How to measure my feet
The same EU 38 can mean a 240 mm insole at one brand and a 256 mm insole at another — 16 mm apart, which is roughly two sizes. Measure your feet and you can filter the whole catalogue by what actually fits.
The method you already know
Sheet of paper on the floor, one edge against the wall, heel against the wall, trace around your foot, measure the tracing.
It requires a sheet of paper bigger than your foot, a pen, and enough flexibility to draw around a foot you are currently standing on.
The method I actually use
You’ll need a tape measure and a phone. That is the entire kit.
01 / Length
- 01
Lay the tape measure on a hard floor at a right angle to the wall, with the zero end touching the wall.
- 02
Put your heel against the wall and stand so the tape runs down the middle of your foot, from heel to toes. Let the heel touch the wall, but do not press into it — pressing shortens the reading.
- 03
Stand up straight with your weight on both feet. A loaded foot is a few millimetres longer than a resting one.
- 04
Hold the phone flat above your toes, screen parallel to the floor, and take a photo. Read off the number at the tip of your longest toe (for a lot of people, that’s not the big toe).
Why the photoThe photo is the whole trick. If you bend down to read the tape, you change the amount of weight resting on your foot, and the measurement may change with it.
The photo also stays in your camera roll. If you forget the number, you will not have to measure again.
02 / Width
- 01
Turn sideways and place the outer edge of your foot against the wall so that the tape crosses the widest part of your foot. Let your foot touch the wall without pressing into it. A foot pushed against the wall will appear narrower than it really is.
- 02
Take a photo.
Measure both feet and use the larger one. A difference of a few millimetres is common, and the shoes need to fit the larger foot.
It is best to measure at the end of the day. Feet tend to swell as the day goes on, so shoes fitted to a fresh morning foot may feel too small by the evening.
Your foot is not one number
You already have your two numbers — this bit is optional, just a two-minute demonstration of why “your foot” isn’t a fixed thing.
Find a line or any other visible mark on the floor. A line is easier to use, but anything you can see clearly will work. Place your foot so that the tip of your longest toe sits exactly at the mark.
Move your weight around
Lean forwards, then backwards, and put more weight on one foot than the other. Watch how the position of your toe changes in relation to the mark. Step forwards with your other foot and let the foot you are watching roll onto the ball and toes. See how far it moves past the mark.
Lay your toes out one by one
Start with the little toe: lift it, stretch it forwards and outwards, then put it down. Continue with the fourth toe, then the third, until all five toes are spread instead of resting on top of one another. If the foot has become slightly shorter, that is not necessarily a measuring error. Spreading the toes can lift the arch, and a foot with a higher arch takes up less space on the floor.
Turning measurements into a size
Take the longest and widest readings, and treat those as your foot.
Got your two numbers?
Filters · insole length + widthOpen Find my size in the catalogue filters, enter length and width, and we will show every model whose insole falls in that range and is in stock in your size.
Where our numbers come from
The insole length and width we filter on come from the size charts each brand publishes, applied per size and per last. We do not yet have complete measurements from every brand, but I am gradually filling in the gaps, writing to brands as I go.