Introducing Sizeadvisor.com: Find shoes that fit

[HenryFlower]

Bump to encourage more SFers to enter their data into sizeadvisors.com

 

[Claus]

A short update on what's going on at Sizeadvisors:

Similar recommendations

Since the number of ratings keeps growing, I've decided to drop unknown lasts from the 'Similar fittings' recommendations. They were hardly helpful, and there should be a sufficient amount of recommendations. These are still used to calculate recommendations, though, so don't worry if you happen to have some shoes on unknown lasts in your ratings.

The same thing will happen to the 'Optimal fittings' recommendations.

Now with (some) shoe images

Thanks to the kindness of Adrian Herring, there are now images of models from Barker, Cheaney, Church's, Loake, and Herringshoes. I'll hopefully be able to add more models for other shoe makers in the following weeks, provided I get the necessary permissions.

New brands

Due to requests from members, I've added a the following shoe brands in the last months: Langer & Messmer, W. Gibbs, Lendvay & Schwarcz, Magnanni, Silvano Lattanzi, and Berluti.

New members

Somebody was kind enough to introduce Sizeadvisors in a Dutch style forum. This is awesome. The more shoe enthusiasts participate, the better the results for everyone.

 

[tailoredstuff]

Just measured my feet and says I'm a 7UK 8US... have been wearing 6UK... have I been wearing the wrong size shoes!!

 

[Claus]

Yes, unfortunately.

Even if you measured your foot lengths when kneeling, the calculated shoe sizes would be less, not more. Generally speaking, your shoes are a tad too short. They provide an insufficient allowance.

Sizeadvisors uses 1.5 units allowance (plus rounding) for its calculation, which translates into a minimum free space of 0.5 inch (or about 13 mm) in front of your toes. (Allen Edmonds -- and probably also Brannock -- even uses 2 units.)

If you're using UK (6.0) instead of (UK) 7.0, then you only have a nominal allowance of 1/6 inch (or about 4.5mm). Unless all your lasts are elongated, your shoes probably press on your toes while you walk.

If it's a comforting to you: You're not the only or first who made the mistake. Your feet are probably rather narrow compared to the average of the population, and you thus got used to sizing down.

 

[Claus]

Short update:

There're over 800 ratings now!

 

[Claus]

A few days ago, Sizeadvisors has exceeded the mile stone of 1.000 fit ratings. This translates into over 1.500 pairwise comparisons to estimate fittings from ratings. Over 80 percent of these ratings are made by members with measurements.

During the last year, visitors came from Germany, the United States, Finland, Russia, Australia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, Austria, and the Netherlands. Sizeadvisors has been featured by several sites dedicated to style, clothing, or shoes.

This wouldn't have been possible without the help from people all over the world, including you guys.

Thank you!

 

[Silhouette]

This thread and Sizeadvisors.com should really be paid more attention. I think it would benefit all if manufacturers started to add data from their lasts onto this site. No more enquiries on sizing to customer services' departments which would save them lots of time spent on reading e-mails. As for users (consumers) decisions of purchase would be faster and manufacturers would end up earning more business. As for myself I'm a consumer who perceives RTWfootwear as a djungle. I have a hard time finding lasts that fit and as for now Sizeadvisors.com doesn't have enough data accumulated for me to find a last that I can confide in.

Kind regards,
Johan.

 

[skeen7908]



Just measured my feet and says I'm a 7UK 8US... have been wearing 6UK... have I been wearing the wrong size shoes!!

I have a similar experience.
It suggests I am a size 9.5UK, but I typically wear 8UK. 8.5UK is too large in most cases. I hate to think what a 9.5 UK would be like.

Have I measured wrong?


Length is 276mm

 

[Silhouette]

I have a similar experience.
It suggests I am a size 9.5UK, but I typically wear 8UK. 8.5UK is too large in most cases. I hate to think what a 9.5 UK would be like.

Have I measured wrong?


Length is 276mm

Same here. Was suggested to wear 8 - 8,5 UK E but there is no way that I can wear it. My feet are not long enough and my footvolume is too low. I currently wear 6,5-7 UK E.

 

[Claus]



Have I measured wrong? Length is 276mm

That's hard to say without looking in your account but probably not.

I presume you're talking about a reference size of UK 9.5.

The only known mistake then is to not stand upright when measuring foot lengths. Your feet become shorter when you kneel or sit during measurement. In other words, if you mis-measured, your reference shoe size would be larger still.

You probably have a narrow and/or flat foot volume (relative to your foot length), I guess. Since many if not most lasts are made for people with an average foot volume, you may got used to size down.

This happens on a regular basis. Just change the sizing filter from strict to weak under your profile. If there are enough members close to you, results under 'Personal fittings' should be much closer to a UK 8.

 

[Claus]



This thread and Sizeadvisors.com should really be paid more attention. I think it would benefit all if manufacturers started to add data from their lasts onto this site.

Thank you.

If there are manufacturers who could and would add last measurements, they probably want API access, I guess. This would enable them to query the database, and present the results on their own site.

It's on my TODO list, but I'm still not quite satisfied with the current frontend.

 

[Silhouette]

You probably have a narrow and/or flat foot volume (relative to your foot length), I guess. Since many if not most lasts are made for people with an average foot volume, you may got used to size down.

This happens on a regular basis. Just change the sizing filter from strict to weak under your profile. If there are enough members close to you, results under 'Personal fittings' should be much closer to a UK 8.

Thank you for your valuable reply Claus.

Unfortunately in my case, I can't find no similar fittings. And as for sizing down, doesn't this first and foremost lower width and length? Sure, footvolume declines but not soon enough which results in blisters or aching ankles.

Are there any known lasts out there which suits a low footvolume?

 

[Claus]



Are there any known lasts out there which suits a low footvolume?

Note that you quoted my reply to skeen7908.

I've taken the liberty to check your account. It seems, you misread some of the information. Your reference size is a UK 7.5 (and a US 8.5) which is not quite far way from the UK 6.5/7.0 you're wearing (click "Profile > Read report" to check).

However, your heel, instep and ball girth is indeed extremely low, so this explains why you size down.

Ideally, you would want a last with a sufficient length with relatively low circumference in the main dimensions. The American makers often offer narrow widths (Alden, AE) but these are hard to get in Europe. My guess would be C or even B here.

Alternatives are some lasts by Carmina and Meermin.

Unfortuately, some lasts are said to be narrow that are merely long (ie. they appear to be narrow althought they're probably not). C&J's 348 last is an example. Sizing down may be possible here, due to the additional toe allowance of the last.

That's the best I can say right now. I once tried to compile a list with narrow and wide lasts for a blog post, but there was some kind of problem. I don't quite remember what it was. Maybe, a lack of data, because hardly anyone with a low foot volumen knows that he has a low foot volume and thus usually rates the "wrong" sizes. So, maybe I lacked good ratings.

Or, maybe, it was bug in the script. Questions like this also require me to scale ratings which is hard to do properly.

I should probably look into it, again.

Sorry, that's all I can say right now. You may want to check out a local store nearby.

 

[Claus]

Yesterday, Sizeadvisors just passed the mark of 2000 shoe fit ratings. I'm totally happy about it and would like thank everybody who contributed.

Thank you.

I'll post a more detailed discussion in the following days, for those who are interested.

 

[Claus]

A few days ago, I've announced an update of Sizeadvisors on the blog and newsletter. I've now uploaded the first part of the upcoming changes.

For those, who read neither the blog nor the newsletter, here's a short summery:

• The previous two methods to get recommendations will be merged into one.
• The new method is based on following other members, whose ratings will become recommendations.

Example

Let's assume, you've rated the 5-65 last by Allen Edmonds in D with 4 stars, that is "really comfortable".

If you're not the only one, you're then following all other members who also rated the 5-65 last as "really comfortable". Their ratings for all other lasts are thus considered for recommendations.

Now, the sizes are probably different for everybody, but this is considered with the help of an offset. If, for instance, you're following another member with an offset of -2 UK units, all his UK and US-sized shoes are corrected by -2 units.

Ratings of shoes in EU sizes will be ignored, unless you're following other members with an offset of zero.

Advantages

Compared to the previous method called "Similar fittings", this yields the following advantages:

• The results are comparable.
• The results are easier to understand, I think, because clicking "Check recommendation" now presents you with a list of ratings including annotations; in contrast to the previous hard-to-understand tables.
• With a little bit of luck, you now also get results for EU-sized shoes. This was previously impossible.
• Now you also get recommendation which last/widths combination might fit better, even if your best rating is only 3 stars.
• You can now intervene in the results if you have the impression somethings' wrong by unfollowing others.
• Recommendations now contain last/width combination which you've already rated. This makes it easier to find problems.

Disadvantages

• There may be new bugs, so don't panic if the server reports an error.
• I still need some time to move the previous method by measurements to the new model. If you've only provided measurements, you get no results yet. But the old method is still available.
• If you provided measurements and ratings, the "size filter" is now activated. The default is +/- 0.5 units – so you only get lasts recommended if the best fitting size is only half a unit smaller or larger than your reference size(s). However, you can change the filter, or disable it ("+/- None") under 'settings'.
• There's now a partial overview of the ratings of other members, so you can decide if you'd want to continue following someone. Obviously, the partial overview exists for others, too.

Overall, I believe, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

If you any question, please don't hesitate to ask.