Are women’s feet proportionately narrower than men’s? That is, can a man who wears a men’s size 8.5 get his feet happily into a women’s size 11 (10? 10.5?)
I know there are some lines of shoes that don’t differentiate between men’s and women’s lines (Dr. Martin’s?), but let’s be honest–they’re men’s shoes.
This question brought up over a really great sale on women’s Birkenstock sandals, but not men’s. The sandals were not bought. The answer is still sought. Woohoo, I’m channeling Johnny Cochran like a…
Whether women’s feet are, in general, narrower than men’s, I don’t know. Women’s shoes definitely are.
I wear a 10C in women’s shoes (10B being average width, 10A narrow, 10C wide). I wear an 8 average in men’s, and will often buy men’s loafers, sneakers, etc.
So, if you’re a guy and want to buy women’s shoes, if you’re an 8.5 men’s average width, a woman’s 11 wide would probably fit okay. An 11B would probably not be ideal – though Birkenstocks tend to run a little wide, I’ve been comfortable in regular 10s both in that brand and the knockoffs.
If it’s an online sale, the only way to be sure is to order 'em and try 'em on – you can return them if they don’t fit. If it’s a shoestore – well, I’ve never gotten funny looks as a woman buying men’s shoes – unless you’re excessively self-conscious, you can probably get away with it.
Going by these measurements, when normalized for height differences, men still have larger heel-ankle circumference, larger foot circumference at the ball, larger foot width, and larger foot length.
Yeah, I think it’s b/c of the fashion sense that we women should have “Cinderella feet” (ie small and narrow) I do have the small feet, but the narrow feet…NOPE! It’s not as bad as when I was small…I had to wear AFOs (ankle foot orthosises) and we could never find shoes that fit me! Still I am happier in boots rather then dainty delicate girly ideal shoes.
