Who Invented Our Standard Shoe Sizes?
Unfortunately, there is no one standard shoe size. Shoes are actually marked according to one of three different length sizing systems. The one that is used depends on where the shoes were made. The three major shoe size systems, currently in use, are United Kingdom, American and Continental. The first description of a shoe sizing system in England was made by British genealogist Randle Holme in 1688. The UK System starts from zero, at 102 mm with 8.4mm between whole sizes. Adults sizes range from size 1 to size 15 . The first shoe sizing system with detailed measurements was by Edwin B Simpson of New York in 1880. The need to introduce a size system had arisen during the American Civil War (1861-65) where mass produced shoes were made in left and rights for the first time. To make it easier for the Army to order shoes for their servicemen, each soldier was allocated a shoe size as well as a name tag. The US shoe industry still uses Imperial measurements and each manufacturer determine
