What every person buying new boots should know.

[Paul Oberin]

The hardest thing I have to do when selling new boots is convincing the customer that I am putting them into the correct size, it is rare to see a boot sold in Australia these days that is the correct size.

From Epic ski, some excellent advice.

http://www.epicski.com/t/112188/fit-...r-shell-sizing

Quote: "recreational fit wants to be less than 20mm so if i can get the head end down there the boot is too dam big, i am pretty good at judging distance with my eyes as it is something i do every day, most fitters on here will be the same, not many of us talk in fingers as they are all different
depends on the person but 5-10mm for racers if the shell shape is very good 10 -15mm for a reasonable skier 20 for a real one week a year don't like tight boots slider....but everyone is different i know racers who will not tolerate anything below 15mm and recreational skiers who like a 10mm shell fit"

[nickdos]

Just out of interest, how close is the measured size of a person's foot to the boot size they end up with?

In other words if a person's foot is exactly 26.0 cm long, is that usually the boot size you fit to a person? And does this vary much across brands?

I suspect my boots were fitted too big and measuring my foot, I'm in a boot 1 size too big.

[Paul Oberin]

Just out of interest, how close is the measured size of a person's foot to the boot size they end up with?

In other words if a person's foot is exactly 26.0 cm long, is that usually the boot size you fit to a person? And does this vary much across brands?

I suspect my boots were fitted too big and measuring my foot, I'm in a boot 1 size too big.

My foot measures 29.2mm and I wear a size 28.5 Tecnica, and I wouldn't say it is tighter than the average fit.

I would think at a foot 26.0 long that you would be in a 25.5 most likely.

[roho]

I notice the experts on the vid you recommend (link below) measure foot size while weighted (standing) on the Brannock device.

http://www.epicski.com/t/112188/fit-...r-shell-sizing

All the boot gurus (incl John Morgan, Larry Adler) I've been fitted by measured my foot unweighted.
What's your take on this?

[Paul Oberin]

I measure weighted using a Brannock device myself, measuring the foot is really so you get a closer idea on what boot shell to then use to shell size, so unless you go 100% with the measurement from the Brannock device it will make little difference, hopefully they then shell size a weighted foot, as the shell size is more important in my opinion, having said that I have a mondo point Brannock measurer which are fairly hard to find, but I have found that in 99.9% of cases when I measure a foot using it, it will give me a size up on the size required for the customer, it is extremely accurate in measuring foot length to a size 10mm above what is needed, and giving an indication of width at the same time, as I measure both feet, it also tells me how much bigger one foot is compared to the other, and which of the two feet is the biggest.

[roho]

Thanks for your feedback Paul.
Sounds good to me. Esp. measuring both feet as (almost) everyone has one longer foot.
Re Brannock device measurement. I guess it doesn't matter if the customer is weighted or not during measurement.
Just as long as the measurement is constant with Brannock device & measuring the distance from back of heel to inside back of boot.
As you say you get a "size up" measurement when measuring weighted.
Then you can factor that in when assessing correct size for boot.

[The Frog]

Good advice, still relevant.

[Paul Oberin]

With Alpine touring becoming so popular now I have found they need a bit more room for the toes in a boot when in tour mode, I try to get around 15mm minimum for them, but probably closer to 20mm.

Shell size is still the way to go for determining the right size boot so long as the company has not made the liner too short for that shell, often an after market liner works better than the factory liner for a really good fit, a liner such as a zipfit or intuition dreamliner.

The foot measuring device I have found to be very accurate is one put out by Salomon, a copy of the Brannock but is way more accurate and I have found it to be around 90% spot on if used weighted.