Originally Posted By: Eddie
How are shoe sizes determined? Is a show size of 13 actually the length of your foot, standing and measured from heel to longest toe? Weird question, I know but, need an answer. Ed
"""Fit""" is the only way to buy shoes. It could say two-sizes-off on the box and if it fits your feet, that's all that matters. Same with determining width.
Shoes come from all corners of our planet these days. There are no international laws that require shoe makers a specific size for every listed numerical number on the box. Tolerances are lazy and remain so.
Non-exact sizing seemed to begin with the Italian shoes, probably dating back to the Roaring-20s or the Stock Market crash era. Now it's everywhere and the Orient is the current shoe King of the Non-Exacts.