Designer Athletic presents:

A Comprehensive Guide to Sizing Kids Kicks

There has been much discussion on how to size a kid’s shoe.  Is it youth?  Is it an infant?  What is pre-school versus grade school?  What is a baby shoe versus a crib or toddler shoe?  Well the masses have spoken and we’ve decided to answer.  To start, all shoes that are considered kids shoes are also referred as youth.  With youth shoes, boys sizes and girls sizes are the same.  The main difference between the two will be the color and style.  Within the youth category, there are the sub categories of crib, baby, toddler, Pre School, and grade school.

Crib:  A crib shoe is any children shoe with a soft bottom.  These shoes typically range anywhere from a size 0 to size 5. 

Baby:  Baby shoes are shoes sizes 0 to a size 5.  The difference between baby and crib is that the baby shoe does not have a soft bottom.

Toddler:  Technically speaking, all children’s shoes from size 2 to a size 10 could fit into this category, as long as they do not have a soft bottom.  For the sake of differentiating and categorizing shoes the Designer Athletic way, toddler shoes will be ranging from, but not be limited to sizes 6 – 10.

Pre-School:  Pre School shoes range from a size 10.5 to size 2.5.  By the time a child gets into this category, they are usually walking or at least learning to walk. 

Grade School:  Your little one is finally growing up.  Grade school shoes are sized from size 3 to size 7.  This is the last and the largest of the kid shoes.  The tricky thing about these sizes is that some men shoes go down as low as a size 4.  Also, not all kids shoes will go to a size 7, so if your child needs a bigger size then a size 6.5, you will have to start looking at the adult sizes. 

The question of can a child who wears a size 5 youth wear a men’s size 5?  The answer will be yes, but the men’s size will be a little wider, and the quality and technology of the men size will be superior.  As far as a girl to a women’s shoe goes, the girl youth size is going to be one and half size larger.  So, a women’s size 7, is a youth size 5.5.

Table 1.1 will illustrate and sum up youth sizing.

Table 1.1

The link below will give you a general idea of age and shoe size:

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