Purchasing Approach Shoes and Walking Boots Online

Although easier than finding the correct fit of more technical footwear, such as rock climbing shoes or ski boots, fitting approach shoes online can still prove a tricky undertaking. The following guide provides a framework to help you with your next approach shoe purchase. The table below gives you an idea of how each approach shoe fits, by offering a recommendation in line with the result you get when measuring your feet using our Foot Measuring Chart, along with a note on how the shoe rates in terms of overall ‘volume’.  

PLEASE NOTE! It is important that you use our Foot Measuring Chart to size your feet and not to go off a preconceived perception of your shoe size. This gives us a standard candle that we can both work from and makes our sizing suggestion much more likely to be accurate. 

Our size recommendations vary between UK and EU sizing formats. We use the sizing scale used by the brand for its lasts at the point of design and manufacture.

How we work it out

1. Using a printed copy of our Foot Measuring Chart we take a measurement of our male and female tester’s shoe size – this chart provides a consistent measurement for both the Rock+Run tester and your own feet. For example, the male tester's feet were measured as a UK 8/EU 42 on the chart.
2. Each of the approach shoe models is then sized according to this initial measurement (UK8 in his case) and worn for a walking test. If this size fits well then it is submitted as ‘Regular Size’. If not, then a larger/smaller size is tested until a perfect fit is found (‘Upsize/Downsize’).
3. A volume rating (Low/Medium/High) is provided for each shoe. Again, the male tester has narrow, low volume feet so anything that was a perfect fit was judged as ‘Low’ volume, anything with some room as ‘Medium’ volume and anything with lots of room in the body of the shoe as ‘High’ volume.

Our sizing recommendations are based on comfort when walking or approaching the crag. If you plan on using your approach shoes for predominantly more technical pursuits, like scrambling or low-level climbing, then a lower volume or slightly downsized shoe may be worth considering, to give you a more intuitive feel – although this is down to personal choice. 

Sizing Yourself

So, here’s how to use the system:

1. Download the Foot Measuring Chart and print off a copy, making sure the document has been printed to its actual size (i.e. make sure the printer isn't pre-set to print documents at 80% for example - it must be 100%).
2. Measure your foot following the instructions on the sizing chart.
3. Then use the table below to get an idea of what size you should be choosing to get the perfect fit for your desired approach shoes.

For the UK-EU conversion chart, see the base of our Foot Measuring Chart.

Check out our full range of Approach Shoes here

Check out our full range of Walking Boots here

Disclaimer: Please note that although all efforts have been made to give accurate information, regarding assisting you with the sizing of your shoes, due to the nature of specialist footwear and the variances in peoples feet we cannot guarantee our formula 100%. As such we are unable to refund return postal fees on the basis of an inaccurate fit based on the above information – remember it’s a guide, if you're unsure pay your local outdoor store a visit for in-store fitting.