Chinese shoe sizes, converted

The number on the listing is already European

This trips people up before any conversion happens. Shoe listings from Chinese sellers show numbers like 40, 42.5 or 45, and buyers assume that is a "Chinese size" needing some special conversion. It is not — it is ordinary European sizing, because the seller is copying the size run of the shoe being replicated.

China's own footwear standard is Mondopoint (GB/T 3293.1-1998), which sizes shoes in millimetres in 5 mm steps. If a listing shows 265 or 26.5 instead of 42, that is this system — but read it as the shoe's size, not as your foot. A 265 is an EU 42, which Nike cuts for a foot of about 25.9 cm. The last column of the table below maps them, so measure your foot first and read across rather than matching your foot to the number on the listing.

Listing size to US, UK and foot length

From Nike's own published chart. Nike is the right reference for this catalog because the most-replicated silhouettes in it are built on Nike lasts, and because Nike publishes the foot length each size is cut for rather than only the size numbers. The US, UK and millimetre columns were checked against a second Nike chart on a different regional site and agree exactly.

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The foot-length column is your foot, not the shoe. Charts often print a second centimetre column that is the shoe's own Japanese size — for EU 42 that reads 26.5 while the foot it fits is 25.9 — and reading the wrong one costs you around half a size in the middle of the range and closer to two at either end.

Why no single conversion is the right one

Published charts do not agree with each other, and the gap is large enough to matter. For the same EU number, Nike and the ISO standard differ by a full US size across the whole range:

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This is not a rounding quirk — US sizing was never standardised against European sizing, and makers use different offsets. It is the reason this page leads with foot length and with comparing against a shoe you already own, rather than telling you your US size and hoping.

The two-minute version

Foot length gets you to the right row of the table. If you want to be more certain than that, the last step is the one experienced buyers actually rely on.

1. Stand on a sheet of paper against a wallHeel touching the wall, weight on the foot. Mark the paper at the tip of your longest toe — which is not always the big toe.
2. Measure heel to mark in centimetresDo both feet and use the longer one. Measure at the end of the day, when your feet are at their largest.
3. Find that length in the table aboveRead across to the listing size. That is your starting point, whatever US size you normally buy.
4. Then check it against a shoe you already ownMeasure the inside length of a pair that fits you well and compare. Buyers who do this report better results than bare foot length alone, because a shoe needs room your foot measurement does not account for, and how much depends on the silhouette.

Sizes the chart does not cover

Some sellers use half-steps that Nike's ladder skips. There is no published US equivalent for these, so rather than invent one, here is the pair of sizes each falls between.

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If you land on one of these, measure your foot and pick the row above or below by centimetres — that is a real measurement, where an interpolated US size would only be a guess.

Browse shoes in your size

Pick a size to see every shoe listing on the spreadsheet whose seller carries it. The list comes from the same size data as the table below.

EU 35 EU 36 EU 37 EU 38 EU 38.5 EU 39 EU 40 EU 40.5 EU 41 EU 42 EU 42.5 EU 43 EU 44 EU 44.5 EU 45 EU 46

Which sizes these listings actually carry

Share of the 495 shoe listings on this spreadsheet that offer each size, counted from the sellers' own size lists.

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This is what the listings offer, not a stock level. Sellers leave stock at a placeholder number, so no honest stock figure exists.

If you have big feet, read this first

45% of the shoe listings here stop at EU 44 or below, and 79% stop at EU 45 or below. On Nike's chart EU 44 is a US 10 and EU 45 is a US 11, so a US 11 buyer is shut out of roughly 45% of the shoe listings on this spreadsheet before choosing anything.

This is worth knowing before you fall for a pair. Check the size list on the product page first — it is the seller's own, and if your size is not on it, the listing did not offer it.

Where these numbers come from

The availability figures are counted from the 2,956 listings on this spreadsheet that publish a size list, so they describe what these sellers actually stock. The conversion charts are standard reference tables, listed here so you can check them yourself:

• Nike — Men's footwear size chart (US / UK / EU / cm)
• Shoe size: Mondopoint, Paris points, and why US conversion varies by maker
• 服装号型 — the Chinese size designation (170/88A) and the Y/A/B/C body types
• ISO/TS 19407 conversion table, for comparison against Nike's
• Nike — men's tops, what each US letter is in centimetres