One shoe, two US scales
The United States sizes men's and women's footwear on separate ladders. They are the same idea built twice, offset from each other, so the same foot wears a different number depending on which shelf the shoe sits on. On the desk's conversion chart the women's column sits about one and a half US sizes above the men's column at the same EU step - approximate, as every conversion on this site is labeled, since brands grade differently and the ranges overlap at the edges. The centimeter column is what proves the two rows are one shoe: the same foot length, printed in two languages. Neither column is the original; the EU step is the number that travels with the shoe, and both US columns are readings of it. Holding that order in mind - EU first, US columns as translations - prevents most of the confusion this topic generates, because the confusion is almost always about which number is doing the defining.
| EU | US men | US women | Foot length (cm, approx) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 4 | 5.5-6 | 22.5-23 |
| 37 | 4.5-5 | 6-6.5 | 23-23.5 |
| 38 | 5.5-6 | 7-7.5 | 24-24.5 |
| 39 | 6.5-7 | 8-8.5 | 24.5-25 |
| 40 | 7-7.5 | 8.5-9 | 25-25.5 |
| 41 | 8-8.5 | 9.5-10 | 26-26.5 |
| 42 | 8.5-9 | 10-10.5 | 26.5-27 |
| 43 | 9.5-10 | 11 | 27.5-28 |
| 44 | 10-10.5 | 11.5-12 | 28-28.5 |
| 45 | 11-11.5 | 12.5-13 | 29-29.5 |
Read the table as rows, not as a formula: a shopper who measures 25-25.5 cm lands in EU 40, and the honest quote is US men's 7-7.5 or US women's 8.5-9, depending on which scale the listing speaks. Where the conversion comes from and why the bands overlap is in the note on shoe size charts explained; the bulk-buying view is in EU to US conversion for bulk buyers.
What the EU anchor means for the stock list
The EU ladder is unisex in a practical sense: it is one continuous scale, and it is what the partner's packing lists and cartons are marked in. The stock list runs EU 36-45 across casual sneakers and sandals, and the sample lots divide naturally along the two US scales. Four sneaker runs sit at EU 40-45 - a cushioned everyday runner, a court-inspired trainer, a low casual leather sneaker, a chunky lifestyle runner - which the table reads as roughly US men's 7 to 11.5. Three runs sit at EU 36-41 - a kids' chunky sneaker, a trail-style runner, a rugged casual runner - which reads as roughly US women's 5.5 to 10 for the smaller-foot shoppers. The live list with exact runs is confirmed at RFQ - see the stock route. A mixed program can pull from both bands at once: cartons are packed per style, so a men's-banded style and a women's-banded style ship in the same program without repacking.
That split is worth noticing as a buyer: the same warehouse can feed a men's range and a women's range from one list, because the EU anchor does not care which scale the storefront prints. Style and colorway differentiate the ranges far more than the size numbers do - the women's side is gathered on the women's sneakers page, the men's on men's casual sneakers.
The memorized offset, and where it breaks
Plenty of buyers carry a memorized offset - add so many sizes from men's to women's - and it works often enough to feel like knowledge. It breaks at the edges, quietly. The columns on the chart are ranges, so the offset that holds in the middle of a row drifts at its ends; a brand that grades small or large moves the whole ladder; and a customer quoted a single converted number has been given a false precision that a returns wave will correct. The row habit - quote the EU step, the two US ranges and the centimeter band together - is immune to all three, which is why the desk answers conversion questions in rows even when a single figure was asked for. It costs one extra clause and saves the argument that follows a wrong single figure. The habit also survives relabeling: if a storefront changes its display scale next season, every row-based answer already in your support replies still reads correctly.
The cleanest convention: sell in one scale, label in two
Problems start when scales mix inside one listing: a dropdown that offers both a men's 9 and a women's 9 as adjacent options is two questions wearing one control, and the customer who answers the wrong one sends the pair back. The convention that avoids it: choose one display scale per storefront, show the other column on the chart beside the size selector, and keep the EU step visible as the anchor that follows the shoe from the carton to the page. A customer shopping across your listings finds one ladder consistently; a customer comparison-shopping against another store can still translate by the centimeter column, which no brand relabels.
For sellers: the dropdown discipline
Three rules carry most of the weight in practice. First, one scale per listing, labeled in plain words - "US women's" next to the selector, not assumed from the page design. Second, both columns and the centimeter band on the chart, so the conversion is visible without leaving the product page. Third, when a customer asks "I'm a women's 8, what am I here", answer with the row - EU 39, US men's 6.5-7, foot length 24.5-25 cm - and the answer survives any relabeling you ever do. Support teams that answer in rows stop having the same conversation twice. The same rows belong on packing-slip inserts for wholesale buyers, where the audience is a stockroom rather than a shopper.
For a range plan, the two-scales reality is a segmentation tool: order the runs that match the channel's feet rather than defaulting to one band. A women's-focused store builds its depth in the EU 36-41 rows; a men's store in the 40-45 rows; a mixed marketplace carries both, which the carton system supports since runs are packed per style. The desk's sample-lot page splits by band for exactly this reason: a buyer can see at a glance which styles feed which scale without doing conversions. The desk maps the runs to the channel on the program sheet - confirmed in writing - and starts from the request form. The boundary-size questions that conversion creates are handled in size up or down.