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Is it common to go down in shoe size as you plow through your 30s?
For years, I’ve taken a US size 9 or 9.5 for my footwear. But a few weeks ago, while getting fitted for a new pair of dress shoes, I got measured with a size 8.
I figured that was an aberration attributable to that particular shoemaker. But in the last couple of days, I bought another two pairs of shoes — another for dress, and a pair of long-overdue snow/outdoor boots — and sure enough, I wound up with size 8 both times.
What gives? My feet don’t feel any different. I’d think my upright stride would be affected if there was some sort of pedal shrinkage goin’ on. But I’m not falling down or careening around lately (any more than normal, natch).
A mystery I’ll have to live with. It’s a pain, because size 8 doesn’t appear to be a “normal” size, so it’s harder to find most of the time. I could do without that complication.
Hmmm. I’ve gone up a size since my younger days.
Comment by CGHill — 02/28/2007 @ 11:00 AM
Paging Charles Brannock…
Do one’s clodhoppers eventually become less clodlike? Possibly: Is it common to go down in shoe size as you plow through your 30s? For years, I’ve taken a US size 9 or 9.5 for my footwear. But a few weeks……
Trackback by dustbury.com — 02/28/2007 @ 12:07 PM
The SF Giants equipment manager testified that since Barry Bonds has been with them (1993-2005; 29 to 41 years of age) he has gone from a size 10 1/2 to a 13 shoe. I can only deduce from this testimony and evidence that you have actively been taking HAGH, human anti-growth hormones.
Comment by Hunk Oman — 02/28/2007 @ 4:34 PM
Not to worry as I have found great differences in shoe manufactuers. I normally take an 8 1/2 but in some shoes I take an 8 and in one a 7 1/2. I have learned to know them apart. The Brannock device measures my left foot at 8 1/2 and my right foot at 8. I have been told that is quite common.
Comment by ms7168 — 02/28/2007 @ 4:52 PM
funny, i have always understood that your feet continue to grow. but me too, not only am i buying 1/2 size smaller, but my shoes are all too big & i’ve had to put heel pads in all of them. what exactly causes shrinking feet?
Comment by lisa — 03/01/2007 @ 2:11 PM
My feet have definitely shrunk, and all my shoes that fit two years ago are now too large to wear. Fortunately, I love buying shoes.
Comment by Dulce — 03/02/2007 @ 9:36 AM
i’m only eighteen. My shoesize when i was about fifteen was size 7, and then they shrunk to a size 6, now though has shrunk evenmore as three pairs of my shoes are size 5 and the rest that are size 6 still fit though, is it our feet that are shrinking or the shoes?
Comment by lisa — 03/30/2007 @ 2:05 PM
And that’s what I suspected, that the shoemakers were diddling with the numbers. They’re the same sizes, just being relabeled.
I neglected to mention that my old shoes all still fit as they did before. To some extent, that’s due to them conforming to my foot, but also that the old sizing was different.
Comment by CT — 03/31/2007 @ 1:53 PM
All my shoes are too big!
I have gone from a 9 (US) to a 7 1/2! I am 45 and for the last year my feet have been shrinking. I had to get rid of all of my shoes! Do I have osteoperosis with micro-fratures in my feet. I have chronic pain of unknown cause. Could it be bone breakage? I NEED Dr. House (TV)!
Comment by Little Feet — 04/05/2007 @ 2:30 PM
I used to be a size nine, sometimes even nine and a half, and over the summer my feet went down to a size six and a half! Anyone have any idea why this might be happening?
Comment by Leona — 09/26/2007 @ 6:56 AM
Statistically here in seattle, 7 out of every ten people have athletes foot. Due to constant Staph infections I’ve had to aggressivly attack the fungus (the fungus is the how staph breaks the skin). I’ve been a size ten since I was 14 and now I am a size nine. SO to answer your question, no feet do not shrink as one gets older.
Comment by stu — 10/20/2007 @ 5:40 AM
I feel like my feet shrink in the winter and fluctuate often from a week to week basis. I think it has to do with blood circulation and also the thickness of the surrounding skin. I usually wear a size 9 to 9.5 but I measure a size 8 1/2 on the Brannock device. I have tried a size 8 on a low-quality shoe, sometimes its the manufacturer. I have notice my hands and fingers go through this fluctuation also. It sounds weird.
Comment by Dan — 01/05/2008 @ 9:31 AM
I was a size 5 in women’s shoes and trust me that is a hard size to find shoes in and I have wide feet as well. Well that was my problem for awhile and then about around the age of 28 or 29 yrs I have all of a sudden found that I am now buying shoes in the children’s department. I wear a size 3 1/2. It is very difficult to find shoes and it is a very strange thing to tell people what my shoe size is without getting a very questionable response. I am now 31 and am glad to have found this website so I don’t feel so out of the ordinary.
Comment by Martha — 02/01/2008 @ 7:21 AM
Thanks to everyone for chiming in. I was feeling like a total freak. My shoe size has gone down from 7 1/2 to 6 1/2 over the past two years. None of my old shoes fit right. I have been worried about osteoporosis too. My doctor just cocks her head and says “weird” but offers no suggestions.
Comment by Amie — 02/03/2008 @ 7:19 PM
I am 23 and have been a size 7 since I was 15 but last year I found that some of my shoes didn’t fit me anymore so when I went to buy new ones I was suprised to find that I could now buy a size 6 which is a lot easier to find. I think my feet have shrunk but I also know it is also the case that shoe makers do not make them all the same just like clothes? Who knows why but I’m glad!
Comment by Laura — 06/03/2008 @ 6:23 AM
[...] one’s clodhoppers eventually become less clodlike? Possibly: Is it common to go down in shoe size as you plow through your [...]
Pingback by dustbury.com » Paging Charles Brannock — 09/08/2008 @ 9:09 PM
Same thing is happening to me. As a teenager I wore size 8, then in my late teens I went to a size 7, then early twenties to size 6 and now in my late twenties Im a size 5.5. My size 6 shoes are too loose on me now! I thought it was the shoe makers making sizes smaller to make people feel better but the fact that my old shoes in size 6 are too loose? I dunno I did stop with Yoga and Pilates. I hear that makes your feet stretch out!
Comment by Jane — 12/31/2008 @ 7:55 AM
I’m in my mid-20’s and three years ago, my feet were a size 12.5. Last weekend, I went to a shoe store and found that my feet are now a 10.5! I’m also hypoglycemic and I have diabetic feet. It turns out that if your blood-sugar levels have not been regulated for some time, the nerve endings in your extremities (feet and hands) will start to die. This can cause the meta tarsal bones in your foot to disintegrate which results in shrinking feet. It’s a condition called diabetic neuropathy. You might want to have a doctor look at your feet
Comment by Drew — 01/21/2009 @ 4:47 PM
Amazing I’m not the only one!!! I just came back from shoe shopping and tried almost every shoe in the mall. I have been a size 6 1/2 or 7 since I was 18 and am now almost 40. As of 2 years ago I found I was buying size 6 1/2 more often and that my size 7 shoes from years ago seemed looser and looser. I figured since I walk less than in the past and use many of my shoes in both the summer and winter, I may have been stretching my shoes when using socks with them in the winter and then only thin tights in the summer. I have eventually had to accept that something else is going on. I’ve had to give most of my size 7’s away unless they are almost boots since then my foot doesn’t fall out. Today was the last straw: however my feet may have changed over the years, I am convinced shoes are being made differenly. Shoes are VERY wide these days! There are many styles that even if the length is very tight (I’ve even tried on some size 5’s) the width is rididulous! Where I’m currently living it is 32 degrees celcius plus right now so if anything my feet should be swollen. They feel swollen! My blood sugar is fine! I am hypothyroid and take meds for this. Someone tell me the medical explanation or at least where to buy A width shoes, apparantly mainstream shoes are now a C width.
Comment by Tania — 01/27/2009 @ 10:17 PM
I would like a medical explanation, too! When I was in high school I was between a size 7 to 7 1/2. Now, I’m 25 and wear a size 6, but can fit into some 5 1/2. I’m starting to get a little concerned, but do not feel it’s necessary to see a doctor. I’m about the same weight I was in high school, and I have not been pregnant. So, why are my feet shrinking?
Comment by Molly — 03/02/2009 @ 4:21 PM
I used to wear size 14 but now I’m down to a size 10 in just over a year…I even think I might be a size 9 but I haven’t bought any new shoes since December to test.
Comment by Anonymous — 04/12/2009 @ 2:15 AM
does anyone know what causes this i have been wearing i size 4 for the last 12 years. I turned 30 last month and since then my shoes have gradually loosened up. I am buying 3 1/2s right now but have noticed them too getting less snug. I’m concerned it may be a loss of bone mass
Comment by sasi — 06/15/2009 @ 10:51 PM
I’m 19.
When I was in the 6th grade I was wearing a size 11. Then I started wearing 9 1/2 around the age of 15. Now I can fit into size 9 or 8 1/2. I also have wide feet too. At first I thought it was because of weight loss. But I ended up gaining all that weight back by the time I graduated. I also thought it was because of the making of the shoes since I have get a size 10 in high heels. Like all of you, I’m wondering what is the cause of this too.
Comment by Shana — 06/17/2009 @ 10:46 AM
Same problem but worried. I am 29 with multiple medical diagnosis’ including fibromyalgia. I wore a US size 8.5 until I had my hysterectomy at 23, Now i wear a kids size 4 sometimes 3.5. I’m sharing shoes with my 11 yr old. Sorry this is not normal. I also have been experiencing unsteadiness and multiple sprains and tendonitis after all this. Help????
Comment by Julianne — 06/17/2009 @ 11:57 PM
How can you shrink your feet? Is there any healthy way?
Comment by riginheel — 08/10/2009 @ 10:37 PM
I’m a 21 year old guy and have noticed my feet shrinking for years. Everyone I mention it to stare at me like I’m crazy. When I was 15 I was probably about a 10 1/2 – 11 in American sizes. I’ve been decreasing in size at a rate of 1/2 a shoe size every year or two and am now wearing 8 1/2s. I also have excellent health, great balance/posture, and my weight is within a healthy BMI. I feel a bit relieved that I’m not alone and seriously going crazy!
Comment by Anonymous — 12/08/2009 @ 11:50 AM
While I do suspect that vanity sizing is fooling a lot of people into thinking they have petite feet, I really am perplexed. Shoes that I have had for several years are now flopping on my feet. Sometimes they fall off like Cinderella’s as I’m scurrying up the stairs to my office. It’s embarrassing. As a young woman I was a 5. After I had a baby I went up to a 5 1/2. Baby is a young man now. Aren’t my feet supposed to spread in middle age? INstead, I find those OLD shoes I bought a few years ago that once fit, are too loose. This happening at the same time there’s an obvious size inflation and some stores have stopped carrying anything other than a six. WEIRD….
Comment by Small One — 02/01/2010 @ 3:25 PM
I have the “incredible shrinking foot” problem, too. From 8 1/2 to 7 or 7 1/2. But it seems that my heel bone is straighter down the back than before, so I can’t wear pumps (of any size-even if they are too small) without the back flapping up and down. Am experimenting with sticking things in shoes to make them fit. Anybody find anything to help?? Or has anybody else felt that their HEELS were shrinking This is just too weird!
Comment by Holly — 02/19/2010 @ 7:14 PM
Feet can and do shrink. Mine did too. I also used to be 5′6″ and now I’m 5′4 3/4″. I’ve asked doctors about it over time and they just brush it off. They act like somehow it was just wishful thinking that I ever “thought” I was taller to begin with.
Comment by ME — 04/04/2010 @ 9:11 PM