Are Italian Shoe Sizes Consistent? We Analyzed 830 Entries From 26 Brands

We analyzed 830 size-chart entries from 26 Italian footwear brands to find out how consistent Italian to US shoe size conversions really are.

Specifically, we looked at how often brands agree on the US equivalent of an Italian or European shoe size, how much their published foot-length measurements differ, and whether sizing can change between different footwear categories from the same brand.

We also looked at the information brands give shoppers in the first place, including US sizes, centimeters, inches, and proprietary brand sizing.

The results show that there is a recognizable conversion pattern. Across the 22 common men’s and women’s US sizes we analyzed, the median agreement on the most common Italian/European equivalent was 80.0%.

But that doesn’t mean the charts are interchangeable.

In some cases, brands that use exactly the same US and Italian/European size labels still publish foot-length measurements that differ by more than 2 cm.

We also found differences within individual brands, where the conversion or recommended foot measurement changed depending on the type of shoe.

Here’s what we found…

If you’re looking for the actual size conversions rather than the study behind them, see our Italian to US shoe size conversion chart.

Here Is a Summary of Our Key Findings:

1. Across the 22 common men’s and women’s US sizes we analyzed, median brand agreement on the most common Italian/European equivalent was 80.0%. There is a recognizable conversion pattern across brands, but it isn’t universal.

2. Women’s conversions were somewhat more consistent than men’s. Median agreement was 82.4% for women’s sizes, compared with 77.8% for men’s sizes.

3. Men’s agreement changed considerably depending on the size. Across the common men’s sizes we analyzed, agreement ranged from 63.2% to 93.8%, a difference of more than 30 percentage points.

4. Published foot-length measurements varied more than the size labels alone suggest. The largest observed spread across the common sizes was 1.7 cm for men and 2.6 cm for women.

5. Large differences remained even when brands agreed on both size labels. Among brands using the same US and Italian/European size combination, published foot-length measurements still differed by as much as 1.7 cm for men and 2.2 cm for women.

6. Sizing can also change within the same brand. Premiata’s men’s Heritage and Sneaker charts don’t always assign the same US size to the same EU size. At EU 47, the difference reached 1.5 US sizes, with Heritage listing US 14 and Sneakers US 12.5.

7. Centimeter measurements weren’t available from every brand. 20 of the 26 brands, or 76.9%, provided centimeter measurements in their official sizing information.

8. General conversion charts have a real basis in the brand data, but they shouldn’t be treated as universal. The 80.0% median agreement shows a clear central pattern, while the differences between brands, published foot-length measurements, and product categories show why the individual brand’s chart should take priority when available.

We break down these findings, the individual size results, and our methodology below.

How We Conducted This Study

For this study, we collected 830 individual size-chart entries from 26 Italian footwear brands.

We went through each brand’s published size charts and recorded the conversions they actually use. We didn’t assume that a particular Italian size should match a particular US size.

There’s quite a mix of footwear in the study, from luxury dress shoes and traditional Italian shoemakers to sneakers and everyday casual shoes. And some brands don’t even use one chart for all their shoes. Dolce & Gabbana has one for Formal shoes and another for Sneakers, for example. We included both in the data.

We Counted Brands, Not Charts

Some brands gave us more sizing data than others.

For example, Dolce & Gabbana has separate men’s charts for Formal shoes and Sneakers. Premiata also has different charts for Heritage shoes and Sneakers.

If we simply counted every chart as an independent observation, brands with multiple charts would have more influence on the results.

So our main agreement percentages are calculated at the brand level.

For example, at US men’s 8, 15 of the 19 eligible brands used size 41.

That gives us an agreement rate of:

15 ÷ 19 × 100 = 78.9%

A brand with several charts doesn’t automatically get several votes in that calculation.

We Kept the Original Size Labels

Not every Italian brand describes its sizing system the same way.

Depending on the brand, we found labels including IT, EU, Europe, IT/EU, and brand-specific sizing systems.

We preserved those original labels in our raw data.

Proprietary brand-size fields were not treated as Italian or European sizes unless the source explicitly identified them that way.

For the cross-brand analysis, we compared the numerical continental sizes only when the source gave us enough information to make that comparison confidently. We didn’t automatically relabel every EU or Europe column as “IT.”

This is why you’ll often see us use Italian/European or continental size when discussing the results across multiple brands.

We Didn’t Fill In Missing Sizes

If a brand didn’t publish a particular size, we left it missing.

We didn’t interpolate half sizes or use a conversion formula to create values that weren’t present in the original chart.

The same applies to ranges.

If a brand listed a conversion such as EU 40.5–41, we preserved that range rather than turning it into a single exact size for a calculation that required an exact conversion.

Ambiguous Data Wasn’t Forced Into the Analysis

We also excluded individual data from a calculation when the source labeling wasn’t clear enough for that particular comparison.

This matters because a number appearing in a sizing chart doesn’t automatically tell us exactly what sizing system it represents.

For example, a combined UK/US column can’t be treated as an unambiguous US conversion. Likewise, an unusually labeled US column shouldn’t be included simply because the heading contains “US” if the underlying values make its meaning uncertain.

We preferred a smaller eligible sample over making assumptions about ambiguous data.

We Treated Foot Length Separately From Shoe Size

A conversion such as:

US 9 = size 39

and a measurement such as:

US 9 = size 39 = 25.5 cm

aren’t the same type of information.

We therefore analyzed the published foot-length measurements separately from the nominal size conversions.

This distinction became particularly important when we compared brands that agreed on both size labels but still published different centimeter values.

We also didn’t assume that the published centimeter measurement represents the internal length of the shoe. Throughout this study, foot length refers to the measurement given by the brand’s sizing information.

We Preserved the Measurements Brands Published

We copied the measurements as they appeared on each brand’s chart, whether they were in centimeters or inches.

Sometimes the two didn’t quite match when converted. We left those figures alone rather than correcting the numbers ourselves.

We were careful with columns labeled JP, KR, or China, too. Those labels don’t necessarily tell you whether the number is a foot measurement, so we only counted it as one when the brand made that clear.

We wanted the data to reflect the original charts, including any inconsistencies in the measurements.

The Number of Eligible Brands Changes by Calculation

The study includes 26 brands, but that doesn’t mean every statistic has a denominator of 26.

A brand may not publish a particular US size. Another may provide the US conversion but no centimeter measurement. Another may use a range where the calculation requires an exact continental size.

So every statistic uses its own eligible sample.

That’s why you’ll see results such as:

15 of 16 brands

12 of 19 brands

or

10 brands with usable centimeter data

throughout the study.

We show those denominators alongside the percentages wherever they are important so readers can see exactly how much data each result is based on.

We Only Measured Information Availability When We Collected It Consistently

We also wanted to see how much sizing information shoppers could actually find on these charts.

Centimeters and inches were easy to compare because we recorded them whenever a brand included them. That gave us enough data to see how often foot-length measurements appeared.

UK sizes were a different story. Our original focus was Italian-to-US conversions, so we didn’t collect every UK column we came across.

That means we can’t use our UK data to say how many Italian brands include UK sizes on their charts. We simply didn’t collect that information consistently enough.

One Important Limitation

Keep in mind that we were comparing published size charts, not trying on shoes.

Even when two brands agree that a US 9 is an EU 42, you can’t tell from those numbers whether the shoes will feel the same. There’s still the width, toe shape, and overall fit to consider, none of which we tested here.

Our study sticks to the size charts themselves.

We wanted to see which Italian-to-US conversions the brands were using, where they disagreed, and what happened when we compared their foot-length measurements.

How Often Do Italian Shoe Brands Agree on US Sizes?

When several Italian footwear brands list the same US size, how often do they agree on its Italian or European equivalent?

Across the 22 common men’s and women’s US sizes we analyzed, the median agreement on the most common conversion was 80.0%.

So there is a clear pattern behind Italian to US shoe size conversion charts. Many brands cluster around the same conversions, but the level of agreement changes depending on the size.

But 80% agreement also leaves plenty of room for exceptions.

Men’s Median Agreement Was 77.8%

Across the men’s sizes in our common-size analysis, the median agreement rate was 77.8%.

At US men’s 10, for example, 15 of the 16 eligible brands used size 43. That’s an agreement rate of 93.8%.

But at US men’s 7.5, only 12 of 19 eligible brands used the most common equivalent, size 40.5. Agreement dropped to 63.2%.

That’s a difference of more than 30 percentage points depending on which US men’s size you’re converting.

Women’s Median Agreement Was 82.4%

Across US women’s sizes 6 through 11, the median agreement rate was 82.4%, compared with 77.8% for men.

The lowest agreement rate we found was 76.2%, while the highest was 85.0%.

That’s a range of less than 9 percentage points, compared with more than 30 percentage points in the men’s results.

But when we’re looking strictly at how often brands choose the same Italian/European equivalent for a US size, the women’s results in our dataset were more tightly grouped.

Men’s Italian to US Shoe Size Conversions: What the Data Shows

Across the men’s sizes we analyzed, the most common conversion usually accounted for a clear majority of eligible brands. But the agreement rate moved from 63.2% to 93.8% depending on the US size.

Here are the complete results:

The median agreement across these men’s sizes was 77.8%.

But the table also shows why that median shouldn’t be interpreted as a fixed level of reliability. Some conversions were much more widely shared across brands than others.

US Men’s 10 Had the Highest Agreement

The strongest agreement we found was at US men’s 10.

Of the 16 eligible brands at this size, 15 converted US 10 to size 43.

That’s an agreement rate of 93.8%.

It was also one of the tightest sizes when we looked beyond the most common answer.

The continental equivalents observed for US 10 ranged from 43 to 43.5, a spread of only half a size.

US men’s 10 combined the highest agreement rate in the men’s data with the smallest continental-size spread.

US Men’s 7.5 Had the Lowest Agreement

The picture was very different at US men’s 7.5.

The most common equivalent was size 40.5, but only 12 of the 19 eligible brands used it.

That’s an agreement rate of 63.2%, the lowest of any men’s size in our common-size analysis.

The continental equivalents at US 7.5 ranged from 39.5 to 41, giving us a 1.5-size spread.

And this wasn’t simply a half-size problem.

US men’s 8.5, another half size, had 81.2% agreement, while US men’s 10.5 fell to 70.6%. Whole sizes varied too, from 72.2% at US 7 all the way to 93.8% at US 10.

That’s one reason our data doesn’t support a simple rule that half sizes are inherently less consistent.

How Much Did Men’s Italian/European Sizes Vary?

Agreement percentage tells us how many brands chose the most common conversion. It doesn’t tell us how far the remaining brands were from it.

So we also measured the full range of continental sizes associated with each US men’s size.

A 1.5-size spread appeared at eight of the eleven men’s sizes we analyzed.

US men’s 10 was the clear exception, with only a 0.5-size spread, while US 9 and US 12 each had a 1-size spread.

The agreement rate tells us how strongly brands cluster around the most common conversion.

The size spread tells us how far apart the published conversions can get.

Both matter. A conversion can have a clear majority while still having outlying brands far enough away to matter when you’re actually choosing a shoe size.

Women’s Italian to US Shoe Size Conversions: What the Data Shows

The women’s results were more consistent from one size to the next than the men’s.

Across US women’s sizes 6 through 11, the median agreement on the most common Italian/European conversion was 82.4%.

More importantly, there were no dramatic drops like the 63.2% agreement we found at US men’s 7.5. Women’s agreement stayed within a relatively narrow range of 76.2% to 85.0%.

Here is the size-by-size breakdown:

Women’s Agreement Was More Consistent Across Sizes

The highest agreement occurred at US women’s 6, where 17 of 20 eligible brands, or 85.0%, used size 36.

At the other end, US women’s 8 and US women’s 9 both had 76.2% agreement.

For US 8, 16 of 21 eligible brands used size 38.

For US 9, 16 of 21 used size 39.

So there was still meaningful brand-to-brand variation. But unlike the men’s results, there wasn’t one size that suddenly broke away from the rest.

The difference between the highest and lowest women’s agreement rates was 8.8 percentage points.

For men, that gap was 30.6 percentage points.

How Much Did Women’s Italian/European Sizes Vary?

Agreement percentage is only one side of the comparison.

We also looked at the lowest and highest continental equivalents published for each US women’s size.

Although women’s agreement rates were more stable, the total range of published continental equivalents actually became wider toward the larger sizes in our analysis.

US women’s 6, 6.5, and 7 each had a 1-size spread.

At US 7.5 through 9.5, the spread was generally 1.5 sizes, apart from US 9, where it reached 2 sizes.

Then at US 10, 10.5, and 11, the observed spread was 2 full continental sizes.

Women’s brands were relatively consistent in how often they chose the most common conversion, but some of the brands outside that majority were far enough away to create a sizeable overall range.

Are Half-Size Conversions Less Consistent?

It would be an easy assumption to make. If a US half size falls between two common Italian or European sizes, you might expect brands to handle that conversion less consistently.

But that’s not what we found.

In the men’s data, some half sizes had relatively low agreement. US 7.5 had the lowest agreement of any men’s size we analyzed at 63.2%, and US 10.5 was also relatively low at 70.6%.

US men’s 8.5 had 81.2% agreement, which was higher than several of the whole sizes. US men’s 9.5 came in at 77.8%, almost exactly at the men’s median.

US women’s 7.5 and 9.5 both had 83.3% agreement. US 6.5 and 10.5 were both at 82.4%.

All four of those half sizes had higher agreement than US women’s 8 and US women’s 9, which were both at 76.2%.

So the data doesn’t support a simple rule that:

• whole sizes = more consistent
• half sizes = less consistent

One thing worth separating here is conversion consistency from the actual difference between sizes. If you’re curious about how much of a difference half a shoe size makes, I’ve covered the measurements and what they mean for fit in a separate guide.

How Much Do Published Foot-Length Measurements Vary?

Many of the brands in our dataset also published a foot-length measurement in centimeters.

Instead of asking:

“What Italian or European size does this US size convert to?”

we could ask:

“What foot length does each brand associate with this US size?”

Across the common sizes we analyzed, the largest observed spread was 1.7 cm for men and 2.6 cm for women.

These figures refer to the foot-length measurements published in the brands’ size charts. They do not mean that the shoes themselves differed internally by 1.7 or 2.6 cm.

Men’s Foot-Length Differences

The men’s published measurements varied at every common US size we analyzed.

The largest men’s differences occurred at US 7 and US 12, where the published measurements spanned 1.7 cm.

Even at US men’s 10, where we found very strong agreement on the nominal conversion to size 43, the published foot-length values ranged from 27.5 to 28.7 cm.

That’s a 1.2 cm difference despite the unusually high 93.8% agreement on the most common size conversion.

Brands can agree on the size labels without necessarily assigning the same foot measurement to those labels.

Women’s Foot-Length Differences

The women’s measurements varied even more.

The largest difference appeared at US women’s 9.

Among the brands with centimeter data at that size, published foot lengths ranged from 24.0 to 26.6 cm, a difference of 2.6 cm.

US women’s 8 was close behind at 2.5 cm, while US 7 had a 2.4 cm difference.

Two brands could label US women’s 9 differently, for example, size 39 at one brand and size 40 at another. That could partly explain why their centimeter measurements differ.

What Happens When Both Size Labels Are the Same?

The foot-length differences in the previous section include brands that didn’t always agree on the Italian or European conversion.

This time, we only compared brands when both size labels matched.

For example, instead of comparing every brand that published a measurement for US women’s 9, we compared brands that specifically listed the same pairing:

US Women’s 9 = IT/EU 39

If different conversions were the main reason the centimeter measurements varied, we would expect those differences to become small once both labels were identical.

The differences did get smaller, but they didn’t disappear.

Same-Label Differences Reached 2.2 cm for Women

Across the women’s same-label comparisons, we still found differences of up to 2.2 cm between the published foot-length measurements.

Here is the size-by-size breakdown:

US Women’s 8.5 / Size 38.5 Had the Largest Women’s Difference

The largest same-label difference we found for women occurred at US 8.5 / IT-EU 38.5.

Nine eligible brands published centimeter measurements for that exact pairing.

Those measurements ranged from 23.5 cm to 25.7 cm.

That’s a difference of 2.2 cm, even though every brand in this comparison agreed that the shoe-size pairing itself was US 8.5 and 38.5.

US Women’s 9 / Size 39 Still Varied by 2.0 cm

For brands that agreed on:

US Women’s 9 = IT/EU 39

The published foot-length measurements ranged from 24.0 to 26.0 cm.

Ten eligible brands provided centimeter data for that exact pairing.

So even after fixing both size labels, we still found a 2.0 cm spread.

In other words, seeing the same US and Italian/European sizes on two brand charts does not guarantee that the brands are defining that pairing with the same foot-length measurement.

Men’s Same-Label Differences Reached 1.7 cm

The differences were smaller overall than they were for women, but they were still present.

At US men’s 7 / size 40, published foot lengths ranged from 25.0 to 26.7 cm, a difference of 1.7 cm.

At US 8 / size 41, the difference was 1.4 cm, and at US 9 / size 42 it was 1.3 cm.

Again, these are differences in the measurements the brands publish for a foot, not measurements of the internal length of their shoes.

Men’s Measurement Differences Narrowed at Larger Sizes

The spread generally became smaller as we moved through the sizes in this comparison.

It was 1.7 cm at US 7 / size 40, then 1.4 cm at US 8 / size 41, 1.3 cm at US 9 / size 42, and 1.2 cm at US 10 / size 43.

At both US 11 / size 44 and US 12 / size 45, the difference was 1.0 cm.

We wouldn’t turn that into a general rule about all Italian footwear. But within the sizes and brands included in this dataset, the pattern is visible.

Can Sizing Change Within the Same Brand?

So far, most of the differences we’ve looked at have been between brands. But some brands publish separate size charts for different types of footwear, which let us compare sizing information within the same brand.

With Dolce & Gabbana, the US-to-Italian/European conversion stayed the same, but some of the published foot-length measurements changed.

With Premiata, the US conversion itself changed between product lines.

Dolce & Gabbana: Same Conversion, Different Foot-Length Measurements

Dolce & Gabbana published separate men’s sizing information for formal shoes and sneakers.

The size conversion was consistent between the two charts, but the centimeter measurements didn’t always match.

The differences appeared mainly at the half sizes.

Dolce & Gabbana’s Half Sizes Were 0.2 cm Apart

I noticed something interesting when comparing Dolce & Gabbana’s formal-shoe and sneaker charts. Every half size between 39.5 and 46.5 had a 0.2 cm gap, with the formal shoes listed as the longer of the two.

The whole sizes, from 39 through 47, matched exactly.

Take size 42.5. Both charts convert it to a US 9.5, but Dolce & Gabbana lists 27.3 cm for formal shoes and 27.1 cm for sneakers.

Premiata: The US Conversion Itself Changes by Product Line

Premiata’s men’s Heritage and Sneakers charts didn’t always assign the same US size to the same European size.

The two product lines matched from EU 40 through 43, but the gap began to widen from EU 44 onward. By EU 46, Heritage listed US 13 while Sneakers listed US 12, a full US-size difference.

Premiata’s Difference Reached 1.5 US Sizes

The biggest gap came at EU 47. Premiata’s Heritage chart puts it at a men’s US 14, while the Sneakers chart says US 12.5. That’s 1.5 sizes apart, and we’re still looking at the same brand.

I wouldn’t call either chart incorrect based on that difference alone. But I certainly wouldn’t use Premiata’s Heritage chart to pick a size in its Sneakers collection.

What Sizing Information Do Italian Shoe Brands Provide?

We also looked at what sizing information the 26 brands actually published in the data we collected. Because we didn’t systematically record every possible sizing field, we only calculated percentages for the information we consistently captured across the dataset.

88.5% Provided a Clean US Conversion

Of the 26 brands in our dataset, 23, or 88.5%, provided US sizing information that we could use confidently in the exact-conversion analysis.

The remaining charts weren’t automatically treated as missing US sizing. In some cases, the problem was that the labeling was ambiguous or combined with another sizing system.

Rather than guessing what those values meant, we left them out of calculations that required a clearly identifiable US size.

76.9% Provided Centimeter Measurements

20 of the 26 brands, or 76.9%, included usable centimeter measurements in the sizing information we collected.

If we had looked only at the US and Italian/European labels, we would have missed some of the largest differences in the dataset.

As we saw earlier, even brands using the exact same size pairing could publish foot-length measurements that differed by more than 2 cm.

42.3% Provided Measurements in Inches

Inches were considerably less common.

Only 11 of the 26 brands included inch measurements, giving us a rate of 42.3%.

We preserved the inch and centimeter values as the brands published them rather than recalculating one from the other. That matters because a brand’s published inch value does not always convert perfectly back to its published centimeter value after rounding.

80.8% Had Both Men’s and Women’s Sizing in Our Dataset

We had both men’s and women’s sizing data for 21 of the 26 brands, or 80.8%.

That gave us enough coverage to analyze the two groups separately rather than assuming the same level of consistency applied to both.

23.1% Included a Proprietary Brand Size

Finally, 6 of the 26 brands, or 23.1%, included their own brand-specific size field alongside other sizing systems in the data we collected.

A shopper may encounter a standard-looking IT or EU number on one chart, while another brand may place its own sizing system alongside US, European, or foot-length information.

What Does This Mean for Italian to US Shoe Size Conversion Charts?

General Italian-to-US conversion charts have a real basis in the data.

Across the 22 common men’s and women’s sizes we analyzed, the median agreement on the most common conversion was 80.0%.

The problem comes when a general chart is treated as if it were exact for every brand.

If you’re converting in the other direction, our US to European shoe size conversion guide covers the standard US-to-EU equivalents for men and women.

Generic Conversion Charts Are Useful Starting Points

If you don’t know the brand yet, a general conversion chart can give you a reasonable starting point.

For example, our data found that:

• US men’s 8 most commonly converted to size 41, with 78.9% agreement.
• US men’s 9 most commonly converted to size 42, with 88.2% agreement.
• US men’s 10 most commonly converted to size 43, with 93.8% agreement.
• US women’s 8 most commonly converted to size 38, with 76.2% agreement.
• US women’s 9 most commonly converted to size 39, with 76.2% agreement.
• US women’s 10 most commonly converted to size 40, with 84.2% agreement.

Those patterns explain why the familiar conversions used in general charts appear so often. But none of the agreement rates was 100%.

A generic chart can tell you the size you’re likely to be. It can’t guarantee what a specific brand will recommend.

Brand-Specific Charts Should Take Priority

Our results give you a good reason to check the brand’s chart before ordering.

Look at US men’s 7.5. Size 40.5 came up most often in our data, but not everyone agreed. Depending on the brand, we found conversions anywhere from 39.5 to 41.

Women’s sizing had similar disagreements. For a US women’s 9, most brands went with size 39, although some listed sizes as high as 41.

So which conversion should you trust? I’d go with the one published by the brand you’re actually buying from.

There’s another detail worth paying attention to: foot length.

We found brands that agreed on the US and Italian/European size numbers but gave different measurements in centimeters.

For a women’s US 9 / size 39, the foot lengths in our data went from 24.0 cm all the way to 26.0 cm. That’s a 2 cm difference for what appears to be the exact same size conversion.

Personally, I’d pay more attention to the foot-length measurement here. With a 2 cm gap between brands, I wouldn’t feel comfortable choosing a size based on the US-to-EU conversion alone.

Sometimes You Need the Product-Specific Chart

Even within one brand, you might find more than one size chart.

Dolce & Gabbana is a good example. Its men’s formal shoes and sneakers had matching US conversions in the charts we examined, but some of the foot-length measurements were different.

Premiata was even more interesting. Its Heritage and Sneakers charts didn’t always agree on the US size for a given European size.

At EU 47, Heritage listed a men’s US 14, while Sneakers listed US 12.5. That’s a difference of 1.5 US sizes, without even switching brands.

So I’d use a general chart when I just need a quick conversion. Once I’ve picked a brand, I’ll look at its chart, and if there’s a separate chart for the actual shoe I’m buying, that’s the one I’d use.

How to Use Italian Shoe Sizing in Practice

After going through 830 size-chart entries, one thing became pretty clear to me: knowing your usual US size doesn’t always tell you which Italian size to buy.

A general conversion chart is fine when you’re browsing. But once you’ve found a pair you like, there are a few things I’d look at before choosing a size.

1. Start With the Brand’s Size Chart

Let’s take a US men’s 9 as an example. You could look up the EU equivalent on a general chart, but why do that if the Italian brand you’re shopping from already tells you how it converts a US 9?

I’d go straight to its chart.

Of course, if you’re still browsing different brands and just want a rough idea of your Italian size, a general conversion is perfectly fine.

2. See Whether the Shoe Has Its Own Chart

This is something I wouldn’t have paid much attention to before comparing all these charts.

We found brands that use different sizing information for different types of shoes. Premiata, for example, doesn’t always give the same US conversion for its Heritage shoes and Sneakers.

So before settling on a size, have a look at the actual product page. There might be a chart specifically for that shoe or collection, and that’s the one I’d use.

3. Look at the Foot-Length Measurements

I wouldn’t stop at the US and EU numbers if the chart also includes centimeters.

Remember the women’s US 9 / EU 39 example from our study? The published foot lengths ranged from 24.0 to 26.0 cm. That’s a pretty big gap considering the size labels were identical.

If you haven’t measured your feet recently, I’ve got a guide on how to measure your feet at home.

One thing to be careful with: the centimeter figure on a size chart usually refers to foot length, not the amount of space inside the shoe.

And I wouldn’t take a missing centimeter measurement from another brand’s chart. We’ve already seen how much those numbers can vary.

4. What If the Brand Doesn’t List US Sizes?

Some Italian size charts aren’t particularly helpful if you’re used to shopping in US sizes.

You might find a chart with Italian or European sizes but no US column at all. I’d see whether the brand gives foot lengths in centimeters or explains how its sizing works somewhere else on the site.

Another thing I noticed while collecting the data was the way some charts label their columns. JP, KR, and China showed up, but I couldn’t always tell from the heading alone what the numbers represented. I only treated those values as foot lengths when the brand explicitly said they were.

5. Between Two Sizes? Look at the Fit First

I wouldn’t automatically choose the larger size just because I’m between two numbers on a chart.

For me, the first question would be where the shoe feels wrong. Toes pressing against the front? That’s different from having enough length but feeling squeezed across the forefoot. And sometimes you just want a little extra room for casual wear.

Those are different problems, and going up half a size won’t always fix them.

I’ve covered width in more detail in my sneaker width guide and boot width guide.

It’s also worth seeing whether the brand has any fit advice for the particular model you’re buying.

6. What If Two Size Charts Disagree?

This is where I’d stop trying to make the numbers agree.

If a general chart says your US size converts to an EU 42 but the Italian brand lists an EU 41, I’d follow the brand.

And if that brand has a separate chart for the exact shoe I’m looking at, I’d use that one instead.

My order would be:

Product-specific size chart → brand size chart → general conversion chart

I’d still look at the foot-length measurements when they’re available, especially after seeing how much they differed in our study.

What Not to Do

A few mistakes I’d avoid after looking through all these charts:

• Treating every Italian-to-US conversion as interchangeable.
• Assuming IT, EU, and a brand’s own sizing labels always mean the same thing.
• Mistaking the foot-length measurement for the shoe’s internal length.
• Using another brand’s centimeter figures to fill gaps in a chart.
• Overlooking a separate chart for the shoe you’re actually buying.
• Going up or down a size without considering the fit.

Study Limitations

This Is a Study of Published Size Charts

Our analysis is based on the sizing information published by the brands themselves.

We did not physically measure every shoe included in those brands’ collections, and we didn’t use customer reviews or retailer conversions to fill gaps in the data.

So when we say that two brands disagree on a conversion, we’re talking about a difference between their published size charts.

Likewise, when we report a difference in centimeters, we’re comparing the foot-length measurements the brands published, not the physical internal length of their shoes.

Not Every Brand Publishes the Same Information

Of the 26 brands in our dataset, 20 provided usable centimeter measurements, while only 11 provided measurements in inches.

For example, a brand could contribute to our US-to-Italian/European conversion analysis but not to the foot-length analysis if it didn’t publish a usable centimeter measurement.

We didn’t estimate or calculate missing values to make the dataset more complete.

The Eligible Sample Changes Depending on the Comparison

Each calculation only includes brands with the information needed for that specific comparison.

For example, US men’s 10 had 16 eligible brands in the conversion-agreement analysis, while US men’s 11 had 20.

We therefore calculate each percentage using its own eligible sample rather than using all 26 brands as the denominator for every result.

That’s why we report results such as 15 of 16 brands, or 93.8%, instead of simply saying that 93.8% of all brands in the study agreed.

Foot Length Is Not the Same as Internal Shoe Length

The measurements in this study are the foot-length values associated with sizes in the brands’ published charts, not measurements of the shoes themselves.

If one brand lists US women’s 9 / size 39 at 24.0 cm and another lists the same pairing at 26.0 cm, our finding is that their published foot-length guidance differs by 2.0 cm.

It does not mean we physically measured those two shoes and found one to be 2 cm longer inside.

IT and EU Labels Aren’t Always Presented the Same Way

Depending on the source, we encountered labels such as IT, EU, Europe, and IT/EU, as well as proprietary brand sizing.

We preserved those original labels in the underlying dataset rather than automatically rewriting everything as “Italian sizing.”

For the comparisons between brands, we had to be careful about which numbers we grouped together. Some charts made it clear that we were looking at Italian or European sizes. Others weren’t so straightforward.

We left the questionable ones out. I’d rather have fewer brands in a comparison than include a number when we couldn’t be sure what it represented.

Data Sources

We collected the data directly from the Italian footwear brands’ websites. Some had dedicated shoe size guides, which made things easier. Others only showed their sizing information on individual product pages, so we had to go through those instead.

I’ve included the source links below. These are the pages we used to collect the data, although I can’t guarantee the charts will still show the same numbers if the brands change them later.

• Gucci: Official Shoe Size Guide
• Ferragamo: Official Shoe Size Guide
• Bottega Veneta: Women’s Product Page | Men’s Product Page
• Brunello Cucinelli: Men’s Product Page | Women’s Product Page
• Tod’s: Men’s Product Page | Women’s Product Page
• Dolce & Gabbana: Women’s Product Page | Men’s Product Page
• Valentino: Women’s Size Guide | Men’s Size Guide
• Versace: Women’s Shoe Size Guide | Men’s Shoe Size Guide
• Golden Goose: Official Size Guide
• Santoni: Men’s Product Page | Women’s Product Page
• Velasca: Women’s Product Page and Size Guide
• Diemme: Product Page and Size Guide
• Scarosso: Sizing Document
• Prada: Official Website
• Giorgio Armani: Official Website
• Superga: Official Size Chart
• Zegna: Men’s Product Page
• Miu Miu: Women’s Product Page
• Sergio Rossi: Official Size and Care Guide
• Premiata: Men’s Heritage Product Page | Men’s Sneakers Product Page | Women’s Sneakers Product Page
• Hogan: Official Size Guide
• Loro Piana: Men’s Product Page | Women’s Product Page
• Moschino: Men’s Product Page | Women’s Product Page
• Gianvito Rossi: Women’s Product Page | Men’s Product Page
• Stone Island: Product Page and Size Guide
• NeroGiardini: Women’s Product Page | Men’s Product Page

Complete Italian to US Shoe Size Study Results

So far, I’ve covered the biggest differences and some of the more interesting examples from the study. But I also wanted to include the full results for anyone curious about what happened at other sizes.

In the tables below, you can see how many brands we compared for each US size, which Italian or European size came up most often, and how many brands agreed on that conversion.

I’ve included the ranges for the published foot lengths too, because those numbers sometimes varied quite a bit even when the size conversions matched.

Complete Men’s Results

Across the 11 common men’s US sizes in this comparison, agreement ranged from 63.2% to 93.8%, with a median agreement rate of 77.8%.

The table also shows why conversion agreement and foot-length agreement need to be treated separately. At US men’s 10, for example, the conversion agreement reached 93.8%, yet the published foot-length values still ranged from 27.5 to 28.7 cm.

Complete Women’s Results

The women’s results were a little more consistent overall. We looked at 11 common US sizes, and the median agreement came out to 82.4%. Depending on the size, agreement was as low as 76.2% or as high as 85.0%.

But some of the differences were still pretty big. At US women’s 9, 10, 10.5, and 11, we found a gap of two whole size numbers between the lowest and highest Italian/European conversions.

US women’s 9 stood out for another reason. The published foot lengths went from 24.0 to 26.6 cm, giving us a 2.6 cm difference, the largest in the women’s common-size results.

Complete Same-Label Foot-Length Results

Here, we’re narrowing the comparison a little further. Instead of looking at every brand that lists a particular US size, we’re only comparing entries where both the US and Italian/European sizes are identical.

The biggest gap for women was 2.2 cm at US 8.5 / size 38.5. For men, it was 1.7 cm at US 7 / size 40.

Final Thoughts

After comparing 830 entries from 26 Italian brands, I was surprised by how often the conversions actually agreed. But the disagreements were hard to ignore, especially when we started looking at individual sizes and foot-length measurements.

That’s why I still think general conversion charts have their place. They’re handy when you’re trying to work out your Italian size, but I wouldn’t use one to make a final buying decision when the brand has its own chart.

And the centimeter measurements were particularly interesting. Even when brands agreed on the US and Italian size numbers, their published foot lengths sometimes told a very different story.