the mystery of the changing shoe size

As you may have noticed, last week was quite an eventful week. Monday evening was the final of HNTM at the same time as the premiere of Pak van mijn Hart and on Thursday we celebrated our birthday in a big way. And that means a lot of fun, but also a lot of WHAT SHOULD I WEAR moments. Jet wanted a black dress for the premiere and then shoes from DvF with hearts, quite fitting. They were still for sale (expensive) but which size should she take? A week in advance she clicked her size home but when they finally arrived at the office (her second home) it turned out that something had gone completely wrong.

Because instead of a 39, a 36 arrived and that just wouldn't do. But she had really clicked the right size, right? Closer inspection revealed that something had gone wrong in the difference between US sizes and UK sizes, so that little pair had to be sent back to America like lightning to be exchanged for the right size. When they were finally delivered with express express express delivery a day before the premiere, they still weren't quite right. Just a bit too big at the instep, too tight at the toe, just not right. But with just a tight 12 hours before she had to hit the red carpet, she decided to take her loss and keep the shoes.

And this is not the first time this has happened. When you buy shoes online, it's always a big mystery whether the size will be right because that differs with ALL brands and that is just so incredibly annoying. How is a size 39 not just a size 39 everywhere? Why do we have to mess with American sizes, British sizes, French sizes, and Italian sizes? A size is just a size is a size? When I buy shoes online from a new brand, I'm always sitting there with clenched cheeks waiting to see if they will fit, and if it turns out they are just a bit too tight, I can really cry from disappointment. Zara, Topshop, H&M, Asos – they all do something completely different when it comes to shoe sizes.

I went looking online for answers to this problem and came across a study from Racked.com in which they investigated how it can be that shoe sizes vary so much. They interviewed various buyers and shoe designers and the answer is quite simple: “Because the factories where they’re produced all use different sizing guides.” You can solve this by knowing exactly what size you have per brand, but even then you're not out of the woods, for example, Nine West has their shoes made in different factories, so you're still in trouble.

So that's that. The factories all have a different handbook for sizes, so the problem lies right at the beginning of the production process. When I grow up and become the boss of the world, the first action plan on the agenda will be to give all those factories one and the same size chart because this suffering has to stop. And until that time comes, well, a lot of trying on, a lot of buying, and a lot of returning. Nobody said it was going to be fun.