Bespoke shoemakerVilnius

Step 01 of 08

Measure

Comfortable shoes start with accurate measurements.

A steel rule, callipers, pencils and scissors standing in pots on the workbench by the window

Nothing is drawn, carved or cut before the feet are read. Both feet are measured — they are rarely the same — seated and then standing, so the spread of the foot under your own weight is part of the record.

Length, width, the girth at the joint and the instep, the height of the arch and the shape of the heel all go into a single measurement sheet, together with a tracing of the outline and notes on anything the foot asks for: a wider ball, a lower instep, a sensitive joint.

That sheet stays in the workshop. Every later stage — the last, the pattern, the fitting — is checked back against it.

Measuring your own foot

If you cannot come to the workshop, take the measurements yourself and send them. Work in the late afternoon, standing, wearing the socks you intend to wear with the shoes — and do both feet.

  1. Stand on the paper

    Put on the socks you intend to wear with the shoes, place a sheet of paper on a hard floor and stand on it with your weight even on both feet.

  2. Trace the outline

    Hold the pencil upright against the skin and draw right around the foot, keeping the point touching all the way. Ask someone to help if you cannot reach the heel.

  3. Measure the joint

    Take the tape around the widest part of the foot, over the ball, and note the figure. Snug, not tight.

  4. Measure the instep

    Move the tape back over the instep — the highest part of the arch — and measure around the foot there.

  5. Measure the heel

    Run the tape from the instep diagonally around the back of the heel and note that girth.

  6. Measure the ankle

    Take the tape around the narrowest part of the ankle, just above the bone.

  7. Mark the heel height

    Stand the tape upright against the back of the heel to record its height, and mark it on the tracing.

  8. Send the sheet

    Repeat for the other foot on its own sheet, write every figure beside the tracing, and photograph or post it to the workshop.

Send your measurements, or come and be measured.

Both work. If you are in Vilnius, the workshop is the better start.

Start your pair