Under the European (EU) shoe sizing system, shoe size is the length of the "last" - the length of the foot plus two centimeters - expressed in "Paris Points". The Paris Point is a unit of length equaling 2/3 of a centimeter or roughly 0.2625 inch. Also, according to the EU shoe size system, size is not adjusted for gender.

European shoes will start at about size 10 for babies' first shoes, small adult sizes are in the 30's and large adult men's shoes sizes are in the 45-50 range. To give you some perspective, shoe sizes in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) are based on the United Kingdom system, whereby the length of the foot is measured in inches, and the sizes increase in increments of 1/3 of an inch. Sizes begin with 1 in the United States or 0 in the United Kingdom, and shoes are separated into men's, women's and children's sizes.

The European system is used in most Eastern European countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Russia, the Ukraine, and other countries that once made part of the former USSR. The exception is the United Kingdom, as mentioned above.

The country in which footwear is manufactured is more of an indicator of whether or not the size on the label will be shown as European, rather than what type of footwear utilizes that sizing system. However, there are exceptions, Mondopoint is the labeling system preferred by those European companies manufacturing ski boots, figure skates, and military footwear, although there are some European companies that still only use the EU system in labeling their ski boots and figure skates.

In addition, designer label shoes primarily from Italy and France use the EU sizing system; however, we are beginning to see a change in trend as more and more Americans are consumers of designer footwear, and fine labels have begun to label their footwear with multiple sizes such as EU/US. Some hand-crafted fine Italian leather footwear still carries only EU sizing on its label.

As globalization and a world economy allow more manufacturers to compete in the global market, we are beginning to see a difference in how products are labeled to appeal to a broader customer base. Accordingly, labels on many styles of footwear, including athletic shoes, sandals, and everyday footwear now show the size of the shoe based on more than one sizing system, i.e. US, UK, and EU.

OTHER SYSTEMS

• AMERICAN
• BRITISH
• JAPANESE
• MONDOPOINT
• AUSTRALIAN