On the other end of the spectrum from big kid sizes, what's the smallest "men's" size?
Different brands and stores have widely varying views on this.
When I was growing up in the 90s, it felt like there was a very distinct line of up to 6 is boys, 7 and up is men's, with 6.5 impossible to find.
Then, in some stores I started to see men's sizes only go down to 8. Now, a few don't carry anything smaller than 9 for men's. There are still stores that carry and stock the traditional breakdown of size.
Of course, now we have online stores and manufacturers.
Some still list the traditional breakdown. Others go with the higher values seen in some stores. Still others list smaller men's size than I've ever seen in person. What is your experience?
I guess I need to pay more attention to new topics ;-)
ReplyDeleteI personally consider below size 8 to be a boy's size, but most brands have the cut off with size 7 or 7.5. Nike starts mens at 7.5, where adidas starts mens at 7 and puma starts mens at 7.5 (I have had puma size 7s actually fit me fine out of the box, they tend to run bigger). I have not see any brands that actually start men's at size 8, but I think it is rare for men to buy below a size 8. I have noticed more of a double take from clerks when I buy 7-7.5 vs if I buy 8, lol.
I love it when clerks try to be endearing... Especially older woman, because they are actually nice about it and are more likely to be convinced I must be really young and my feet are still growing vs clerks closer to my age where is more hit or miss. When people are older everyone seems younger, even though I am still pretty good at passing for a young teen (or maybe even 12) even among teens sometimes ;-) When you are able to wear a narrow-ish size 7 people are more likely to be convinced your feet must be still "maturing" ;-)
DeleteThe narrow part makes a big difference. A "man" who has small size 7 feet should have wide feet because the width is making up for the length right? Usually that seems to be the case. Everyone I know who has had feet anywhere near my size, and are fully grown (and even not fully grown sometimes), their feet are much wider. I think that's why size 7-7.5s are so comfortable and no one ever thinks my feet must really be bigger than 7.
Just saw this new thread... I feel like a size 8 is a boys size really. Though technically boys is more like 6-7. I think by size 7.5 it is always technically considered men's? But even pre-teen feet are getting bigger so "boys" is ever expanding. And you have the jordan extended GS line that goes to 9.5 too! It is kinda scary how many boys feet I feel are nearly the same size as my feet (and sometimes bigger!). I used to have a friend who wore size 8 skate shoes and I always thought his shoes looked really tiny, like he was wearing a "boy's" size. And even some 9s can look like a boy's size. Heck, occasionally even a 10, depending on the model/style. You don't see the puffy skate shoes as much but some of them can look really small, even in a size 10 - probably the combination of puffiness and small toe box on some models. I digress. But yup, boy's sizes are creeping ever bigger, it's scary!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in an environment where kids were picked on for anything that was viewed as abnormal. Feet being small could be a target. I was picked on for other things and I didn't need my shoe size to be one of them. It's just stuck with me, even though it shouldn't be as big a deal now, but it still is.
ReplyDeleteBeen very quiet here. Maybe we need a new topic or something to liven things up? :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree that JBC must have strong sensitivity/awareness... I chose to embrace rather than fighting it, because I knew I could never win...
SmallSneakersRFun wonders if SmallShoeSizeGuy is still alive... Been very quiet on here.
ReplyDeleteI once entered a small fashionable shop, and was pre-emptive by saying: "I'm a small size and...".
ReplyDelete"An 8.5"? said the clerk. AND he pulled a difficult face, as though this was gonna be a problem. So i shut up, let him think that i WAS an 8.5 and went for the shirts 😁
I have found that people treat you differently depending on what size you ask for. I tend to look young anyway, but when you ask for a smaller size sales people (especially older ones) tend to treat you more like a kid. I had an older woman sales person who suggested my foot might grow more, when I asked for a 7.5, lol.
ReplyDeleteDe-fi-ni-te-ly!!
DeleteI think a 100% that sales clerks, have conversations or reactions with me that are different. Amused, in a good mood, saying things as "I better not tell what size ME i am" and then telling it anyway, you name it.
It only dawns on me now (i'm slow) that u and me could swap shoes or go shopping together.
DeleteThat would be interesting, but I am sure my feet are quite a bit longer than yours, but maybe from a distance we would look similar (small) since my feet are pretty skinny. Your size 6s would probably be really tight for me too, but we could probably both wear a 7-7.5.
DeleteI do have some 7s.
Delete7.5 has never happened yet.
Because of the US sizing system and the "it depends on brand" and differences in conversion tables, bladibla, I never know if i should say that i'm generally a 5 or a 6.
oh, well I know the conversions pretty well. The 7Ys I can wear are a EUR 40. That one pair of 6Ys was a 38.5, but that is an outlier. Usually 39-40 is as small as I can go. More likely I am wearing a 40.5-41.
DeleteAre you not an 8 then?
DeleteYes to your 6Y 🙂
My feet measure size 8.5-9 (or 42-43), but I usually wear 7-8.5 (or 40-42), with some variation.
DeleteAnd you might think it is unusual that I like to wear shoes smaller than my "proper" size but I have talked with people online who go much further than that. There are people with size 12 feet who manage to squeeze into a size 7 or 8. For some it is all about the pain it seems. That would be like me wearing a size 4 or 5, no way! That would be too extreme and I am not looking for pain!
DeleteFunny how at the same time that's bigger than me, and i still find it small, or hardly better. Did you say you are skinny? In which case the overall impression must be one of elegance.
DeleteHuh? Why would they do that??
DeleteI have heard that some soccer players do that, for it giving them a better "kick", or others just for fun.
Yeah, I am overall pretty skinny like my feet ;-) I am like 135 lbs or 61 kg. That probably makes more people think I am younger too. I used to be 120 lbs a few years ago, which is super skinny for my height and really made me look like I was in middle school. Back then I had a cousin who was 13 beat me in arm wrestling, so I started some weight training and have put on some weight/muscle, though I seem to have a high metabolism.
Deleteoh, why they do it is mainly for "fun" I think or as a fetish. I think the people with sz 12 feet are looking to see what the reaction is from others if they are seen wearing a size 7 or something.
DeleteSame weight class!
DeleteAnd i was 125 lbs too a few years ago, though briefly for that was ugly.
Definitely "elegant" as to proportions.
I HAVE heard from a 15 that he did this, try to squeeze into 9s or less - for it gave him a feel of power, or affirmation about how big he was.
ReplyDeleteI have talked with people who like wearing smaller sizes in order to freak out or scare others. Like their feet are actually a size 11 or 12 but they get some stretched out size 8s or something to wear and then try to tell others their shoes are too big. They will find guys who are wearing like a sz 10 and tell them their shoes are too big and get them to take off their shoes to compare feet. It often completely freaks out the other guy and causes them to go home questioning their manhood I am sure...
DeleteHuh? Complicated. Far easier to impress by just wearing 12s.
DeleteProbably the difference between impress and "freak out"... For the "victim" of the joke it is not that others are bigger (which I am sure they know already) but that they are not as big as they thought. Suddenly they are questioning if they are really an 8 instead of a 10 (at least for a short time).
DeleteStrange hobby 😁. Everything under the sun.
DeleteI once had a sales clerk who only when i was already standing in the sneakers he brought... infirmed me that they were a size 4.
I dunno if it was my shocked face, that made him burst out into laughing, or that his inside joke had been building up.
It's not as bad as it seems, i got along really fine with that sales clerk, but yes, people do strange things to make you freak out.
Yeah, well, you can find all kinds of hobbies on the Internet!
DeleteI have had clerks bring out the wrong size by mistake, but not usually on purpose. I have asked for 7.5 and had clerks come out with 10.5. Only to then tell me, "oh, and I actually thought you said 7.5, my bad"... (thought he heard 7.5 but must have been 10.5...).
I was wearing some Jordan's in an 8.5 one time and a guy asked me what size they were and I said 8.5 and he says "oh 10.5, we're the same size!" And then having to correct him and the look of disappointment that came over his face...
Funny, I know what you mean. Like small mens shoe sizes are no longer totally on the radar, can be forgotten.
DeleteThere was this Nike Outlet store with a separate aisle for Small Mens.
DeleteA big, central Mens (9-12), and to the side 👉 Small Mens.
I had the impression that it was less spacious, less organised, and 8s and 7s just a bit through one another. hardly a 6 to be found. Whereas the main section was really glossy.
It came accross as "end of stock".
And though that normal Mens Section said "9-12", i saw a lot of 13-boxes there, as though they only just still had to change the signs.
That one sales clerk who almost became like a half-friend, was very enthused that they stocked 13s now, literally wanted me to see that, and later on was very proud to let me know that one of those 13s fitted him. Again this ambiance of "surely you're not interested in 6s" or "YOU will understand why 13 is awesome".
BTW, all these sales clerk experiences are in the past, all happened in the same 2,3 year span - when i was still not aware of that i was seen as so small. You make those excuses ("of all sales clerks, I bump into one who is an 11", "what a strange store", etc). So it's only after a while that you grasp that this is a general thing.
DeleteAnd then i stuck to the very same little store, with the same sales clerk, - so that i didn't have to go through the same surprise again and again. Possibly because of that, me being a total regular,.... I feel like i got a total COURSE over the course of 2 years 😁, in the changing stock, in how he got bigger, etc.
So I DO avoid sales clerks!
What IS actually Small Mens? Do 5 or 6 even still sit in that? Since i only ever saw it in Womens or Youth?
ReplyDeleteSmall Mens, what is that, - 7-9?
I would not call size 5 or 6 men's. The cutoff for men's is generally size 7.5 (in some brands 7). Certainly in Nike "youth" goes to size 7. So small men's would probably be size 7.5-9 (some might want to include 9.5 as well, though it is on the edge). 9.5 is sort of a transitional size. Not quite small and not quite a 10 either, which is sort of the bottom end of average size men's.
DeleteAgreed, and i think it's also generally seen like that.
DeleteWhich, who knows, is the reason why my thoughts/experiences are different from others:
Your feel/experiences are those of Small Mens,... while mine are not even that.
Ergo: you can get "small size 🙂😁", while i get "how small is that 😳😅"!
Sure, between small guys themselves they can be pleasantly surprised and positive with one another. It's always nice to meet peers.
But me i yet have to meet even an 8 who thinks anything positive about my size 😁.
EITHER I seem to be like the amusing/welcome discovery that there's still smaller than them.
OR when they already don't think much of their own size, they even think less of mine.
Oh, wait, there IS positivity, sales clerks or others selling my size to me, - but then i don't like the argument very much. Like "cute", "elegant" or "you're lucky, Womens models are a cheaper".
DeleteAlso once a clerk who said to find Womens more hip, creative, colourful, "but well, with MY size 11..."
It rarely happened that i did NOT get to hear the size of the clerk or anyone really 😁. We might not quickly announce it, they DO, or at least with me.
This reminded me of when I was in college I took a weightlifting class. It filled the gap for extra curricular credit. I made little progress at the time myself but there was another guy in the glass who seemed to make amazing progress. By the end of the semester he looked like a different person. He started as a rather skinny kid and by the end had put on some serious muscle (though also a good bit of bulk). Anyway, at the beginning of the class he had skate shoes which looked a little on the small size, but I had guessed size 9 maybe. Shortly after he bought some converse shoes which looked really tiny compared to he previous shake shoes. I heard him tell someone they were a size 6.5. He said they were small and slightly painful but that they gave him motivation during his workouts. He said his feet were an 8.5. Something related to the tightness and pain apparently helped to motivate him he claimed. By the end of the semester him small shoes had gotten considerably wider looking. They had started out skinny, like him and by the end his feet had really stretched them out, to the point that they looked much larger. I also wondered if since he was putting on muscle that his shoe size no longer mattered? That having large muscles offset his smaller feet?
DeleteDefo! When you're muscled up, you have THAT as deterrent, self marketing, impressiveness, potential in a pack or as friend/sparring partner/peer... whatever that other people look for or see.
DeleteI knew this slender guy who was only a 6 at 5'11", BUT he's a "pretty boy", and optimized that trait, put all eggs in THAT basket so to speak.