How to choose your hiking boot size

Choosing the right shoe size is always tricky, but it is even more so when it comes to hiking boots. Let's take a look at the famous question of shoe size.

It's not just a matter of choosing the right composition, the right upper height or the right sole, but also of choosing the right size when buying hiking boots. Even more so than for city shoes, the wrong size shoe for hiking quickly becomes synonymous with blisters and discomfort, or even painful discomfort. To avoid chafing from shoes that are too big, or to avoid having bad toes from shoes that are too small, it's important to get it right. It is never easy to decide which size to choose, especially if you don't know the manufacturer or if you buy your shoes online without trying them on first. Not to mention that the famous statement "when hiking, you should go one size bigger than your usual size" is less and less true, and that sizes tend to change from one manufacturer to another, and even from one country to another. Fortunately, there are a few tips and tricks to avoid making mistakes. Let's discover them together. 

Determining the length of your foot

For hiking boots, even more than for city shoes, sizes are not necessarily the same from one manufacturer to another, from one brand to another and sometimes even from one model to another for the same brand. This is why it is practically useless to rely on the size you are used to. Especially since the various manufacturers are making more and more of an effort to offer half sizes or even quarter sizes... a real headache. If you want to order your shoes online (or arrive at the shop prepared), the best way to find the ideal size is to measure the length of your largest foot. If possible, ask someone to assist you in this quick process, which only requires a few steps: 

• Take a sheet of paper, a pencil and a ruler. 
• Put the paper on the floor, taped to the wall. 
• Place your bare foot flat on the sheet, with your heel against the wall.
• Stand up straight with your back against the wall and do not move.
• Ask the other person to draw a line across your longest toe.

Finally, measure the length of your foot in centimetres, i.e. from the wall (from your heel) to your longest toe, at right angles of course.

Most manufacturers provide customers with a table of foot lengths in centimetres and the shoe sizes they sell. Once you have measured your foot, you can refer to a similar chart. If you find yourself between two sizes, we advise you to opt for the larger size and add an insole if necessary. 

Try on the shoes and see if they fit

Once you have established the length of your longest foot, all you have to do is find the corresponding size determined by the manufacturer and order your shoes! 

The only way to be sure that you have chosen the right size shoe is to try them on. Whether in a shop or at home, put on your thickest pair of hiking socks, put on your shoes and lace them up as if you were going to be on a mountain. Take the time to walk several steps. If possible, go up and down a few steps. If the size is right, you should feel no discomfort or sore spots and soon find yourself comfortable and at ease. The right size hiking boot should give you enough freedom in the toe box. The toes should not be too compressed and should be free to move, but the shoe should not be too big, otherwise they will hit and crush against the side of the shoe on steep descents. This is also why you should make sure that your heel does not come off the sole too much when you roll your foot off. 

Please note that when hiking you will be wearing thicker or thinner socks, that your foot may swell slightly, that you may encounter particularly steep inclines, and that it is therefore necessary to include a margin of about ten or twelve millimetres, which the manufacturers take into account in their correspondence table and which you will notice in the heel when you try on your shoes.

So now you have all the tools you need to determine the ideal size for your next hiking boots without making a mistake and without spending hours procrastinating or reading all the comments about the pair of boots you've chosen. Finally, if you're not sure of the size you've chosen or think you've made a mistake, remember that most sellers will accept returns or exchanges if the shoes are in perfect condition and have only been put on for the fitting. So you have nothing to worry about if you have to order online.