European shoe sizes, converted to US

European shoe sizes do convert to American ones, but not as cleanly as the charts suggest, and the gap between a chart and a fit is wider in shoes than in anything else you can buy. Here are the conversions, and then the three things that matter more than they do.

Women’s shoes

The American number is roughly the European number minus thirty. Italian houses are the ones you will meet most often here, and they tend to run on the small side of that.

Men’s shoes

For men the American number is roughly the European number minus thirty-three.

The half-size problem

European sizing has no half sizes below 35 and uses them unevenly above it, so a foot that is an American 8.5 often has to choose between a 38 and a 39. The usual advice is to take the larger and add an insole, and the usual advice is right — a shoe that is slightly too big can be made to fit, and one that is slightly too small cannot.

Measure your foot, once

Stand on a sheet of paper in the evening, when your feet are at their largest, with the weight on that foot. Mark the heel and the longest toe, measure between the marks, and do both feet — most people have one longer than the other, and the longer one is the one that has to fit. Compare that number with the last column above.

What the chart cannot tell you

Width. Italian shoes are cut narrow as a rule, and a narrow 39 will feel smaller than a wide 39 even though the chart says they are the same. The description on each page notes it where the house does.

And material. Leather relaxes about half a size with wear, so loafers and dress shoes should be snug on the first day. Rubber-soled sneakers will not give at all, so judge those on the first try and do not hope.