When a shaft will not close

A tall boot has to clear the widest part of the calf on the way up. When it does not, the instinct is to order a size up in the foot. It rarely works. Going up a size buys a fraction of an inch around the shaft and loses you the fit through the foot, which means a boot that still does not close and now slips at the heel as well.

The thing to compare is the opening, and the thing to know is where the opening figure came from.

Two different numbers, both called the same thing

Some of our pairs carry a full chart with the opening measured at every size. Those grow as the size grows, a fraction of an inch at a time, because a bigger boot is cut from bigger panels. Others carry a single figure on the listing, and that one belongs to one particular size, not to the whole run.

We keep the two apart everywhere on this site and always say which size a single figure was taken on. They are not interchangeable. Where we have both for the same pair they do not agree, and reading one as though it were the other is how people end up with a boot that misses by an inch.

Measuring the calf

• Sit down, feet flat. A calf measured standing reads smaller than the one the boot has to pass over when you sit.
• Measure over the sock you will wear, not bare.
• Find the widest point rather than a fixed height. On most people it is lower than they expect, and on a strong calf it can be lower still.
• Keep the tape level and snug without pulling it in.

Reading the gap

Take the opening at your size and subtract your calf. Anything under half an inch is tight: the boot may go on, but it will be work, and it will be work every time. An inch is comfortable. Much more than two and the shaft will slouch, which some people want and some do not.

If the numbers are close rather than hopeless, leather does give. A shaft breaks in and takes the shape of the leg over a few weeks, and a boot shop with a shaft stretcher can take one further than the chart admits. If the gap is two inches or more, no amount of breaking in will cover it, and a wide calf cut or an ankle height is the honest answer.