Home | Calendar | Articles | Contact | Events

Fitting Outdoor Footwear
By Don Oso

John saved and carefully prepared for his guided Rocky Mountain elk hunt. He spent years carefully putting together his gear for his dream trip, including the boots recommended by his favorite outdoor writer. At the end of the first day, his heels felt a little raw and chafed, and his instep just the tiniest bit sore. Happy just to be in the mountains, he thought that he was just getting used to the rugged country. Three days later, his outfitter took him out on a packhorse, his heels a raw and bloody mess, and his elk tag unfilled.

Claire planned a trip to a national park to celebrate her birthday. Children, grandchildren and friends were going to spend a week camping and hiking the beautiful mountain trails. After one day, her toes were a little sore, and by the third, a Park Ranger was carrying her on the back of an ATV, back to the trailhead. Months later, her toes had finally healed to the point where she could go back and shop for some new boots.

John and Claire were wearing top quality outdoor boots, but what they had in common was that neither of them was properly fitted. These were both customers of mine, people I met when I was selling shoes and boots for a major outdoor retailer. Neither had given up on their outdoor pursuits, but they were understandably a little gun-shy when it came to their feet.

Now, how can we make sure that your outdoor adventures don't end in this kind of disaster? The number one thing that we can do before hitting the trail is to make sure our boots fit well. Proper fit is the first consideration when we are picking out footwear, not the latest waterproofing, or sole design, or anything else. Frankly, it doesn't matter what the magazine reviewers said about it, if it doesn't fit, you'll be miserable.

If you are new to the outdoors, or have been having trouble with your feet, it's probably time to get some new boots. But where to start? Wander in to the big outdoor store and you might be greeted with a skilled and experienced salesperson, or you might get a slack jawed teen. (“Yeah… these are hiking boots over here… just look around, it's time for my break, but someone will help you.”) In the small mountain shop, you might be greeted warmly by the owner, or sneered at by the multiply-pierced gearhead kid who's just working there for the discount. (“What? You don't know that these were Trailgear Magazine's pick for medium to light mid distance hikes with a 14-17 pound pack…?”)

Before you enter into this often-confusing world, I'm going to give you the information you need to make confident choices, just as I used to do for my customers.

First off, figure out what kind of hiking, camping or backpacking you want to do. If you have several types of activities, you may need to get more than one pair of boots. There may be a combination hip wader—rock-climbing boot sold, but you don't want it. Be prepared to ask lots of questions, and try lots of things on before you make your final decision. Try a couple of different stores. Small shops often can have great service, but not as much selection, while the bigger stores have the selection, but not always the service. Some research can be helpful, especially if you don't have a store close by.

It starts with socks. Sock selection is outside of the scope of this article, but you need to pick them out first. Don't try on boots with your everyday socks and expect them to fit with your hiking or hunting socks. Two caveats: please don't grab a pair of socks off the store's display and then leave them crumpled up on the floor- that's just stealing. The other is that the big stores often have “try-on” socks provided by their vendors. We washed ours at least once a year, whether they needed it or not. Use your own judgment.

After you have picked out your socks (and liners if you are going to wear them), it's time to measure your hind paws. The store should have a Brannock device, which is a scale to determine your foot length, arch length and width. The device will give a number for the length, and a letter for the width. Foot length is not measured in inches, but in 1/3 of an inch increments, which is why you can't just use your tape measure and do this at home. Men and women are measured to different lengths, and average different widths.

Women's regular width shoes will be a B width, and men's will be a D. Narrower widths will be an A; wider will be an E, sometimes in multiples (a EE isn't as wide as a EEE.) This is one of the reasons that you can't just hop back and forth between men's and women's shoes. I've seen lots of guys struggling with tent sale shoes (“But I always wear a 9. . . .these must run really small.”) Measure both feet, sitting and standing (when you stand, your feet elongate, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.) I've seen as much as a full size and a full width difference between feet--which leads to some complications we will look at later. Most folks find that one foot is just a touch bigger than the other, and that is the one that you want to fit to.

Friends, this is just too important to let our body image issues interfere. Guys, you're just as manly in a size 10 as a size 12, and Ladies, we won't tell anyone that you're not a size 7 any more. Your feet will change size and shape as you go through life--get shoes that fit you today, not ten years ago in college. And don't make assumptions-- start with the right size, not bigger or smaller- it saves time you could be using for something more fun.

Now that you've had your foot measured, remember that this is just your starting point. Different manufacturers interpret sizes differently, and use different lasts. The last is the form that the shoe is built on, and the shape and fit can make as much difference as the size. Some people might need a narrower heel, or a wider forefoot. One company uses five different fits, to fit different activities and foot shapes. Shoes from the same brand might vary from factory to factory (Danner boots—my own choice--fit differently, depending on whether they're made in the US factory or in the Chinese one.)

The only way to really tell is to start trying stuff on. Backpacking books often tell you to start jamming your fingers into the back of the boot, and your Mom or Dad always pressed on your toe when you were trying on shoes as a kid. Frankly, I've never found either to be necessary. Put the boot on--remember that bigger foot. It should feel snug on the sides without pinching, and really snug in the heel. Wiggle your toes--they should move pretty freely. Lace the boot up snugly, then stand up. Ideally, you should feel it hold your heel nice and snug, be firm up to the ball of the foot, and then have enough room to wiggle your toes freely. If they hit the end of the boot, it's too short, and if your heel slips up and down it's too long.

We're trying to be like Goldilocks here, and get the fit just right. (Except the getting chased by bears part . . .) If your heel slips, try ½ size shorter, and if your toes hit the end, ½ size longer might do the trick. If that's still not feeling right, try on a different brand, or see if a different width might do the trick. When everything starts to feel right, do some walking around in both boots, and try them on an incline board, which is a ramp that will simulate a 15-18 degree slope. This will really show if the boots slip going up, or your toes hit going down. (Remember Claire.) One exception to the rule--on a really stiff pair of boots, you might get a very tiny bit of heel slip, until they properly break in. Don't allow any more than 1/8 of an inch, or you'll end up like John.

A quick word about “break-in”: Your new hiking boots will be a little stiff until the upper shapes to your foot, and the sole starts bending in the right place. Remember, however, that ANYTHING that hurts or is uncomfortable in the store will never get better. Many stores won't let you return shoes, so don't let the glib sales guy convince you that it will just “break in.” If you haven't had much experience wearing boots, they may feel a little weird, but they should never hurt.

One example: I had a brother and sister who were both going on a Scouting High Adventure trek. She was an experienced backpacker, and just needed something the right size. He had never worn anything other than oversized skateboarding shoes, and you wouldn't believe the amount of whining it took to get him into boots that fit. You need to be open-minded when trying stuff on.

If you've gone through all these steps, and you still can't get the right fit, don't worry, for all is not yet lost.

If you find yourself in between sizes, get the bigger one, and use a thicker insole to take up some of the width. You can even use different insoles in either boot to make up for a size difference. Good quality insoles can be a good idea anyway, for increased comfort. When selecting insoles, look for firmness and support, without too much cushion.

Another problem that can usually be addressed with insoles is that of two different size feet. Remember, always fit to the bigger foot, because you can use insoles and lacing to tighten up the fit for the smaller one. If they are dramatically different, you may need to go the custom route, but experiment with factory boots first.

Some boots can be laced differently to tighten up the fit in the heel-- especially mountaineering boots. (For whatever reason, the Germans really like to re-lace their boots for uphill and downhill. German boots are designed accordingly). Women, especially, often find this helps with getting the fit just right.

A good cobbler or repair shop might be able to stretch a boot a little bit in the width. Not something I would want to count on, but you could get an old pair of boots fitting again. Some shops shape their shoes on a rubbing bar--once again, this will only work if the fit is pretty close to begin with.

Some old ideas are still floating around, for example that you can stretch your boots out by soaking them through and wearing them until they are dry, or boiling them to shrink them. These tricks are outdated, and won't work with most new boots. Just get them to fit at the beginning, and you'll be fine.

If all else fails, you might have to get custom built boots. Expensive, but if you're an 8.5AAA men's or a 5.5EEEEE, (both sizes I've actually seen) it might be your only choice. The upside is that custom made boots tend to be very well made, and should last a long time with proper care.

Hopefully, by this point, you've found yourself properly shod, and are ready to hit the trail--remember to get used to your new boots slowly, wearing them a few hours a day for a couple of weeks before going out anywhere critical. Amazingly, several on the ill-fated Everest expedition, several people wore brand new boots (Into Thin Air, John Krakauer). They climbed in excruciating pain.

Once you have properly fitted boots, you now can hit the trail with confidence. See ya' there!

Additional resources on the web:

Footwear Fitting:
http://www.brannock.com/
http://www.fitsystembyphiloren.com/

Insoles for outdoor use:
http://www.superfeet.com/
http://www.spenco.com/

The boots I wear, now making custom outdoor footwear:
http://www.danner.com/home.do