Sizing and grading of shoe lasts

The ideal means of achieving perfect fit is to produce individual, tailor-made shoes. However, this method is expensive and unaffordable for most people. At the opposite end of the scale, companies would prefer to be able to make shoes in only very few sizes, but this would lead to poor fit for the majority of customers. Many sizes of shoe are therefore required to meet consumer requirements while still ensuring that the business is profitable. The exact number of sizes is decided according to the costs of production and raw materials, as well as the fitting requirements, while the sizes themselves are determined principally on the basis of shoe-last sizes. This chapter introduces the sizing of shoe lasts, and consequently also footwear, as well as grading, a process used to modify the standard shoe last to create different sizes. A number of different standard systems for sizing and grading are used worldwide; this chapter compares the differences among the systems and discusses new research on sizing and grading.