Mondopoint is a footwear sizing system based on the foot length and linear width of the foot and is measured in millimetres. It is part of ISO standard 9407:2019, which describes the specification for Mondopoint system of sizing and marking. 1 It has the potential to replace various mutually incompatible shoe sizing systems used in different countries. Most of these systems use arbitrary numbers that do not relate to anything obvious. Even worse, different sizing systems are often used for men, women and children.
Several shoe size conversion websites exist to convert between the various shoe sizing systems used in different parts of the world. The shoesizes.co and convertyourshoesize.com websites list most of the major shoe sizing systems in use. 2 3 They include the British, American, European, Australian, Japanese, Chinese and Russian shoe sizing systems. The numeric sizing systems tend to use separate ranges for men and women. So, men’s and women’s shoe sizes tend to be different for the same foot length in numeric sizing systems.
The Europeans use the Paris Point system with sizes increasing by ⅔ cm for each size. The British and Americans use the Barleycorn system with sizes increasing by ⅓ inch for each size. 4 One feature that complicates matters is that men’s, women’s and children’s shoe sizes can have a different zero point, so a particular foot length corresponds to different shoe sizes in these categories. Interestingly, the Chinese have two shoe sizing systems. 5 The old Chinese national standard uses numeric sizing, which is similar to European sizing, which is still common in China. The new Chinese national standard uses a length-based measurement based on millimetres. The Koreans also use millimetre-based measurements for shoe sizes. The Japanese tend to use length-based shoe sizes based on centimetres.
Mondopoint is based on the metric system and is a world standard. It is based solely on foot length and this system also includes foot width. Therefore, a Mondopoint value of 290/120 for a pair of shoes indicates a foot length of 290 millimetres and a foot width of 120 millimetres. The “mondo” part of the name is derived from the Latin word for world. Variants of this word are found in several European languages that are descended from Latin.
It would be much easier if all countries adopted Mondopoint for shoe sizes and abandoned arbitrary numeric sizing systems. Mondopoint is already in official use in Russia, China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea and is also used by NATO and the military, and now widely used in the sports sector. 6 This would make the countless shoe size conversion charts and calculators unnecessary. Unlike arbitrary numbers in shoe sizing systems used in much of the world, numbers in Mondopoint are transparent – they mean millimetres. In the Mondopoint system, you can measure your feet with any metric measuring tape or ruler to find out your shoe size, unlike the arbitrary shoe sizing systems in current use.
Sources
- https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/en/#iso:std:71594:en
- http://www.shoesizes.co/
- https://www.convertyourshoesize.com/
- https://goodcalculators.com/shoe-size-converter/
- https://www.sopicks.com/blog/international-shoe-size-conversion-chart
- https://www.calconi.com/en/shoe_sizes/guide/mondopoint_shoe_sizes.php
Metric Views 
I gave the formula to go from the length of the foot to shoe sizing in an article in the Newsletter (June, 2021, p.8). The UK size is the length of the foot in barleycorns (of course) and then subtract 23. If you’re a child you subtract 10 instead of 23 and you subtract 22 if you are a woman. It’s hardly the shoe maker’s fault that you don’t know what a barleycorn is or the magic number according to your age and gender! Europe is hardly any better, as Ronnie point out in his article. Mondopoint does indeed seem to be the simplest. you just have to decide whether to round down or round up the foot length, but that can be done after a little experience.
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There is nothing new about Mondopoint. It was devised in the early 1970s, and there was a lot of talk about it here in the UK, but it came to nothing.
With clothing sizes in general there has been some resistance to change. Inch sizes persist, where they have been used traditionally, as have the ladies’ dress sizes, ranging from 12 or less for slim to 30 or more for not-so-slim. The chief advantages of the metric system are based on its usage of base-10 counting and coherency between units, thus making it the best system where calculations are involved. This also favours it for trading. In the case of shoe and other clothing sizes, calculations are not usually involved. People simply want a number that they can refer to, to suit their personal needs or to compare sizes. The traditional arbitrary systems suit this purpose and people see less need to change.
Indeed we see the same reluctance to change in continental Europe. The Paris Point system remains in wide use, even in countries where the metric system has been firmly established for many years.
Of course a world standard would be ideal, and Mondopoint fits the purpose, being simply based on metric measurements. There could be other objections than resistance to change. An established international standard would make it easier for us to buy clothing whilst abroad or through online sites. Maybe retailers prefer us to shop in our own country, using the sizing system that, though illogical, is familiar. Any ideas, anyone?
Of course, with all types of clothing, there is no better test than trying it on. With shoes, my usually starting point is UK size 9. However I sometimes find that half a size above is a better fit. Rather infrequently I have even selected half a size less. Indeed I have a pair size 10 which fit quite comfortably.
If shoes for sale are marked with Paris Point sizing, which finds its way into UK shoe shops, size 43 is a target size. If I ever find Mondopoint on offer, it will be 275.
I’ll end on an interesting point. A few years ago, whilst on holiday in Australia, my shoes fell to pieces and I bought some new ones there. These show size 11. Explain that!
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I wonder if the shoe manufacturing industry actually uses the Mondopoint system in the design and manufacturing of shoes as a single universal system. Mondopoint would reduce or even eliminate errors and costs that a multiplicity of sizes actually helps increase. If so, I’m somewhat surprised that the shoe manufacturing companies don’t extend their internal use of this system to the marketplace. Why doesn’t every shoe sold at least state its Mondopoint size?
If local laws require traditional sizing, that shouldn’t stop the industry from including as the base number the Mondopoint size as the primary designation and any legally required traditional size or multiple traditional sizes for different markets in the secondary and beyond position.
When shopping for new shoes, I must try on every pair since the traditional size I am supposed to be is not true for multiple brands. Sometimes that size could be too tight, sometimes to loose. It seems that instead of having one traditional size, I have multiple traditional sizes to choose from.
If the actual Mondopoint size were to appear on every shoe sold, I could reference it and ignore the traditional size and after testing just a few shoes to see if the Mondopoint sizing is consistent and if it turns out to be, I could trust the Mondopoint size enough in the future by not needing to try on every shoe before purchasing. Why is the industry resistant to using the Mondopoint system universally?
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