Most Women Wear Shoes That Don't Match Their Feet, Study Finds

Most women wear shoes that do not match their actual foot size, according to a new study from RMIT University in Australia. Of 107 women studied, 72% wore a different size than their foot length indicated under U.S. sizing, and 65% did so under EU sizing. Most of these women sized up rather than down: 59% wore a larger size under U.S. sizing and 52% did so under EU sizing.

The researchers say this tendency to size up suggests some women are compensating for shoes that do not adequately accommodate their foot width, rather than simply picking the wrong size. Supporting that explanation, women assigned the same shoe size based on foot length varied by up to 40 millimeters around the widest part of the foot under U.S. sizing, and by up to 37 millimeters under EU sizing. The study, published in the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, also found that 68% of participants had at least one recurring problem with shoe fit.

Co-author associate professor Saniyat Islam of RMIT's School of Fashion and Textiles said the findings exposed the limits of footwear sizing systems that rely heavily on length. Most shoes are sold in only one width, despite the study finding enough variation among women with the same foot length to need about six or seven width options to accommodate them. Islam said expanding the availability of width fittings would do more to improve fit than relying on length-based sizing and half-sizes alone.

The findings also point to the importance of considering Australia's multiethnic population in footwear design: of 25 participants who said shoes were often too narrow, 60% were from Northeast Asian, Southeast Asian or South Asian backgrounds, though the study was not designed to establish differences between individual ethnic groups. Co-author associate professor Carol Tan said footwear sizing still largely reflects a narrow range of Western foot shapes, despite Australia having one of the world's most diverse populations. The researchers also recommended clearer sizing information, noting that more than half of participants did not know their U.K. shoe size.