Measured once,
right forever.
A hand-welted shoe should be bought the way it is made: deliberately. Twenty minutes with paper, pen and a soft tape ends size-guessing for good.
Measure like the workshop
The method below is the one Yearn’s own workshop asks for — five measurements, one drawing. You need a sheet of A4 paper, a pen, and a soft measuring tape. Sit down for all of it.
Trace the foot
Sit down, place your foot on a sheet of A4 paper and draw around it, inner and outer side. The outline does double duty: it records your length, and its shape tells the workshop whether you stand flat or carry a high arch.
The joint girth
Find the two bones that stick out most on either side of the forefoot, and run a soft measuring tape around the foot across them. Note the number, and draw the tape’s position onto your outline — where you measured matters as much as what you measured.
The waist girth
Move the tape to the waist of the foot, the narrower section behind the joints, and measure the circumference there. Mark the tape’s position on the drawing again.
The instep girth
Find the highest point on the top of your foot and measure around it. This is the measurement most shops never ask for, and the one that decides whether a closed-lacing shoe will ever sit right. Mark the position.
The length
On the outline, measure the longest straight line from big toe to heel. That, with the three girths and the drawing itself, is everything a last needs to meet your foot properly.
Send the four numbers and a photograph of your drawing with your commission, along with the sizes you wear in other welted brands, and the size recommendation comes back checked against the last you chose — not read off a chart.
Know your last
The last is the carved form the shoe is built around; it decides the fit before leather is ever cut. These are Yearn’s five, with the maker’s own fit notes.
The house standard, modelled on classic English dress trimmings. Where first-time customers should start.
- Toe
- Elegant almond, slightly shaved for a slim, contemporary line.
- Fit
- Snug through the width, long in silhouette. True to size.
- Worn as
- Oxfords for formal wear; equally at home on chelsea and derby boots.
The bridge between conservative and modern — the most versatile last in the range.
- Toe
- Slightly rounded with a soft square chisel.
- Fit
- Fits like the Y02; balanced proportions throughout.
- Worn as
- Almost everything, boots included; the natural home for half-brogues.
The statement last, favoured by the fashion-forward.
- Toe
- A sharp, exaggerated chisel sweeping down to a crisply defined square toe.
- Fit
- As Y02 in size, with a slightly wider joint and lower instep — no size adjustment needed.
- Worn as
- Black monk straps for formal occasions; suede lazymans for everything else.
The vintage soul of the range, with a subtly generous shape.
- Toe
- Fuller round toe with a gentle upward curve at the tip.
- Fit
- More generous than Y02 across the forefoot.
- Worn as
- Loafers and chukka boots, formal to weekend.
Ivy heritage: relaxed proportions refined for the present.
- Toe
- Round and welcoming, preserving the character of the American college loafer.
- Fit
- Generous; built specifically around the loafer.
- Worn as
- Loafers, exclusively.
The size ledger
The table every welted-shoe shop should have and almost none does: your size in the brands you already own, converted per last. We fill it the only honest way — one real fitting at a time, starting with our own feet and our first customers’.
Own one of these and a pair from our makers? Tell us both sizes with your commission — every confirmed pairing makes this table truer for the next person.