The
Fit Atlas
A bespoke shoe is a precise instrument. The difference between a pair that fits and a pair that nearly fits is measured in millimeters — and felt in every step. This is your guide to finding both.
"A shoe should disappear on the foot. The customer should think only of where they're going — never of what they're wearing to get there."
Three readings. One foot.
Measure both feet — most people have one slightly larger than the other, and you should size to the larger. Measure late in the day, when feet are at their fullest, while wearing the socks you intend to wear with the finished shoe.
The Outline
Place a sheet of paper flat against a wall. Step onto it with your heel touching the wall. Holding a pencil perfectly vertical, trace the outline of your foot.
The Length
From the outline, mark the back of the heel and the tip of your longest toe. Measure the straight-line distance between these two points — in inches or centimeters, whichever is most precise to your ruler.
The Ball Girth
Wrap a soft tape measure around the widest part of your foot — across the ball, where the joints of your big and little toes form the broadest point. Pull the tape snug, not tight. Record the full circumference.
Your size, by last.
Enter your measurements once. We will return your size and width across each of our lasts — because the same foot may take a different width on a wholecut than on a derby, and may sit differently in a sneaker than in a Chelsea boot.
Heel to longest toe. Use your larger foot.
The circumference around the widest part of your foot.
We will estimate ball girth at ~2.45× flat width.
Bespoke shoes do not stretch in length — we recommend the middle option.
Enter your foot length and either ball girth or flat width to receive your size across each last.
A last for every silhouette.
A "last" is the carved form a shoe is built around — the soul of its silhouette. Each of our lasts has its own character: round or chiseled, sharp or generous. The same foot fits the same numerical size across all our men's dress lasts; what changes is the shape it takes.
Squared, elongated profile. Sleek and architectural. Creates a generous "blind space" at the toe — the silhouette runs longer than the foot inside it.
Almond-shaped toe, rounded and refined. Foot sits deeper into the shoe; less unused space at the tip. A classical, less assertive silhouette.
A measured profile — slightly elongated, but neither chiseled like the Monti nor as round as the Zurigo. The atelier's most versatile dress last.
Higher instep, slightly more vertical sidewalls. Holds the foot with quiet authority. A traditional last with English bench-made sensibility.
Designed for height. Generous instep volume to clear thicker socks; firm heel cup to anchor the foot inside taller boot constructions.
Wider, more forgiving than the Saville. A softer dress profile for full-day wear and casual dress occasions.
Built for athletic silhouettes. Tighter toe-box than dress lasts — if you are between sizes, take the smaller.
A dedicated last for our penny loafer line. Available in US sizes only — there is no direct EU correlation due to the unlined construction's stretch behavior.
Built for unstructured construction. Foot is held by the leather rather than a rigid form. Slightly snugger fit than dress lasts.
Three widths. D, EE, EEE.
Length is half the conversation. Width is the other half — and the half most often skipped by ready-to-wear brands. We build each men's dress last in three width tiers, calibrated to the ball girth circumference of your foot.
Our baseline width. If your ball girth measures within roughly 9.0″–9.9″ at a standard length, the D last will hold your foot without compression. The starting point for most clients.
For higher-volume feet, broader forefoots, and high insteps. Adds approximately ⅓″ of ball girth at every size. Recommended whenever D measures snug, and for all wholecuts on borderline-D feet.
For feet that have always required wide-fitting brands. Adds approximately ⅔″ over D. Ample volume at the ball with a heel cup engineered to prevent slip despite the additional forefoot space.
The seamless exception.
A wholecut shoe — Arabic Matrix, the Script line, our wholecut patina styles — is cut from a single piece of leather. There are no seams in the upper. This is the supreme test of a shoemaker, and the supreme test of a fitting.
Where a seamed shoe will give a millimeter or two as it breaks in, a wholecut will not. The leather may relax, but the silhouette remains. If your ball girth sits at the upper end of the D range, we recommend the EE width on any wholecut style. What feels acceptable in an oxford may feel restrictive in a wholecut.
The atelier's master chart.
The complete production specification — what the factory in Spain builds to. Switch lasts and units below to see the precise foot length and ball girth ranges for each size.
| US | UK | EU | JP | FOOT LENGTH | D — BALL GIRTH | EE — BALL GIRTH | EEE — BALL GIRTH |
|---|
For the ladies' atelier.
Our women's collection follows the same length protocol as the men's, but with additional vocabulary — the geometry of a heeled silhouette must be defined precisely. These three measurements determine the wearability of every heeled style.
A 4-inch shoe is not always a 4-inch shoe.
A heeled silhouette with a 1″ platform and a 4″ total heel walks like a 3″ heel. Marketing language often elides this distinction — we are explicit about it because it shapes how the shoe wears across an evening.
For all women's styles requiring exact measurements — particularly evening and bridal commissions — please contact the atelier directly for the full pitch and proportion sheet.
| US | UK | EU | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 3 | 36 | — |
| 6 | 3.5 | 36.5 | — |
| 6.5 | 4 | 37 | — |
| 7 | 4.5 | 37.5 | — |
| 7.5 | 5 | 38 | — |
| 8 | 5.5 | 38.5 | — |
| 8.5 | 6 | 39 | — |
| 9 | 6.5 | 39.5 | — |
| 9.5 | 7 | 40 | — |
| 10 | 7.5 | 40.5 | — |
| 10.5 | 8 | 41 | — |
| 11.5 | 9 | 42 | — |
Notes on specific styles.
A few categories of footwear depart from the standard protocol. Read these carefully if you are ordering from any of the following lines.
Take the smaller half-size if between.
Our sneaker lasts run slightly longer in the toe box than dress lasts to allow for athletic movement. Customers who normally wear, say, a US 10 in our oxfords often find a US 9.5 sneaker fits perfectly — the foot does not need additional room because it is not seated forward in a stiff dress structure.
US sizing only — no EU correlation.
Our penny loafer last is built and graded exclusively in US sizes. Because of the unlined construction, the leather adapts to the foot in ways that do not map cleanly onto standard EU graduations. Order in US — your usual size — and refer to the master chart above for the corresponding foot length range.
Consider the EE width on borderline feet.
If your ball girth sits at the upper edge of the D range, the EE width is the safer order on any wholecut style — Arabic Matrix, Script, or wholecut patina. Wholecuts have no seams to give as the shoe breaks in. The relief you might find in a seamed oxford will not arrive in a wholecut.
Allow for a slightly firmer initial fit.
Alligator, python, and ostrich leathers are denser and stiffer than calfskin in their first weeks of wear. The shoe will arrive feeling more structured than its calfskin counterpart, then will relax into your foot over the first 8–12 wears. Order to your standard size; do not size up to compensate.