably, have someone else do the tracing for you to get the most accurate tracing
- Keep the writing implement straight and up against the foot for a complete tracing
- Placing dots at the end of at least the longest toe/toes can help
With optimal accuracy and a thin pen, this method should only be a couple of mms more than the wall method, but I personally find it very difficult to do this method well.
Katja has a video of this as well.
Method 3: Plus 12
Admittedly, not a lot of people have this device, but I like it and find it helpful. It’s not perfect either, and can be confusing because the readout you get includes the optimal extra 12 mm that you need, so what it’s really telling you is ‘get this length shoe.’ Check out Katja’s video here.
Be careful how you share the information with others if you do use it (they can be purchased here) because it will confuse people. Mark down the number you get and also subtract the 12 mm as if you message a company that you need a shoe with an internal length of 24.6 mm, because you already have that from your awesome Plus 12 math, they are going to read that as your foot length and recommend something too large.
Caveats for this are that it’s still easy to get off by a couple of mms and you need to measure whatever toe is longest. On a fun note, this can be really interesting for checking the inside length of shoes you buy against the size chart, but you have to be careful how you do it as if you stretch the shoe too much, or don’t hold it firmly enough, you’re not being accurate either.
Alright, enough Foot Nerd time about measurement, let’s check out the rest of areas where you can find your fit problems and optimize your shoe choices.
Width
After you know the length of your foot, or ideally, during the process, be sure to get your width as well. It’s generally tied to your size (meaning that those with bigger feet also have more width) so what you’re really trying to find out is whether you have a ‘wide,’ ‘medium,’ or ‘narrow’ foot for your size. Someone with a 4 inch wide foot who is a size 38 will have a much different experience than someone with a 4 inch splay in a size 44.
Brands vary on their width. Usually, unisex shoes like Groundies are more generous. But looking at brands with men’s and women’s is not bad either, as you can get a better fit for your narrow foot in the women’s lines (whether you are a man or woman!) and do the same with the men’s lines if you have a wider foot. The later is me: if a company has men’s and women’s versions with different widths, I’m universally going to go for the men’s.
The caution for this is if you are wide but flat and have skinny ankles. Typically, companies that have male and female versions will not only widen the shoes on the men’s side, but also increase their volume everywhere else.
Another caution is that the listed width measurements can almost be meaningless because you need to know how they measured and actually what they measured. And your ball volume (more about that below) makes a huge impact on how the listed width actually applies to your foot and informs your experience with any pair of shoes. Nearly universally, though, you will have more width available than what is listed.
Shape
Did you every think, before minimalist shoes, about how people’s toes shape differently, from big toe to pinky? No? Me either. But this can make all the difference in how you enjoy and size a shoe, or if you can even wear it at all.
My foot has a very rounded shape, and does not quickly slope from big toe to pinky. This means that sharply angled shoes like Luks, or even my favorite Mukishoes, can easily result in my 4th toes hitting the front of the shoes and mean I need to take care with my sizing. (It definitely doesn’t stop me from wearing my beloved Mukis, though!) The Bosenogice post linked below has a reference for matching foot shape with shoes, which is awesome! I tend to personally look at it as great information, but if I like a shoe and I can wear it, I’m going to wear it, even if I need to make adjustments.
Here is a pic of the typical way you will see people refer to foot shapes. I’m honestly not a fan of the names and I never remember which is which, but they can be helpful so I’m including them here (pic found on Reddit and I’m not sure where it originated).
Volume
The next 3 all relate to the volume of your foot. This can be a difficult concept to understand. Check out a detailed post covering that and other points about foot type, shape, etc. here, but to summarize the idea in my own words here are a few points.
- Your volume is not the same as your arch height. You can have any arch height and have high, medium, or low volume feet.
- Volume typically refers to the instep of your foot, which is the part just in front of your ankle. It’s simply how much space it takes up, and that involves both height and width. On the linked page, you can see the ratio that can help you calculate it, which was originally established by Stastne Nozky as an empirical way to determine if you are high volume or not. Basically, measure your instep from ground to ground (not complete circumference) and divide it by the length of your foot. If the ratio is less than .7, you’re low volume, over .78 you are high volume, and anything inbetween is medium.
- Without getting into that, you can usually figure it out by your history with shoes. When the length is correct, do shoes typically fit you loosely, like you have a problem getting them tight enough? (Low volume) Or do you find that sometimes you still can’t wear shoes at all, because they are too tight? (High volume) Or do you find that it varies based on brand, with some fitting fine, some being loose, and some being tight? (Medium volume).
The reason that all this matters is that every brand, or at least specific models, are designed either in the middle of the volume spectrum, or at one end, and with a little research you can learn which ones work for you, and which ones don’t.
I started to make a 3-column list here, splitting brands across the spectrum, but it’s really not that simple. It’s best to look at reviews for specific models and see what people are saying and you can read between the lines to get what you want. For example, if you’re high volume, check for reviews where people talk about ‘swimming’ in the shoes, as that likely indicates they had a volume mis-match in the other direction. If you’re low volume, look for people talking about the shoe being tight over the top of their foot. Most people aren’t even aware that feet have different volumes, and will talk about shoes based on their direct experience.
My experience with high-volume feet shows me things like this:
- Mukishoes, with the exception of the new Plum model, trends high volume, leading many others to add insoles.
- Bohempia is also at the high volume end of the spectrum.
- Be Lenka varies, with models like City and Prime doing very well for high volume wearers, while the Eazy model is very low volume.
- Feelgrounds is a company that varies, as well. The Droptop model is delightfully high volume, but I am sized up in the other models to give my instep the room it needs.
Ball
The ball of your foot is the area of the foot just behind your toes. The first thing people think of in this section is width, but the overall volume matters too. I have sized up entirely from this section being too tight even though the width was fine. Most brands will not tell you this area, or don’t even know, but Zeazoo is a rare exception and includes volume measurements for this area in their sizing charts, which I love. Wildling is a brand where people greatly vary in their thoughts of the shoes being wide enough, and I suspect volume plays heavily into that.
Instep
The area just in front of your ankle, as I mentioned above, is the instep and the most common area to experience volume issues. Measurements here can either be over (from floor to floor) or around, and generally determine how well you fit in a pair of shoes that otherwise measures correctly by length and width. This measurement plays into custom shoes more than ready-made, and can be useful if you can compare with others who have either loved or hated a particular brand, which is something you may be able to do in great gathering places like the Facebook Minimalist B/S/T group.
Ankle
This is a less common area to have problems, but definitely comes up in fit, usually with either sandals (due to strap length), boots (due to not having enough space in their design for larger ankles), or in especially high volume shoes giving lower volume wearers gaping. For the latter, check out the Improving Your Fit Problems page for a lacing tip.
Differently Sized Feet
One additional note is for those of us with differently-sized feet. Please make sure that you size your shoes by your bigger foot. Sizing by your smallest leaves one of your feet, and especially your important big toe, without room enough to move. It’s healthier for your feet to add something like an insole or felt sticky pad (check this page for options) to get a good fit, rather than crunch your feet. That’s what we were doing before barefoot shoes, and it should be avoided wherever possible.
I hope this information helps. Please give feedback about what would make it more useful, either in comments here, on Facebook, or on the Obsessed with Barefoot Shoes Instagram page. I’m sure there will be updates, clarifications, and additions, so check back any time you’re ready to size a new pair of shoes. It never hurts to take extra measurements and see what companies know, can, or will tell you about their shoes before you buy.
