Brannock width

The Brannock device is the foot measurer used in shoe stores: it reads a foot's length as a shoe size and its width as a letter. On its scale, one width letter is 3/16 in, about 4.8 mm across the ball of the foot. Widths run in letters, narrower toward A and wider toward E, EE and beyond. In US sizes, D is the men's standard width and B the women's.

For length, the device counts two barleycorns (16.9 mm) between the foot and the shoe, the same allowance Ruban Size's shoe formulas use.

How to measure

1. Stand on a sheet of paper, weight on the foot, in the socks you will wear.
2. Mark both sides of the widest part, at the ball of the foot, with the pen straight up.
3. Measure straight across between the two marks.
4. Do both feet and keep the wider one.

A few millimeters matter: one width letter is less than half a centimeter. How to measure your foot length and width covers the common mistakes.

On a size chart

A store that sells widths adds a foot width row to its shoe chart, one value per size, so shoppers can check before they choose. Length and width are separate questions: a foot can be the right length for a model and still too wide for it.

In Ruban Size

When the chart has a foot width row, Find my size for shoes asks for the width too. A foot within half a centimeter of the chart's width for the chosen size is regular, about one Brannock letter either way; beyond that it is narrow or wide. A wide foot reads "Your foot width: wide." and "Wide feet: if this model comes in widths, choose wide; if not, half a size up may feel better." The Women's shoes template says it in its fit note: "Wide feet: take half a size up."