Shoe Width Explained: Sizes & Measurement

Medium Width Shoes: Get the Goldilocks Fit

Not too wide, not too narrow—it’s just right.

As someone with a medium-width—also known as “standard” or “regular”—you’ll often get the first pick of almost any shoe style on the market. But that doesn't mean you’re guaranteed a comfortable fit with every shoe.

Wearing a well-fitted shoe is just as important with a standard women’s or men’s shoe width as it is with wider or narrower feet. Viewing men and women’s shoe width charts and fitting instructions before buying can help you find the perfect fit.

Once you’ve nailed down your size and width, the shoe store is your oyster. KURU’s online buying experience and hassle-free exchanges and returns makes finding the right pair accessible even from your living room.

Footwear Fact

For every KURU style we make, we share the shoe width “grade” in the “details” section on our website. That means whether you’re a B+ or a C- on a women’s or men’s shoe width chart, we’ve got a shoe that just might work for you.

Narrow Width Shoes: Sleek Fit for a Sleek Foot

Sleek feet need a sleek fit. Just as too-tight shoes can cause a host of issues for your feet, too-wide shoes can keep you from feeling truly “one” with your shoe.

Your shoe should move with your movement, not against it. Proper fitting footwear will keep your feet snug yet free in all the right places.

Footwear Fact

If you feel your feet are sliding back and forth in the shoe or you have to curl your toes to “lift” it, the shoe is too wide. You also shouldn’t have to “force” the shoes to fit by continuing to tighten the laces.

Wide Width Shoes: Whole-Foot Comfort

When it comes to foot health, no pain is true gain.

Squeezing into a pair of shoes is never pretty. Along with squozen toes, buckling metatarsals and blistered bunions, ill-fitting footwear can cause or exacerbate long-term foot-health conditions. Your foot should be able to lay completely flat when standing with your full weight in the shoe. No numb pinky toes allowed.

KURU offers a variety of wide-foot-friendly styles and shoe width sizes to make sure your wide feet have the room they need to stay pain free—even after hours on your feet.

Footwear Fact

Too-tight or too-narrow shoes can cause long-term foot health concerns, including bunions, neuromas, and crossover or hammer toes. Wide shoes make room for the whole foot so you keep doing what you love.