Winter gear sizing causes math challenge

I'm not a fan of math. I can figure out sale prices easily, having spent my entire life in search of good ones. But when faced with figuring out cross country ski boot sizes for my kids each year, it takes a while for me to recall my basic math skills.

Because here is the reality when you have active kids like I do and have to figure out sizing for each sport's equipment: The term “standard” does not fit with footwear for winter sports.

Ice skates need to fit snugly and some of the figure skates brands run large, some small. But skates run in street shoe sizes so parents can estimate fairly accurately the size skates their child will likely need. At least you'll have a place to start when choosing a pair for your child to try on first.

Downhill ski boots are mondo point sizing, which is an international measurement for downhill boots and requires it's own sizing chart. But even if you know your child's street shoe size for ice skates and maybe even their mondo size for downhill boots, you still need yet another sizing chart for cross country ski boots. Those run in euro sizes.

Keeping up with kids and winter sports footwear can be a bit mind-boggling.

For adults these various sizes aren't too hard to keep track of because your foot size generally doesn't change. But add a child or two and every year you're going to spend some time scrambling to figure out what size boot each child needs.

Since my family enjoys all these winter sports, I often find myself doing a measurement in both metric and Imperial to ensure I know what size each child's foot is for each of their sports' boots. This makes me feel a bit more confident while I scour my second-hand sources, online retailers and seasonal rental options for their sizes without needing them to try something on.

There are some children's sizing charts available that convert street shoe size to euro but I have found street sizes all run differently depending on the brand of shoe. This is true for sports footwear as well but at least with an actual ruler measurement of my child's foot, it can help ensure a more accurate fit.

My kids have rented their cross-country ski equipment from the Healthy Hometowns Program through the Maine Winter Sports Center. The center offered a tip on assessing a child's euro boot size when we first started renting its equipment that I have found helpful - and more importantly, accurate.

To measure a child's foot, have them put their heel up against the wall. Take a ruler with Imperial measurement markings (inches) and record the measurement from the wall to the tip of the child's toe. This next part is the piece that a lot of people don't understand. To convert the measurement into euro you need to round up to the nearest 1/8 of an inch.

For instance, my daughter's foot length this year was 9 3/4” which corresponds to a size 41 euro. But when I add the 1/8 of an inch on to her measurement, that bumps her up to a size 42 euro. When I asked her to try on both sizes, it was the 42 euro boot that actually fit her.

It's a bit confusing so why bother to figure this sizing stuff out for your kids?

Because there are a lot of online and/or second-hand deals to be had and that can save you a lot of money when outfitting a whole family with cross-country ski gear or any sort of sports equipment.

No matter how you slice it - in centimeters or inches - when you have kids with an interest in winter sports you're going to have to do some math. You might not get much help with the ruler measuring but you might want to keep a calculator handy for the addition - or more accurately subtraction - when tallying up your final costs. 

Originally published in Raising Maine Magazine, January 2011