European Shoe Size Conversion: US Size to EU, by Brand

You wear a US women’s 12 or a men’s 14, the shoe you want is sold in EU sizes, and the size menu offers 43, 44 and 45 with no hint which one is yours. Adding a fixed number to your US size is the usual shortcut, and it can land you a full size or more out, because the six brand charts below print different EU numbers for the same US size. Here they are side by side at the big end, women’s US 11 to 13 and men’s US 13 to 16, then EU 46 to 50 read back to US, each brand in its own column.

The short answer

US size	EU on the charts that list it	Lowest EU on	Highest EU on
Women’s 11	41 to 43	Skechers	Nike, Saucony, Altra
Women’s 12	42 to 44.5	Skechers	Nike, Saucony, Altra
Women’s 13	43 to 46	Skechers	Saucony
Men’s 13	46 to 48	Birkenstock	Saucony
Men’s 14	47 to 49	Birkenstock	Saucony
Men’s 15	48 to 50	Birkenstock	Saucony
Men’s 16	49 to 51.5	Birkenstock	Saucony

Ranges are from the six charts below, with men’s rows from each brand’s men’s chart. Buying a named brand? Read its own column.

Measure your foot in centimetres first

An EU number is a length scale, so start from a length:

1. Tape a sheet of paper to a hard floor, flush against a wall, and stand on it with your heel to the wall and your full weight on that foot.
2. Mark the heel and the tip of your longest toe, which may be the big or the second toe, and measure between the marks in centimetres.
3. Do both feet and keep the longer number.

The full paper method is in how to measure foot size at home. Do not take the centimetres off a shoe box instead: Nike’s chart notes that the CM size on boxes and labels is different from foot length, and its women’s 11 is a 27.1 cm foot with 28 printed in the CM / JP row.

US size to EU: women’s 11 to 13

Columns are from Nike’s women’s chart, Saucony’s women’s chart, Altra’s women’s chart, Kuru’s chart, Skechers’ women’s chart and Birkenstock’s US size guide.

US women’s	Nike	Saucony	Altra	Kuru	Skechers	Birkenstock
11	43	43	43	42.5	41	42 (row 11 to 11 1/2)
11.5	44	44	44	43	No 11.5 row	42 (row 11 to 11 1/2)
12	44.5	44.5	44.5	44	42	Not on chart
12.5	45	45	Not on chart	44.5	No 12.5 row	Not on chart
13	45.5	46	Not on chart	45	43	Not on chart

At a women’s 13 the spread is three EU sizes, Skechers’ 43 against Saucony’s 46. Birkenstock heads its column “BIRKENSTOCK Size”, and its page says: “All our footwear is listed in European sizes.” Its women’s column stops at 11 1/2. The same page gives a rule, “Women’s: U.S. size + 31 = EU size”, which would put a 12 at 43 and a 13 at 44 (our arithmetic).

Here are the same three sizes as full rows on Nike’s women’s chart, with foot length from the chart’s metric view:

US women’s	EU	UK	US men’s	Foot length
11	43	8.5	9.5	27.1 cm
12	44.5	9.5	10.5	27.9 cm
13	45.5	10.5	11.5	28.8 cm

Saucony’s and Kuru’s charts print the same UK and US men’s sizes in these rows. Skechers’ women’s chart prints UK 8, 9 and 10, and Altra’s prints UK 9 and 10 for a women’s 11 and 12.

US size to EU: men’s 13 to 16

Columns are from Nike’s men’s chart, Saucony’s men’s chart, Skechers’ men’s chart, Kuru’s chart and Birkenstock’s US guide.

US men’s	Nike	Saucony	Skechers	Kuru	Birkenstock
13	47.5	48	47.5	47	46 (row 13 to 13 1/2)
14	48.5	49	48.5	48	47 (row 14 to 14 1/2)
15	49.5	50	49.5	Not on chart	48 (row 15 to 15 1/2)
16	50.5	51.5	50.5	Not on chart	49 (row 16 to 16 1/2)

On Nike’s men’s chart, those four rows are foot lengths of 29.6, 30.5, 31.3 and 32.2 cm, and UK 12, 13, 14 and 15; Saucony and Skechers print the same UK sizes. Birkenstock’s own rule for men is “U.S. size + 33 = EU size”. Nike’s women’s chart lists a men’s 15 and 16 at EU 50 and 51, half a size above its men’s chart, so use the chart for the department you are buying from.

EU 46 to 50 back to US men’s sizes

The same five charts read the other way, for shoes listed in EU sizes only: Nike’s men’s chart, Saucony’s, Skechers’, Kuru’s and Birkenstock’s.

EU	Nike men’s	Saucony men’s	Skechers men’s	Kuru	Birkenstock
46	12	11.5	12	12	13 to 13 1/2
47	12.5	12.5	12.5	13	14 to 14 1/2
48	13.5	13	13.5	14	15 to 15 1/2
49	14.5	14	No EU 49 row	Not on chart	16 to 16 1/2
50	15.5	15	No EU 50 row	Not on chart	17 to 17 1/2

So an EU 48 is a US men’s 13 at Saucony and a 15 to 15 1/2 at Birkenstock. Skechers’ men’s chart jumps from 48.5 (a 14) to 49.5 (a 15) to 50.5 (a 16), and Kuru’s chart ends at EU 48. If you shop women’s, the EU 46 row is a US women’s 13.5 on Nike’s women’s chart and a 13 on Saucony’s.

Why the same EU number moves

The two systems count in different steps. A whole EU size is one Paris point, 2/3 cm (6.7 mm); a whole US or UK size is one barleycorn, 1/3 inch (8.5 mm). One US size is the longer step, so five US sizes are about six and a third EU sizes (our arithmetic), and a fixed “add 31” cannot track length across a whole range.

From a US women’s 6 to an 11, Nike’s women’s chart climbs from EU 36.5 to 43, six and a half EU sizes. Birkenstock’s column, which follows its plus-31 rule, climbs from 37 to 42, five sizes. Half a size apart at a women’s 6, the two are a full size apart at an 11.

Wikipedia’s foot-length formula, EU size ≈ 1.5 × foot length in cm + 2 (it assumes the last is about 2 Paris points longer than the foot), does not settle it either: Nike’s 29.6 cm for a men’s 13 gives about 46.4 (our arithmetic), near Birkenstock’s 46 and a size below Nike’s own 47.5.

Width does not convert with the EU number

The EU column on these charts is a length. Width is a separate choice, named differently by each brand:

• Birkenstock sells sizes in Regular or Narrow. Its guide gives Regular as a women’s C to D and a men’s D to EE, and Narrow as a women’s A to B and a men’s B to C.
• Kuru’s chart lists women’s Medium B, Wide D and X-Wide 2E, and men’s Medium D, Wide 2E and X-Wide 4E.
• Skechers’ chart says its “Women’s Wide Fit is equivalent to Women’s W or D width” and its men’s Wide Fit to 2E / 3E.
• Nike’s chart describes its Wide as about 1/4 inch more girth in the toe box than regular width.

Going up an EU size to get room across the ball of the foot buys you about 6.7 mm of length (our arithmetic, from the Paris point); none of these charts says how much width comes with it. If the length is right and the sides pinch, order the same EU number in the brand’s wide fit; the letters are decoded in shoe width sizes.

How to use these tables

• You know the brand. Read its column. If it is not one of these six, treat the short-answer range as the spread and find that brand’s chart.
• You only have a foot length. Find the nearest centimetre figure on Nike’s chart for your department (women’s 27.1, 27.9 and 28.8 cm for 11, 12 and 13; men’s 29.6 to 32.2 cm for 13 to 16), note the US size, then read the EU number off the brand you are buying.
• You are a woman past a US 13, shopping men’s. On Nike’s charts, Saucony’s (from women’s 4.5 to 16.5) and Kuru’s, the US women’s size is 1.5 above the men’s size in the same row, so a women’s 14 is a men’s 12.5. Birkenstock’s size 42 row is a women’s 11 to 11 1/2 and a men’s 9 to 9 1/2, a two-size gap (our reading of its rows).

Before you order

• Running shoes may need a different size. Saucony’s chart says: “For performance shoes, we recommend selecting a size up from your usual lifestyle shoe size.”
• Inches are a separate lookup. If your measurement is in inches, the rows are in shoe size chart inches.
• A row on a chart is not a shoe in stock. Check the size menu on the listing itself, and read the returns page before you buy.

Where these numbers come from

The EU, US, UK and foot-length figures are copied from Nike’s women’s and men’s footwear charts, Saucony’s size charts, Altra’s women’s chart, Kuru’s shoes chart, Skechers’ size chart and Birkenstock’s US fit and size guide, read on 1 October 2026. The Paris point and barleycorn lengths and the foot-length formula are from Wikipedia’s shoe size article. The ranges, gaps and millimetre figures are our arithmetic from those tables.

Frequently asked questions

What is a US women's 12 in EU shoe sizes?

Between EU 42 and 44.5, depending on the brand. Nike's women's chart, Saucony's women's chart and Altra's women's chart print 44.5, Kuru's chart prints 44 and Skechers' women's chart prints 42. Birkenstock's women's column stops at 11 1/2, where its BIRKENSTOCK Size column reads 42.

What US men's size is an EU 48?

A US men's 13 on Saucony's men's chart, a 13.5 on Nike's and Skechers' men's charts, a 14 on Kuru's chart and a 15 to 15 1/2 on Birkenstock's US chart. Read the chart of the brand whose shoe you are buying.

Is there a formula to convert US shoe sizes to EU?

Birkenstock prints one for its own shoes: US size plus 31 for women and plus 33 for men. The other charts read for this guide do not share one gap: at a US women's 11, Nike's chart is 32 above the US number and Skechers' is 30, by our arithmetic, so use the brand's own chart.

Does a bigger EU size give a wider shoe?

Not reliably. The EU number on these charts measures length only; width is a separate fitting: Birkenstock sells its sizes in Regular or Narrow, and Kuru, Skechers and Nike each label their wide fits on their own scales.