Choosing the right size

An often overlooked aspect of a child's physical health is the importance of proper footwear, which can significantly impact their posture, gait, and overall foot health. 

The foundation of lifelong foot health is created during childhood, making it crucial to prioritise the correct fit of shoes from a young age. Research underscores that wearing improperly fitted shoes can lead to a range of foot deformities, discomfort, and postural problems. The dynamic and rapid growth phases children undergo require frequent reassessments of their footwear needs to accommodate their developing feet.  

A common mistake is the assumption that shoe sizes are uniform across all brands and styles. However, our investigation into 7 popular UK brands, including Bibi, reveals that there is significant variation of the insole measurements for the same nominal size. For example, let's take UK size 11. Across the 7 brands we researched, the foot measure for this ranged from 17.4 cm to 18.4 cm. A staggering 1 cm (or 5.5%) variation! 

These discrepancies highlight the critical need for ongoing foot measurements and the potential pitfalls of relying solely on size numbers when purchasing children's shoes.

Of course, it is not just length that is important and there are other factors that will affect the overall fit of the shoe. You won't know for sure until your little one tries them on.

Thanks to our super simple and free returns process you can go ahead and trust your instincts, safe in the knowledge that you can return the shoes if they aren't the perfect fit! 

The following guide will assist you to measure your child's feet and choose the best fit, specifically for Bibi shoes. 

To start, you'll need a piece of A4 paper, a pen or pencil, and a ruler or measuring tape. Place the paper on a flat surface, like a hard floor.

Have your child stand on the paper with their heel either lightly touching the wall, or in the middle of the paper where you have drawn a straight line with the ruler (like in the picture below). Your child should be standing with their weight evenly distributed on both feet. Have one foot on the paper, and one beside. 

With the pen or pencil, mark where the longest toe ends. Repeat this process for the other foot.

Remove your child's foot and measure from the edge of the paper (that was against the wall) or from the heel line (you marked with a ruler) to the toe marks you drew on the paper. If the two feet were different, measure the longest foot.

As we need to make sure the toes are free to spread and wriggle at the end of the shoe, and because young children's feet grow so fast, we need to allow some room for growth too. As a rule of thumb, we recommend adding between 1.0 and 1.4 cm's to your measurement before looking up their size on our table.

On this table you can see the insole measurement for Bibi shoes in centimetres, and the corresponding UK and European sizes.

The final step is to match the measurement you made (including the additional 1 cm) to the correct size. For example, if your child's longest foot measures 16.4 cm, by adding 1 cm the best Bibi shoe size will be 17.4 cm. Looking at the table above, we see size UK 11 is 17.5 cm. This size will offer the best fit.

We are currently developing a YouTube sizing guide, so stay tuned for our video.