 G'day. How are you going? Welcome to Bhut Lhosefi. My name is Tech and I want to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land that I live and work on. They are the Wajib people of Nungabuja. Now today I'm going to rant a little about sizes and size comparisons in boots and how difficult they are to actually find out what your size is when you're buying off the web. So if you're like me you'd have discovered that buying a new pair of boots from a new brand on the web is as stressful as getting married, getting divorced, moving jobs, moving house. It's probably on top of that list. Now I have no idea why it is so stressful. People ask me all the time on this channel, on my Instagram and to be honest all I can tell you is this is how I size in that particular model and all feet are different. So you know I'm always worried that when I answer your questions I'm going to drive you insane because you're going to get the boots and you say what the hell was Tech talking about because it doesn't fit me and so you have to take whatever I say with a caveat. But what I'll try and do in this video is show you some different sizing options and how they compare. The difficulty I think is you have different sizing models. Now in the European sizing models you can take a look at the size number and you know something weird is going on because they're double digits they're 41, 42, 45, 43 and a half. So you know that okay the European and I'm going to have to work out what they are equivalent to my size in my country but then on top of that you have to work out whether they make their boots large or not. But I do have to say that most European makers do tend to make their boots true to size which I'll talk about later. Many UK bootmakers also make their boots true to size but some probably 50-50 do make their boots large so you do have to kind of size down from true to size. Americans however they're kind of all over the place so you kind of have to know the brand. Apart from that you also have to know your width. Now American width models you know that D width is the average and then you go down to a C or a B for very narrow feet and you go up to an E or a WE for really wide feet. The UK models also have roughly the same kind of width sizing but they can't agree which is average width. In some makes like RM Williams for example their average width is G. In others their average width is F. Go figure it's really hard and then on top of widths you hear people say oh how does it compare to my sneaker size. Dear God I have no idea because my sneakers in Adidas size differently from my sneakers in Nike and I've worn Essex before that size completely differently and sometimes depending on the last of the sneaker you'd size differently in those as well but quite apart from all of that usually when you wear sneakers you want a reasonably loose fit because you want to be comfortable. When you're running you want a little bit of movement and there's also all that padding and foam which makes you flex a little bit. With heritage boots you want to try and get a snug fit the so-called firm handshake because you don't want your feet slipping around that's the worst case for getting blisters. So trying to compare your heritage boot size to sneakers is a total miss in my opinion I don't know why people do it. I think the best way of doing it is to get yourself measured on a brand new device that's one of those aluminium slidey things that you go to a good shoe store and they'll have one and they'll measure you up not only for your length but also for your width and it's important when you measure for the width that you're actually measuring the width where you flex your feet because if you think about a boot like this RM Williams the ball is the widest part but your toes might be shorter or longer so you want the boot to flex where your feet flex and sometimes the overall length doesn't give you that fitting. I'm going to link up here if I can figure out how to do it and certainly in the description below I'm going to link to a video from Almost Vintage Future Dave who runs that channel did a really good video on brand sizing and how to use a brand new device. So get yourself measured on a brand new device and forget about these phrases that you know oh we size live so take a half size down from true true as what true true as in sneaker true true as in your usual dress shoe size true I've heard all of those mentioned in websites please get yourself measured on a brand device and then do some research let me take an example my own case um my brand new device measurement on a us measurement uh oh and by the way when I was ranting on about European measurements UK measurements are different from US measurements they have exactly the same numbers but the UK numbering system is one size down so UK 7 boot is the same size as a US 8 boot so remember when you're going from a US if you live in the US and you're trying to buy a UK size boot take one number down not one size down they're exactly the same size it's just one number down all right so what I was going to do is give you my example on a US brand new device I measure US 8 and a half in D width so immediately I know that if I bought UK my true to size UK is seven and a half in whatever they call the average size width is so true to size US 8 and a half D in many boots they say we size large so go down to a half size down from your true so in many cases like in Parkhurst for example oh this is heavy let me just take this up give me take that a second um so in many cases like this Parkhurst boots it's a size 8 what complicates matters is of course Parkhurst is a combination last and they don't have D's and E's they just have an 8 yep and the combination last means that they start off with I think a C or even a B size heel they have a C or a B size waist and then they go to an E size ball of the foot and then they round off the toe so the combination of various widths and in say these white MP boots they're also an 8 coming down from an 8 D but the last makes this a long skinny shaped 8 so in fact and when I show you when I'll compare them this is longer than other 8s that I have then that means that I know that I have to come down to a 7 in a UK boot this is a Grenson Fred I know that have to come down to a 7 because an 8 equals a 7 got it okay so that's where I am in my own sizing so let me start comparing some US boots and some UK size boots some bootmakers will say you should go true to size so in fact in both the Oak Street bootmakers trench boot I go eight and a half which is my true to size on brand device and casual boots the owner Kevin suggested I go true to size and he was right so these two are true to size US eight and a half they're about the right length you can tell the Elston last on the Oak Street bootmakers is a wider lassi you can see that it's actually quite wide and if you then compare the toe shapes there's a sharp almond shape in the casual boot but a rounded one in the Oak Street bootmakers boot and you can tell I think from the side by side that it's definitely the same size at eight and a half although the widths are a little bit different okay so let me now look at my half size down US boots so this is the Parkhurst in the size eight this is the White's MP boot in a size eight D and you can tell the 8 D is slightly longer because of the MP last I hope you can tell can the camera angle give you that so the MP boot is slightly longer if you look at the width shape they're roughly the same not forgetting that the Parkhurst has stretched out or is designed to have an E shaped ball of the foot so the width of the White's MP is nearly as wide okay so now let's blow your mind so this is an 8 D don't forget this is an eight and a half D so we look at the length size yep okay wait a minute the White's MP at eight look longer than the Elson lass at eight and a half uh that's a bit weird let's take a look at Parkhurst size eight oh look they're the same length so the Parkhurst eight is equivalent to the Oak Street bootmakers Elston last eight and a half so if you objectively measure these two boots they'd be the same length it just so happens Parkhurst says we size large this is an eight Oak Street bootmakers says we size true to size this is an eight and a half you get the problem okay so now that we've uh uh discussed and and probably got disgusted with US boots let's look at the British bootmakers not that different so um let's start with the Grenson Fred boot this is size half down remember I'm a UK seven and a half so this is a UK seven fits my feet perfectly so half size down uh this is a Blunstone made in Australia boot let me do the two made in Australia's so this is the Blunstone made in Australia uh I beg your pardon comes from Australia made in Vietnam this is the RM Williams made in Australia comes from Australia uh this boot in Blunstone is a size seven this boot RM Williams is a size eight look at the length yeah okay the eight's a bit longer yep I get that size seven size eight cool I get that why is that well if you look at the widths way wider right I'll show you from the top Blunstone's lot wider yep I think it's I wouldn't have said it was a half size larger but marginally larger okay so you might say size seven size eight maybe a half size bigger and definitely not one full size bigger so a seven and a half in RM Williams is probably the same length as a seven in Blunstone here's where we get complicated RM Williams do come in half sizes so you can get a seven and a half this is an eight Blunstone's also come in half sizes but you don't get a half size extra length the Blunstone's half size defines the width same length slightly wider seven and a half close your mind now we take the UK boot and compare that to the RM Williams this is a size seven this is a size eight yeah definitely definitely wider longer I mean and width terms this is a little bit more roomy and probably fits my the ball of my feet a little bit better this is quite snug in the ball of my feet but you can see why I have to go to an eight and not a seven and a half because if this went narrow or proportionately this would be extremely squeezy which is exactly why I wear eights in RM Williams let's compare a size seven boot to a size seven boot is that the same length would you say that's the same length I'd say yeah not too bad marginally okay so let's that's a pass seven and seven now we come to the Viberg the Viberg is Canadian to us outside of the American continent we hear a Canadian speaking and we probably think they're American you guys would know better if you're in America or in Canada so as a Canadian boot stuck to the top end of the US people kind of consider this might be American so should I be getting an eight D nope they use UK sizing being a good Commonwealth country so this is in fact a seven and a half D so this is true to size this is my UK Brannock size seven and a half RM Williams in an eight what do you reckon is this a half size shorter I think not right so this is true to size seven and a half this is half size larger than true to size UK eight to me the length is exactly the same they fit exactly the same compared to the grandsons UK sevens yep okay seven and a half bit longer this is not short on my feet this is not long in my feet why a bit wider narrowly wider so you tell me why these fit my feet so well I have no idea so what we come to is the fact that bootmakers don't do the logical thing they don't buy a last or design a last that fits into a Brannock and when it says the size eight it is a size eight somehow they make a Brannock and they call it a size eight but it might be seven and a half or it might be eight and a half I don't know so in summary cutting through all this confusion what do you do um number one as I said before get measured on a Brannock device know you're true to size absolutely uh number two ask the bootmaker don't just write to them and say oh look I'm a size seven what should I wear in yours make sure that they're aware um what other boots that you have what size you take in those boots and then ask them how you compare I mean if you can you might also say look I have a Thursday captain in size eight um I do find the length fits me but the cap toe is quite squeezy and the ball of my feet has now stretched um but it was quite narrow before give them that sort of information so that they know what to deal with but I'd suggest that what you do when you contact the bootmaker is to give them brands of boots or shoes that you wear that are quite common don't say oh it's a Vietnamese made shing sua special Chelsea boot because they've never heard of it right tell them what a red wing uh how it fits you tell them how a um a Grant stone fits you tell them how a RM Williams fits you and depending on where they are they ought to know how they compare to their own lasts um I think what I then do is is despite getting the answers from the bootmakers actually do some research on your own so you ask poor people like me who feel bad and they have to respond and say look this is how my feet take those boots but you know that's my feet but the more you get of these kinds of opinions don't just take my opinion the more you get of these kinds of opinions from myself from people like Dale at at aerosurfer lv uh from other you know from Nick at Stridewise um go into the reddit go to your wealth forum and have a look there search through there do some google searching go to the actual manufacturer's website and see if they have um sizing apps some of them have really good sizing apps where you put down Thursday for example you put down the different types of boots that you wear and what sizes you wear and they'll recommend the size to you Mirmin is another one that you can actually say this this brand I take this size and they recommend the size to you in their different lasts so do your research do it widely don't rely on one source uh and then ultimately see what the bootmaker's policy is on returns now for those of us who are buying us boots and uh UK and Canadian boots in Australia well hard luck it costs about um I think it costs about 70 US dollars to send a pair of boots to me in Australia so I'm going to have to spend 140 bucks in fact 210 dollars uh to get a boot sent to me find out it's wrong send it back and get a new pair sent to me so we luck out it's not great but if you're in the US and you're buying US boots see what their return policy is if you're in Australia you're buying Australian boots see what their return policy is if you're in the UK and you're buying UK boots see what the Australian return policy is uh good tip if you can get an official amazon store not one that somebody's created they buy second hand or factory second boots but a real uh official amazon store and I think thorough good have them uh I'm not sure about redwing but I think Thursday have an official amazon store uh the amazon return policies work when you buy the boots they're slightly more expensive but the return policy means that you can buy with some some level of comfort so find out what the return policy is and then ultimately keep your fingers crossed make the order and hope for the best that's the best I can give you I have to say though my formula I think I had one pair of boots which I really had to put in oh no sorry two pairs of boots that I really had to put in extra insoles the bulk the volume up and I have to wear thick socks with them but for everything else I've tended to follow the boot makers advice I've tended to go a half size down when I'm been told to I've tended to go true to size when I've been told to and it has worked if you're buying from ebay as I did these Grenson boots a little bit more risky but if you do your research they've come out fine I think that's fine so there you have it that is my rant on different sizing and I hope maybe with some of these more popular models maybe not the Grenson that's quite a specialist one but with the Weiberg the Blunstones the RM Williams the Parkhurst the Whites the Caswell the Oak Street boot makers hopefully that comparison I've shown you between different boots will give you an idea of how they size you know slightly larger slightly smaller and how they fit I hope that helps if it does you know what to do there's a like button down there in the description box go click it and there's a subscribe button which if you haven't already go click that because I'm going to bring you more boot reviews and more crazy rants like this where hopefully you can get some good information until then don't forget click on subscribe until then take care and I'll see you soon