ATTENTION PARENTS, preferably ones who've lived in both the US and UK, or just know a lot about shoes: please answer my dull question about kids' footwear

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my nine-year-old nephew wants a pair of DCs. finding them in kids' sizes in UK shops is nigh-on impossible, and not only does the online DC store not ship to the UK ... it doesn't return my e-mails or calls asking about stockists.

if it was up to me i wouldn't give the bastards my money, and my nephew would be getting an orange and a spinning top instead, but mrs fiendish isn't going for that one. she has plans and schemes to acquire these bloody things.

whatever happens, i think we're going to have to buy them from the states. which leads (at last) to my question:

kids' shoe sizes are different in the US and UK, aren't they? this would suggest that UK size = US size minus 1, but ... for some reason i don't entirely trust it. (incidentally, the wikipedia page on shoe sizes is one of the most impenetrably awful things i've ever spent less than a second looking at.)

of course, if any britishers happen to live down the road from a shop that's full of garishly overpriced american sneakers in kids' sizes, that might be a help, too.

― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 09:01 (seventeen years ago)

Yes, UK is just US size minus 1.

OTOH, it's for a 9yo, they're not going to fit for more than 6 months anyway so as long as you don't buy them too small they'll fit at some point.

― aldo, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 09:16 (seventeen years ago)

I believe that the sizing is correct i.e. what you said.

DC shoes here : http://clothes.search.ebay.co.uk/dc-shoes_Boys-Shoes_W0QQfromZR34QQsacatZ57929

Kids feet can grow incredibly quickly, so check with the parents what his shoe size is at the moment, not necessarily what shoes he's/she's wearing now (unless they have very recently bought them). Go a size bigger if you're not sure what to do.

― Dr.C, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 09:18 (seventeen years ago)

hmm, ebay. i dunno, i've got a kind of mental block with ebay following a not-all-that-bad-really-what-am-i-so-bothered-about? experience many years ago involving a network card sitting on a boat for six weeks.

but yes, that's the nub: we go to all this woe and misery and by the time we've got 'em his feet will be bigger anyway :)

thanks, gentlemen, as always, for your help.

― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 09:28 (seventeen years ago)

Have you tried TK Maxx? Definitely seen DC's in there in the past. In fact might even have got a pair for my boy. Also, what everyone says about buy big. Those little bastids get through shoes like no-ones business.

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 10:34 (seventeen years ago)

Yes, UK is just US size minus 1

This is not always true

― Ed, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 10:39 (seventeen years ago)

care to elucidate, ed?

― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 10:43 (seventeen years ago)

tk maxx: no! didn't try there. there's one near my office, too. hmm. thanks, ned.

― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 10:44 (seventeen years ago)

OK, allowing for variations in sizing by manufacturers, but you have to do that for any shoes anyway. xpost to Ed.

Both the UK and America use the English System (last size in barleycorns-12) but the US system starts at 1 whereas the UK system starts at 0.

― aldo, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 10:45 (seventeen years ago)

(bearing in mind men and women have different shoe sizes in the US)

― aldo, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 10:46 (seventeen years ago)

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