Men's shoes

When it comes to men's and ladies shoes there are many distinctions in size, style and build.

If you are looking for shoe sizes in the UK, USA or Europe, or if you want to find out how to accurately measure your feet, please use the links below.

• Getting your shoe size
• men's shoe size table

Although certain shoe styles like flip flops, some sneakers and training shoes are common to both ladies and men's shoes, most are not and there are some very specific differences between formal (or dress) ladies and gentlemen's footwear.

Differences between men's and women's shoes

One of the most obvious differences is in the outer sole and specifically the heel design. The majority of ladies shoes have an exaggerated high heel and this places the foot in an unnatural sloping position. Most men's shoes are actually designed in far greater accordance with the foot's orthopedic requirements. The step from the front outer sole to the heel is normally minimal and this places the foot in a better and healthier position.

Men's shoes also tend to have well constructed uppers that offer support all the way along the length of the foot and up the sides of the feet. By comparison, lady's shoes tend to have more limited uppers that constrain the toe box, have a lower top line, a lower counter and smaller quarters and vamps (see anatomy of a shoe). The result is a shoe that gives less support, but which places the foot in a less stable posture.

Many of the traditional men's shoes like brogues have a design that is actually based around the shoe's main upper components, i.e. the design makes a feature of these sections of the upper. The result is that these shoes, providing that they have adequate internal linings and padding plus a well constructed outer and inner sole, have good orthopedic shoe qualities.

A further plus point in favour of men's shoes is the use of laces. Laces extend the opening of the throat making it easier to enter the foot into the shoe and they make it possible to adjust the tightness of the shoe. Hook and loop (Velcro) straps are even better and both fit seamlessly into the aesthetics of many men's shoe designs.

Information about mens orthopedic shoes can be found here.

Outdoor shoes, walking shoes etc

The roughed look of walking and hiking shoes is partially a result of the carefully constructed design of these outdoor shoes. This ensures that the areas of the greatest pressure, stretching and stress are also the strongest and most padded. This produces a large bulky looking shoe, but one that always seems fashionable, or at least associated with men's fashion and masculinity.

These walking boot styles can also be seen reflected in some other types of men's shoes like sneakers and trainers where the chunky sectional and panelled composition is considered stylish.

The two areas of shoe styling where there is a degree of merging between men's and women's styles is probably in training shoes and some sandal designs. The basic trainer or sneaker has a pump or plimsoll style and this, in its simplest form, is a unisex look.

Equally, simple sandals, predominantly those with large open areas and a minimum of upper, have few differences between the sexes. The flip fop being the most obvious of examples.