Following the success of our post on buying bras in Europe, we’ve decided to continue in the sizing guide vein – let no girl ever be lost as to what size to buy when in Europe!
This week: shoes. Shoe sizes in Europe are different than in other parts of the world– but fear not, we’re here to help!
As with bras, buying shoes in Europe is made infinitely easier by the fact that most countries within the region use standard European sizing – the only exception being the UK. This means that the only sizing guide you need is as follows:
US Europe UK
5 35 2
6 36 3
7 37 4
8 38 5
9 39 6
10 40 7
11 41 8
12 42 9
13 43 10
14 44 11
The main difficulty comes from the fact that the barriers between the different sizes do not exactly correspond between the different systems. This means that, for example, a large US size 7 does not necessarily equal a large European size 37 or UK size 4 – it could be well into the next size up. For this reason, it always pays to try on shoes before buying them if at all possible, as the table above can only approximate (this is also the reason you’ll find a lot of variation when trying to compare shoe sizes online).
Trying on shoes is a good idea anyway, as obviously sizes can vary a lot between brands and styles – some things never change, no matter where you are in the world!
Lastly, please note that European and UK shoe sizes are the same for both men and women – a size 6 is a size 6 no matter who is wearing it. Nice and simple 🙂
Happy shoe shopping!
