Boot width, and why length is only half the problem

Almost every boot sold online comes in one width, and that width is a decision somebody made about an average foot. If yours is wider or narrower than the average, the size that matches your length will still be wrong, and no amount of sizing up fixes it: going up a size adds about seven millimetres of length and barely two of width. The measurement that predicts fit across the foot is girth, not breadth, and you can take it with a tape measure in a minute. Here is how, and what your options are once you know the number.

What a shoe width actually describes

Width letters, the D and E and EE you see on American shoes, are not a measurement of how wide your foot looks from above. They describe girth: the circumference of a tape passed around the widest part of the foot, across the ball joints and under the arch.

That is the right thing to measure, because a foot is a three dimensional shape and the boot has to close around it. Two feet can be identical in breadth and differ by a centimetre in girth, because one has a high, meaty instep and the other is flat. The high-instep foot will feel the lacing bite long before the flat one does.

Each width letter is roughly a quarter of an inch of girth, about 6mm, and the letters shift as length changes: a D at size 8 is not the same girth as a D at size 11. This is why width is almost never printed on a boot made for the European market, which has no equivalent system in general use.

Measuring your own girth and instep

Stand with your weight on the foot. Pass a soft tape measure around the widest part, which is the line through the base of your big toe joint and the base of your little toe joint, and read the circumference without pulling it tight. That is your ball girth.

Then measure the instep: tape around the foot at the highest point of the arch, roughly where the tongue of a boot sits. On most feet this number is close to the ball girth. If it is noticeably larger, you have a high instep and you will have trouble with boots that lace low or have a short throat.

Write both numbers down with your length measurement, and measure both feet. Asymmetry between feet is normal and it is usually larger in girth than in length.

Roughly where you sit

For a foot around 25cm long, a medium width is a ball girth near 23.5cm to 24.5cm. Below about 23cm at that length is narrow territory. Above about 25.5cm is wide, and above 26.5cm is genuinely wide, the point at which standard-width boots will be uncomfortable rather than merely snug.

Scale the bands with length. A longer foot carries proportionally more girth, so a 27cm foot with a 25cm girth is relatively narrow while a 23cm foot with the same girth is wide.

These are orientation figures, not a chart to buy from. What they are useful for is settling the question of whether your problem is width at all. Plenty of people who think they have wide feet have ordinary feet and a high instep, and the fix for the two is different.

How boot shapes differ, independent of size

A chunky lugged boot is usually built on a generous last. The toe box is roomy, the forefoot is cut wide to sit over a thick sole, and the result is that people with wide feet often get on far better with a combat shape than with a sleek one in the same length. The Work Boot is this kind of shape: flat sole, ankle height, not much taper.

A platform changes the geometry rather than the width. The foot sits on a thicker stack, the upper has to wrap more material around it, and the toe box on a wedge sole is often shallower in height than it looks. The Platform Boot is worth thinking about for depth as much as for width if you have a high instep.

A tall laced boot with many eyelets is the most adjustable thing in the category, because lacing tension redistributes a lot of the fit. The Lace Up Boot can be opened right out across the instep in a way an elastic-sided or zip boot cannot.

Fixing a boot that is right in length and tight across

Relace it. Skipping one pair of eyelets at the point of pressure, or switching to a straight bar lacing instead of criss-cross over that zone, removes the pull that is causing the problem without loosening the heel. This is the first thing to try and it is free.

Take the factory insole out. Most boots ship with a thin foam insole that does nothing structurally and takes up three or four millimetres of volume. Removing it gives you depth across the instep, which is the dimension people most often actually need.

A cobbler can stretch a boot across the ball, and on real leather it works well. On a faux leather upper it works far less reliably, because a polyurethane coating does not relax the way hide does and forcing it can craze the surface. Assume stretching is not an option on synthetic boots and buy accordingly.

Fixing a boot that is loose

A narrow foot in a standard boot slides, and sliding is what produces heel blisters. The order to try things in is: thicker socks, then a full-length insole to raise the foot and take up volume, then a heel grip, then tongue padding if the throat is gaping.

Lacing matters here too. A heel lock, where the top two eyelets are laced through each other to pull the ankle back into the heel cup, is the single most effective change for a boot that fits everywhere except the heel.

What does not work is sizing down to fix width. A boot one size shorter is only a couple of millimetres narrower, and now your toes are against the end. Length errors and girth errors have to be solved separately.

What to ask before you buy

Ask for the insole length and the internal width at the ball if a seller can get it, and the toe box height if you have a high instep or a bunion. Those three numbers tell you more than any size chart.

We do not take returns on footwear, which is the reason to ask rather than to order and hope. If you tell us your length and ball girth we will go and read the supplier's own figures for the specific boot and size rather than quoting a general conversion.

And if you know you are wide, treat that as a reason to choose the chunkier shape rather than a reason to go up in length. The boot that fits a wide foot is a differently shaped boot, not a longer one.

Questions people actually ask

How do I measure my foot width for boots?

Measure girth, not breadth. Stand with weight on the foot and pass a soft tape around the widest part, across both ball joints and under the arch. Measure the instep the same way at the highest point of the arch, and do both feet.

Should I size up if boots are too narrow?

No. Going up one size adds around 7mm of length and only about 2mm of width, so you end up with a boot that is still tight across the foot and now too long. Change the shape of boot, the lacing or the insole instead.

What does a wide fit boot mean?

It means a greater internal circumference at the ball of the foot, usually about 6mm per width letter in the US system. It does not mean longer, and width letters shift with length, so a D at size 8 is a smaller girth than a D at size 11.

Can faux leather boots be stretched?

Not reliably. A polyurethane coating does not relax like hide, and forcing a stretch can craze or crack the surface. On synthetic uppers, work with lacing and insoles instead, and buy the roomier shape in the first place.