Measure once, in two minutes, and you will know your size in every system we sell in. No guessing from the size of your last pair of trainers.
Heel to longest toe, standing. Required.
Across the widest part. Skip it and we size on length alone.
Enter your foot length and your size appears here. Not measured yet? The method is just below.
Two numbers: heel to longest toe, and across the ball. Length decides your size, width decides whether it shifts.
Feet spread as the day goes on. A foot measured first thing in the morning can read a third of a size shorter than the same foot in the evening. Measure when your feet are at their largest and the boot fits all day, not just at breakfast.
Wear the sock you intend to wear with the boots â a heavy winter sock takes up two to three millimetres. Measure with it on and you never have to guess at the allowance later.
Tape a sheet of paper to a hard floor with one edge against a wall. Stand on it with your heel touching the wall and your weight on that foot. A loaded foot is longer than a foot in the air, and you will be standing in these boots.
Hold a pencil upright against the end of your longest toe and mark the paper. For roughly one person in five that is the second toe rather than the big toe, so look before you mark.
Take a straight line from the wall edge of the paper to your mark. That measurement is your foot length â the one number the chart below runs on.
Wrap a tape around the widest part of your foot, across the joints behind your big and little toes. Keep it flat and snug, not tight. No tape? Trace the foot and measure straight across the two widest points.
Almost everybody has one foot bigger than the other. Order for the larger one and take up the difference on the other side with the lacing or a thin insole â there is no fixing a boot that is too short.
Every size the workshop makes, in the three systems the world sizes shoes in, against the longest foot each one takes. The foot-length column is a foot, not a boot: the toe room is already counted in, so read down to the first length that is longer than your measurement.
Swipe the table for foot length â
| EU | UK | US Men | US Women | Foot (cm) | Foot (in) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | 5.5 | 6.5 | 8 | 24.0 | 9.45 |
| 40 | 6 | 7 | 8.5 | 24.8 | 9.76 |
| 41 | 7 | 8 | 9.5 | 25.7 | 10.12 |
| 42 | 8 | 9 | 10.5 | 26.5 | 10.43 |
| 43 | 9 | 10 | 11.5 | 27.4 | 10.79 |
| 44 | 10 | 11 | 12.5 | 28.2 | 11.10 |
| 45 | 11 | 12 | 13.5 | 29.0 | 11.42 |
| 46 | 12 | 13 | 14.5 | 29.9 | 11.77 |
| 47 | 13 | 14 | 15.5 | 30.8 | 12.13 |
US men's and women's numbers describe the same boot â the systems are offset by one and a half sizes, not built on different lasts. Our boots are unisex, so take whichever column you shop in.
Width is only meaningful next to length: a 10 cm ball is wide on a 24 cm foot and narrow on a 30 cm one. So we read it as a proportion â your ball width divided by your foot length. The ranges below are for a 26.5 cm foot (EU 42, by way of example).
Under 9.5 cm
The ball of the foot is slim relative to its length, and the arch often sits high. Boots feel roomy across the forefoot long before they feel short.
What it does to your size. Stay with the size your length gives you. Take up the spare volume with the lacing and a thicker sock or a full insole rather than sizing down â a shorter boot only moves the pressure onto your toes.
9.5 â 10.5 cm
The proportion most lasts are built around, ours included. The widest part of the foot lands over the widest part of the sole without being pressed.
What it does to your size. Stay true to size. The size the length chart gives you is the size to order.
10.5 â 11.1 cm
A broad forefoot, often with a fuller instep. The first thing you feel in a boot that is too small is pressure at the little-toe joint, not at the tip.
What it does to your size. If your length already sits near the top of a size, take the next size up â a size step adds width and instep height as well as length. If your length sits comfortably inside the size, stay where you are.
Over 11.1 cm
Noticeably broad across the ball, or a high instep that makes the lacing hard to close on most boots.
What it does to your size. Take the next size up and expect a short break-in. Write to the workshop before you order and we will tell you how the pair you are looking at is cut.
We build on one regular-width last, so width never changes which boot you order â only, in the wider bands, which size of it.
A boot is not a sock: it is meant to hold your foot in a few specific places and leave it alone everywhere else. Here is what should sit where, so you can check a new pair in the first minute rather than after a month.
Your longest toe sits a thumb's width from the front
About 1 to 1.5 cm of air ahead of your longest toe when you stand. Your toes should lie flat, spread a little and still wiggle. Walk downhill and your foot slides forward into exactly that gap â it is what stands between you and a bruised nail at the bottom of the hill.
The widest part of your foot sits over the widest part of the sole
This is the one to check first, because it is where the boot bends. Flex the boot in your hands and watch the crease: it should land across your toe joints. Ahead of them and the boot is too long, behind them and it is too short â whatever the number on the box says.
The lacing closes over your foot with room left to adjust
Snug across the top of the foot, with no pressure line. The lace panels should not meet: a gap of roughly 1.5 to 2.5 cm means you can still tighten as the leather settles and loosen when you wear a thicker sock. Panels pulled flat on the first wear means the boot is tight over the instep, even if the length is right.
The sole's arch rises under your own
Support belongs beneath your arch, not ahead of or behind it. A boot of the right length usually puts it where it belongs on its own â a boot half a size too long never does, which is why a loose pair aches long before it rubs.
Your heel is held, with a little lift while the sole is new
Three to five millimetres of lift in a new leather boot is normal and disappears as the sole breaks in. A heel that slides a centimetre or more is simply too big, and no lacing trick will hold it.
The ankle is held without pressing on the Achilles
The collar should sit against the ankle, not bite into it. If it catches when you flex forward during the first week, lace it one eyelet lower until the leather softens around the shape of your ankle.
Full-grain leather gives across the ball and over the instep as you wear it â a pair that feels firm on day one usually feels made for you by the end of the second week. It does not get any longer. So a boot that is tight across the foot will come good, and a boot that is short never will. When you are deciding, buy the length and let the width settle.
Yes. Order the size the chart gives you for your measured foot length. There is no half-size of slack built into the last, so there is nothing to compensate for in either direction.
Up. Our range runs in full EU steps, so you are never far from a true fit, and spare length is easy to take up with a thicker sock or a full insole. Spare length is fixable; missing length is not. The one exception is a narrow foot that already has plenty of room at the toe â there, staying put is the better call.
It is a fair starting point and most people do land on it, but sneaker sizing varies widely between brands and a boot has far less give than a knit upper. Measuring takes two minutes and removes the guess entirely.
It moulds rather than stretches. Full-grain leather gives across the ball and over the instep within the first week or two of wear, which is why a wide foot settles into a pair that felt firm on day one. It does not get longer. The length has to be right from the start.
Usually not â measure with the sock on and the chart has already done it for you. If one pair has to cover thin summer socks and heavy winter ones, measure with the thicker sock and drop in an insole for the warmer months.
The larger one, always. Lace the smaller foot a little tighter, or add a thin insole on that side. Sizing for the smaller foot leaves the bigger one short, and that is the one problem a boot cannot absorb.
Email info@bucklayer.com with your order number within 14 days of delivery and we will arrange an exchange. Items need to be unworn, unaltered and in their original packaging â so try the first fitting indoors on a carpet, before you wear them out.
Yes, one chart covers all our footwear. Loafers have no lacing to adjust, so width carries more weight: if you measure near the edge of a width band, write to us before ordering and we will tell you how that style is cut.
Send us your two numbers and the pair you have your eye on. Someone who has handled that last will tell you which size to take.
Contact Workshop âOr call us at +91 9123767366