Free UK Returns
Loyalty Scheme
Help & Guides
Our Step-by-Step Guide to Sizing
Sizing is a minefield! We totally appreciate that and have created a simple step-by-step guide to make things much easier for you to measure from home.
Step 1 - Measure in centimetres
One of the biggest challenges we face is standardising the sizing structure as sizing varies between brands. For example a UK4 for one brand may be significantly different to a UK4 in another.
To help you we have attempted to standardise this by measuring all our shoes in centimetres and then converting them into our UK size for familiarity purposes. Please note that this will usually vary a little from the manufacturers conversion as this is unavoidable as we try to standardise across all brands.
When searching for shoes we strongly recommend that you disregard any current shoe size (unless it is the same brand) or measurements that you have taken from another source. To ensure you get the right shoes from our site we recommend that you measure your child's feet in centimetres and then use the UK size conversion table, which will allow you to search our website to find the right shoes. Always buy based on the cm measurements of the shoe and the cm measurement of your child's foot.
Step 2 - Measure your feet
The easiest way to measure your childs feet is using our new measuring device following the instructions below. This will give you an accurate centimetre measurement for the length of your childs feet.
 |
Place the device on the floor and stand with heel in the cup. Make sure that the weight is fully on the foot being measured. |
 |
Lower the measurer bar to rest gently on the longest toe. The length of the foot is shown by the position of the white measurer bar. |
 |
The minimum length for the ideal shoe, allowing for 0.8cm growing room, is shown by the arrow in the middle of the measuring window. The maximum growing room, only recommended for winter boots, is shown at the top of the measuring window, 1.5cm. |
If you don't have one of our measuring devices then there are alternative methods you can use to measure feet. Please see our 'How to Measure' guide for more details.
Step 3 - Growing Room
Now you have measured your childs foot you need to add an allowance for growing room to establish what length of shoe to choose.
Shoe lengths should be a minimum 0.5 cm and a maximum 1.5 cm longer than the longest foot length. How much depends on the age and size of your child, how confident a walker they are and also the type of footwear you are buying.
For example;
- SHOES/TRAINERS - We find around 0.8cm - 1cm is usually ideal for shoes and trainers
- BOOTS (including wellingtons) - We recommend allowing more towards 1.0cm - 1.5cm to allow for thicker socks and extra growing room. An insole and/or a thicker winter sock can help if a boot is slightly too large at first.
- SANDALS - Usually need less growing room due to their more open-toe design and they can be worn without socks. We recommend 0.5cm - 0.8cm.
- SMALLER FEET/NEW WALKERS - Usually need less growing room so aim for 0.5cm - 0.8cm.
- OLDER/LARGER FEET - Can get away with a bit more so aim for 1.0cm - 1.2cm.
- ADULTS AND FEET THAT HAVE STOPPED GROWING - You still need some space in the shoe for wriggle room and comfort. We recommend 0.5cm for a sandal, 0.8cm for a shoe and 1.2cm for a boot to be worn with thicker socks.
You are advised to read the brand and item description pages on our website, for each product, as we regularly update these based on customer feedback for size, width and fit.
Step 4 - Width
So how do you judge the width of your children’s’ feet? In truth this is something that is very difficult to measure accurately at home! We are working hard to find a way of measuring width but for now our system relies on you as the child’s primary carer to know which bracket their feet fall into, just as we know if they're short, tall or average in height.
So how do you tell? Generally speaking if your child has very narrow or very wide feet you would probably know. If you aren't sure of the width of your child’s feet then they are probably medium width and we would suggest you start there. If you are unsure on the width of your childs feet, please email some images of their feet to [email protected] and we will be happy to advise.
For more advice on width please see our dedicated width fitting advice page.
Step 5 - Select your Shoes
Once you have identified the ideal length and width you can begin to search the website. The easiest way to do this is to convert your centimetre measurement into a UK Size using our UK size conversion table. Alternatively you can also search by width, brand or shoe type and then filter your selections down to find the perfect shoe.
All shoes are listed with their official size first. This could be ‘medium’, ’12-18months’, ‘UK4’, ‘US6’, ‘EU22’. It’s whatever the manufacturer uses. Then in brackets next to it will be the inside sole length measured in cm and our UK equivalent size based on this cm measurement.
Please remember we now offer free returns on all UK orders so if you are unsure which size to get, we recommend ordering a couple of pairs and returning the one that isn't suitable.