Proud To Be British.History of shoe sizes & conversion chart
last updated Sunday 22nd May 2011 - 17:43
HISTORY OF SHOE SIZES & HOW THIS LITTLE PIGGY WENT TO MARKET
Little piggies? When did our toes, aquire this quaint term and when did shoes first have sizes attached to them?
The first known publication of the popular nursery rhyme "This little piggy went to market" was in 1728. Why piggies though? Toes look pink and podgy on a child`s foot, rather like 5 piglets at their mother`s side!
Back in 1324, King Edward II decreed that there should be a standard measure for shoes. He obviously had had trouble in shoe shops, finding the correct fit!!!
He came up with a simple method. On the basis that a babies` foot must be the smallest size, this would be the staring point and equal to size 0. He determined that an inch was equal to three barley corns. The corns had to be round and dry and taken from the middle of the plant.
Each size then went up in 3 barley corns until it reached 13. Instead of continuing upwards, he decided to go back to the start and so 13 plus 3 barley corns equalled 1 again!
Over in America shoes were marked at SALE PRICES. "Pay only for shoes which are 1½ times smaller than the ones you buy!" Of course, they weren`t a bargain at all as the shoes were merely marked 1½ sizes bigger. Nowadays the system is different again with women`s generally being 2½ sizes bigger but men`s only one!
In Europe they had adopted another way of measurement. This was simply done using centimetres. The French refused to use this scale and came up with Paris Points. A Paris Point equals two thirds of a centimetre. The scale starts at zero and obviously works upwards. The Paris Points system is still used today with the rest of Europe following suit.
Elsewhere around the world, are even more different measurement systems. A Chinese 7 being a UK 4 and a Japanese 26 equal to a UK 7½.
As a rule of thumb, follow the size chart below. Did you know that even adult feet can change size due to muscles and tendons altering, getting either smaller or larger? Have your feet measured every 5 to 10 years!
| British | 2 | 2.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 |
| European | 34 | 35 | 35.5 | 36 | 37 | 37.5 | 38 | 38.5 | 39 | 39.5 | 40 | 41 | 42 |
| American | 4.5 | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | 9 | 9.5 | 10 | 10.5 |
| Japanese | 21.5 | 22 | 22.5 | 23 | 23 | 23.5 | 24 | 24 | 24.5 | 25 | 25.5 | 26 | 26.5 |
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