I’ll add that you also rarely see the extremes in widths available outside of special order. The vast majority of shoes are medium width (which I though was B, I’ve never seen C or D tho’ I do occasionally see E and A).
Other shoe sizes: A US 9 is a UK 6 and I’ve noticed that lots of UK shoe sellers don’t seem to have half size. People in England must walk around with ill fitting shoes.
There are actually two different European shoe sizes: French and Italian. Italian is much more common and even most French shoe makers use the Italian sizing. An Italian 39 is closest to a US 8.5 although most department stores try to claim it’s a US 9. The French sizing is about a size smaller, a US 9 would probably be a French 40 but honestly, you rarely see French sizing nowdays.
BTW, the above is for women’s shoes; I dont’ know much about men’s.
Oh, and I’ll add that the most commonly stocked shoe sizes in the US are 6 - 10. There’s a reason for that, those sizes are made using the same last (the form the shoe is shaped on). Sizes smaller that 6 and larger than 10 use a different last and are more expensive and more difficult to locate.
I meant to add this but I missed the edit window. My old job had my hanging out in NBA dressing rooms and one day the Miami Heat came to town. Shaq wasn’t in the room at the time but his shoes were sitting at his locker. They were massive, comically large even, and you really have to see them to believe them (I didn’t actually check out the sizes - seemed rude - but Google tells me they are somewhere in the neighborhood of 22 - 24 EEE).
I still can’t believe how big those darn things were.
b. what is your average shoe size? I’m not quite sure how to answer without a bit of a range - I buy size 6 because of a badly-healed broken pinky toe on my right foot. I would take 5 1/2 for both feet if not for that.
c. how tall are you? 5’2-ish (I may be a hair shorter, but “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue” is just so perfect)
DeathLlama’s stats:
Male
Size 13
6’4" (a strangely popular height around here)
HazelNutCoffee and Sleeps With Butterflies, I feel YOUR pain. Many shoes come in 5 1/2, 6, 6 1/2, 7, 7 1/2, 8, 8 1/2, 9…10. Um…hello? Us 9 1/2 people have feet, too!
I’m lickle.
My feet are one size down from where most of those International size conversion charts start.
I wear a lot of insoles, thick socks, kids shoes and shoes that are too big for me.
