shoe sizes

[genebujold]

Some additional notes.

One's foot tends to spread in a lower heel. For instance, a B width in a high heel that fits perfectly may prove too narrow in a low heel. This has been my experience and have read it in articles on the subject.

Another factor in shoe size that came to mind is the pattern. I understand in that in clothing manufacture as a pattern is used over and over it becomes slightly smaller, thus shrinking in size yielded. Even with machine cut material there is slight loss of the edge of the pattern with each cut. I have purchased clothing that is the exact same style, size and brand, but different colour, only to find that the fit varies as much as an entire size. I have heard that discount clothing is often "the end of the run" and is so in part, due to the expected shrinking factor in the pattern. Could this be a factor in shoes? The leather shoes in particular, have memory. As the pattern shrinks the leather has to be stretched tighter and tighter over the unforgiving last only to shrink once the last is removed at the end of the assembly process. Just a theory but one that makes sense to me. Can anyone can confirm this?

I would think that it depends entirely upon how the pattern is set.

If set with analog means, then yes, both wear and pattern shrinkage over time are suspect.

But if it's set with digital means, as I believe the Frenchmen's Bootier (pronouced boot-ee-ayr) uses, then the machines will auto-calibrate each run producing the same cut, each time.

As always, however, leather is hardly a predictable fabric. Nevertheless, genuine leather is one of the more forgiving fabrics, much more so than synthetic.

[Dawn HH]

Most of the shoe sizing charts recommend that if a man is to wear a female shoe, he should go up two sizes larger in the female shoe over his male shoe size. Those charts don't work for me. My male shoe size is a 7½ wide. Now my female shoe size is a 7½ B in a high heel and they fit perfectly. In a female boot, I use an 8B and the fit is good. Also in boots, I tend to stick to boots from New-port News as I have come to the conclusion they fit me very well right out of the box and are quite comfortable and every time that I street-heel, I use a different pair of boots. I have several pairs of calf-high and knee-high boots from New-port News. Has anyone else found that their male and female shoe size are the same numbers like mine? Go figure. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[Nicole]

Same here, Dawn. However, I must bear in mind that for men's shoes, I wear trainers with think white athletic socks. Thus, I get a 10.5 (US size) in men's. With women's shoes, I wear heels of 3" or higher, with hose of some kind. Hence, an 11 is usually a good fit. 12s tend to be a bit too large.

[Dawn HH]

Nicole:-) Years ago I used to wear men's nylon socks from Thom McCann (SP?) that were a little thicker than todays panty-hose but much thinner and more sexy than the then available men's sox. These, much to my chagrin, haven't been available for a good many years now. Today, I wear men's Gold-toe sox with my sneakers, (heavily padded walking shoes), when I must wear them for my job. All of the rest of the time I wear panty-hose with my heeled shoes or my heeled boots. Cheers--- Dawn HH